Google’s Algorithm Updates – Why They Happen and What To Do About Them
We’ve been asked many times why Google update their algorithms and how businesses can avoid getting caught up in their crossfire.
Google’s algorithm updates, such as Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Possum, Pigeon and Phantom have significantly altered the way we carry out our online communications – placing greater emphasis on user experience for searchers.
Why Does Google Make Algorithm Updates?
While many may say that Google have made a number of their updates purely to protect their own position in business (at the beginning of 2014 they have around 90% market share for search in Europe and around 70% in the US), as the dust settles after each update it’s also clear that the changes have been made for the good of searchers.
The best known algorithm changes, Panda and Penguin, focus on content and linking to ensure good quality information and filtering out spam. Sites carrying out excessive keywording in content, duplicating content designed to gain an SEO advantage, and carrying out excessive link building with low quality websites have all been penalised. This means that searchers are getting to the right information quicker and are no longer blighted by the top results showing companies purposely manipulating rankings with unnatural content and poor links.
Of course, this also serves to protect Google’s business. A service that has no subscription fee, Google makes money by selling advertising, and to keep advertisers coming back for more, Google needs to maintain its position as the number one search engine.
Google have also made changes to improve results in relation to altering patterns in browsing activity. For example, with the continuing rise in the use of mobile, some searches are becoming more conversational based. Enter Google’s Hummingbird algorithm change, designed to make search results more relevant to conversational style and localised searches. Integrating Google Now, Hummingbird allowed Google to return more conversationally-relevant results. So, in response to the question, “Where are the coffee shops close to my home?” Google can now bring results for the closest coffee shops, rather than simply delivering the Starbucks Store Locator.
Helping To Protect Your Site from Serious Drops In Traffic
While the algorithm updates of 2013 had positive impacts on the search industry as a whole, they caught a lot of businesses out as they happened, and many are asking the same question: how can we avoid the same thing happening again?
Here are some tips to help:
- Avoid black hat SEO techniques – the techniques that search engines disapprove of. Black hat techniques, such as the use of hidden text, duplicate text or setting up links from poor-quality sites may produce short term gains but are likely to cause you serious drops in traffic later on
- Work with Google’s best practice guidelines. These will help you to ensure Google can find, index and rank your site. They also detail the techniques that you should steer away from
- Keep up-to-date on Google changes by following articles written by reputable sources. For example, Matt Cutts, who was previously the spokesperson for Google, provided useful updates on best practice guidelines on his blog
- See SEO as a long-term investment in your site that takes a lot of persistent effort. Think about your site from Google’s perspective – and aim to make it as relevant and engaging as possible to your target audience
- Develop a sound content strategy that delivers content that your visitors will find interesting and useful. Make sure this is unique, varied and interesting
- Build high-quality links rather than lots of low-quality ones. Build links from sites where there is a genuine association, rather than just doing it for optimisation purposes. Quality is key in 2018 and bad links will seriously harm your site
- Finally, consider working with an SEO agency who have a proven track record. Professional agencies such as iMarketing do the hard work of keeping abreast of Google’s changes to avoid potential problems before they happen – allowing you to focus your energy and time on your core business
Algorithm Updates
Algorithm updates aren’t going away and they will continue to happen in order to keep up with evolving search behaviour and to prevent low-quality sites appearing in the results.
While there is no escaping them, sticking to Google’s best practice guidelines and avoiding quick tricks will ensure that your site maintains a good position for search terms relevant to its content. Working with us will ensure a steady growth of traffic over time, while also benefitting from our SEO audits and support.
Of course, if your business has already been stung by one of Google’s algorithm updates, recovering ranking position is vital – and especially important to understand and correct. At iMarketing, we can work with you to help you recover, and to build a new strategy to develop your site for long-term success.
Find out more about creating a sound SEO strategy to withstand future algorithm updates.
