Google Algorithm Updates
There have been plenty of algorithm changes over the years, in fact, in just a single year Google can make thousands of small changes to their algorithms. For the most part they are just small changes that don’t make any serious impact on most of us. However, in some cases there are major updates that can have a serious effect on your website ranking. Some of those major changes include Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, and Pigeon.
You should try to keep abreast of any algorithm changes that Google makes, which can offer you a bit of perspective if you are noticing your ranking fluctuate. An SEO professional should always be armed with the most recent information to ensure that they are effectively completing their job. Business owners should be aware of changes, but provided they employ an SEO professional, the owner and management don’t need to spend too much time trying to get their heads around it. Provided the SEO professional can explain the changes in rank and what strategies will be modified to improve the sites rank.
When it comes to major changes, Google tends to put the information out there in advance to prepare site owners for what is coming. However, with smaller changes it often goes unannounced, even if you’re following the Google Webmaster Central Blog. Which, you should be doing if you care about your site ranking and want to ensure that any algorithm changes don’t have an impact on that ranking. You worked fairly hard to earn the ranking you have, so falling prey to algorithm changes isn’t in your best interests.
Once upon a time, the early SEO experts could cheat their way to optimum rankings. The search engine wasn’t as accurate or as power as it is now. So, think back to the late 1990’s and even the early 2000’s. Search engines were simply link counting and keyword matching machines. These SEO experts could achieve an excellent ranking with just 2 steps, which was stuffing keywords and cramming inbound links into the text.
In those days, those gurus who were gaming the system to get the highest rankings weren’t providing searches with any real value. Which is why Google turned its hand to finding weaknesses in their algorithm, and then taking steps to rectify that.
If you fail to adhere to the updates and rules, you could not only lose your ranking, but you Google could punish you by taking your site off the search results altogether, or seriously subtracting points from you.
One of the more recent algorithm changes was to do with mobiles. Mobile users are now commonly using the net, so every website should ensure that their set up is mobile friendly. Informally, this update was known as Mobilegeddon.
We’re not that long into 2017, and Google has already made multiple algorithm changes. This will continue as long as content creators and web owners look to game the system and optimize their search ranking falsely. Moz has a complete list of every algorithm change in Google’s history.