Google Algorithm Updates

If you are a search engine optimisation professional, webmaster or a website owner who gets good amount of traffic from googles organic results than you must be aware of Google algorithm, if not, you should know about it.

Google constantly makes adjustments to improve the search results & has been the top choice among people worldwide when it comes to searching on internet.

Through its regular algorithm updates it tries to provide best results to the searchers by improving on the quality of results it provides.

In this article I will try to highlight some of the major algorithm updates by google, how it impacted the search results and will also keep you up to date with the new ones.

Below is the list of major algorithms update by google in the past:

Fred – March 2017
Possum – Sep 2016
Rankbrain – Oct 2015
Mobile Friendly Update – April 2015
Pigeon – July 2014
Hummingbird – August 2013
Pirate – Aug 2012
Penguin – April 2012
Panda – Feb 2011

Google Fred Update

The name Fred was jokingly given by Garry Illyes (webmaster analytics expert) to a google algorithm update which was released in March 2017.

As per Barry Schwartz, one of the industry expert who analysed 100 websites affected by Fred update highlighted that sites which focused on monetisation more than user experience were penalised.

The penalised websites had ads at the prominent places of the site & had thin content according to the analysis by Barry.

The sites which were hit by Fred update noticed 50 to 90 percent drop in their organic traffic. Read in detail about Fred Update.

Google Possum Algorithm Update

A massive local algorithm was updated by google in Sept 2016, the name possum was given by local search community.

It affected the rankings in the local 3 pack & local finder(google map results). This update is considered as the biggest update affecting local listings since Penguin update which happened in 2014.

The update focused on diversifying the local listing results & prevent listings that were using spammy tactics. Improvements were also noticed in the ranking of businesses which were beyond the city borders. Read in detail about Possum Update.

RankBrain

The Google RankBrain algorithm was mention for the first time in a Bloomberg news story in October 2015 & later confirmed by Google.

Greg Corrado, a senior research scientist at Google revealed that google search is now using Artificial Intelligence System.

RankBrain is considered as a part of Google Hummingbird Search Algorithm because it mostly handle queries that are unknown to Google, 15 percent new queries are searched everyday as confirmed by Google. Queries in all countries & languages are impacted by RankBrain. Read in detail about RankBrain Update.

Mobile Friendly Update
An algorithm update was released by Google on 21st of April 2015 with a goal to boost ranking of web pages in Google’s mobile search results which were mobile friendly and down rank pages which were not. This update did not affect the search results for desktop.

As more & more people are using mobile device & accessing web through it, Google has confirmed that it is working on to index and rank web pages based on the content & user experience on mobile, which is also termed as mobile first indexing.

Is your website mobile friendly? You can check here.

Pigeon Update
Google Pigeon update was released in July 2014, it affected searches in which the users location was considered as important. Google’s local listing and local organic results were majorly affected by this update. Even the 7 pack local listing result style was replaced with 3 listings after this update.

Pigeon update created closer ties between the Local algorithm & core algorithm which means that the same SEO factors are now being used to rank local results as well. It also uses distance & location as an important factor in ranking the results.

The aim of this update is to increase the ranking of local business in Google search results & Google Maps. Read more about Pigeon Update.

Hummingbird Update
Hummingbird is not just a google update its the new search platform which google is using since September 2013. As the conversational search is increasing, this update enables google to understand the search queries better.

With hummingbird google is paying more attention to words in a query, the meaning of the query and trying to understand the search intent.

Google’s knowledge base known as knowledge graph had a positive influence by hummingbird update in terms of accuracy.

Hummingbird update had a positive influence on the accuracy of knowledge graph which is used by Googles as a knowledge base to enhance the search results. Read in detail about Hummingbird Update.

Google Pirate update
In August 2012 google introduced a filter which was named as pirate update by the search community. This update was also called Emanuel update in honour of Ari Emanual – co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor. He had spoken out at D Conference that google can filter the pirated content if they want. Watch his full video here.

This update target websites that google recognise to be in direct violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act(DMCA). It’s a process of filing a copyright complaint, google will investigate it & take action if found to be a valid case.
Click below to check the DMCA take down request that has been submitted to google:
https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/overview

Google says, “Sites with high numbers of removal notices may appear lower in our results.”

Penguin
In April 2012 google launched Penguin update to identify and penalise websites which were using spammy link building tactics to rank in google search results. With this update google aimed to reward high quality websites & remove websites from the SERP which were engaged in manipulative link building activities.

Penguin has now become a part of Google’s core algorithm, between 2012 to 2016 the penguin filter was updated 10 times.

Now the demotion & promotion of the organic rankings due the link spam happens on a fast pace because penguin now runs in real time within the core algorithm. It has become granular instead of site wide update. Now it devalues links by ignoring them rather than demoting or penalising the links .

Google even launched a disavow link tool which allows webmaster to tell google not to count certain external links which can affect their website in a negative way. Know in detail about Penguin Update

Panda
The year 2010 saw rise in the influence of content farms and falling quality of google’s search results. Google responded to this issue by developing Panda algorithm in 2011. Since than panda is updated from time to time to catch websites which may have escaped previously & let go websites which were affected previously if they have made the right changes.

With Panda update google aims at rewarding website with unique, compelling & in-depth content & reducing the prevalence of low quality, thin content in the search results.

Panda is now an algorithm which is applied to websites instead of penalty, it is a part of the core algorithm specific to the quality of content. Know in detail about Panda Update