Importance of Algorithms on SEO

A Brief Introduction on Google Algorithms

In the past, elderly men were revered as they contained valuable information. But after 1990, their influence stemmed down because of the internet. You need any information, go to Google, the popular search engine than Yahoo, Bing etc and type the question.

Behold! A million pages will open in front of your eyes which will have the information. But to be noted is the point, that you want only the specific answer. You are not interested in spending time looking to the trillion web pages. But how do you get the perfect answer when you put a question in Google? You just have to open the first three results that come on top for your search.

It is because of algorithms. They are in fact, computer programs that search for vital clues to give you the perfect information. At present, the algorithms of Google rely on two hundred signals or clues to give you the required answer. Some signals are Page Rank, region, terms on websites and freshness of content.

Google is constantly updating its systems, technologies to give you the exact results. During the process, the company also releases new innovations, for example, the Google Instant or Knowledge Graph.

History of Google

The top search engine’s lifetime has not extended beyond a century. In 1998, it all began as a raw search engine, but cut to the present, Google has metamorphosed into a massive search giant.

Google makes a cool number of billions in revenue every year. Major part of its success is attributed to selling ad space in the pages which are the proving ground of companies, organizations and websites. Every business company vies with one another to get fair treatment from Google because this space is where they can reach a large section of the target audience. So, every time Google changes its search strategy, it can have a far reaching impact on the companies and websites which make more use of the internet to generate sales or reach a wider audience.

The main reason, the decision made on Google’s algorithms will place companies higher in a perfect category or they can also be subdued at the bottom. Although Google does not disclose the nature or type of these algorithms, the SEO industry tries to obtain the basic facts and make sense out of the results. They then help individual company websites escape from the storm and adjust accordingly.

Agreed, you may have the best content in the website and follow good SEO practices, but keeping a tab on the algorithm updates in Google can minimize the fluctuations in your website rankings.

The updates may come anytime, but it has to be understood that not all of them can make the impact on the SERP..

It is a well-known fact that these algorithms are updated continuously with an entire bunch of engineers making their hardest effort to fix bugs to enhance the performance. These updates can bring maximum changes in the SEO community. In this article, let us look into the some of the algorithms released by Google.

1. PANDA

When this algorithm arrived on the scene, its main goal was to decrease the number of websites containing content of low quality appearing at the top of Google results. Rumors flew back and forth regarding the ideas, but some most important inclusions were –

Will the information presented on the website be trusted by others?

Does the website provide original content?

Was the article written according to the language requirements or was it just sentence containing sloppy content?

Do you get lots of traffic in this website?

Do all the articles in the website hold value when compared to other websites in search of the same information?

Panda was designed to filter websites having content of high quality from those having low quality. Panda can check the credibility of a website by examining content and then rewards it. If your website was found to have duplicate content, then the website will be given a low quality status. The reason, the content is not more useful for customers. This was the first algorithm and the most important step Google took to filter content of less quality.

It was launched on February 24 of 2011 and was considered more of a filter than an algorithm. But in January 2016, it was included in the list of algorithms.

2. Penguin

It was introduced in April 24, 2012 and had rollouts on seven occasions such as May 25, 2012 right to the October 6, 2016.

It focused on the backlink profiles of the ranked websites. Yes, links have been a valuable part of the SEO campaigns since the initial stages. Short to say, a link can be defined as a casting vote for your website. If a website of high authority takes a link from your site, then it is a recommendation. But if a small website, which has a low authority links back to you, then the vote is never going to count.

Every business company or website owner/ blog owner desires to have a high ranking internet ranking of their digital presence in the internet on Google. In fact, the more higher your website is ranked in Google, you can get more traffic.

But Google has always played safe to the concept of rewarding the relevant websites which contains authentic content and fulfills the requirements of users.

If good websites offer link to your site, it is a great way to improve the rankings. But buying links, or having links from low quality websites can amount to restricted rankings.

3. Hummingbird

Launched on the date of August 22, 2013, it brought about a major change in interpretation of queries. In fact, the synonym factor came to the fore with this algorithm. It created quite an impact as it was a complete change of Google’s approach on website rankings.

This algorithm was released to assist Google understand queries of customers in a better way in co-ordination to catering the perfect content. In fact, Hummingbird algorithm wanted to know the real reason behind a customer’s search and give the best possible results. In other words, this algorithm seeks to reward more an article which has the perfect content for the search instead of an article which has the specific keyword.

4. Pirate

It was first introduced in August 2012, and its main goal was to lower rankings of websites which have had numerous copyright infringement report cases. There were many websites, some big names, which thrived on pirated content from music, movies or books. However, the owners are smart, and when Google penalizes them, a new website is launched every day that sells pirated content.

5. Pigeon

Officially launched in US on July 24, 2014, it has rollouts on December 22, 2014 in Canada, Australia and UK. This algorithm devised better co-ordination amidst the local algorithm as well core algorithm. In fact, the update also used distance and location as a very important factor in giving rankings. This update led to a boost in local directory sites.

6. Mobile Friendly Update

This algorithm was launched on April 21, 2015. Before understanding the update, let us look at the most important technology of the time. In the same year, smart mobiles of various brands have made a mark and online businesses were successful. The people became more curious about the apps technology. And it was evident, that a sizable section of the population accessed information or made purchases via their mobile.

Keeping in tandem with the recent developments, Google may have decided to de-rank the websites and blogs that did not adapt to the concept of mobile responsive technology. However, the update never included desktop searches.

7. RankBrain

Though RankBrain may have been launched earlier, there are many websites which proclaim the launch date as October 26, 2015. In fact, it is a machine learning method that can assist Google to better interpret or decipher the reason behind the question. When the reason is better understood, then it is easy to get the perfect results for the same questions.
RankBrain can easily understand the content in a page, analyse the importance of search results and also get better with time.

8. Possum

Though launched on September 1, 2016, Possum brought the focus back on searcher’s location as well the address of the business. It made for various changes in local ranking filters. Post the Possum update, Google is giving the best results based on the physical location of searcher. If you have a business which contains the best competitors and have a low online presence and stay in the same area, then your website can be deranked in Google.

9. Fred

It was launched on March 8, 2017 and this update’s main intention was to filter out search results of low quality. In short, the sole purpose was to target websites that had low quality content but generate ad and also affiliate revenue.

Conclusion

With due passage of time, Google is becoming smarter in identifying websites which can give the visitors valuable content. So, every decision you take as owner of a company website or an individual blog should aim on the choice of having valuable content.

Are you an entrepreneur who has online home services business specializing in offering qualified plumbers in Pune? We hope that by reading this article, you can make many changes to your website to get good rankings in Google.

So, have you got valuable information on the Google updates? It is true that content is king, but not necessarily, everyone will read your content unless you are a celebrity or have gained a reputed name in a specific field. And in case of businesses which have to sustain among the competition SEO practices help a lot in bringing their website on the top.

We hope that valuable information has been given regarding the algorithms. Do you have a question? If so, kindly mention in a review in the Comments section. We will take it in our next article.