We all know the fact that Google updates its algorithm every year. And we can’t just deny the fact that these updates happen almost a thousand times a year. These updates are too small to be noticed but leave a significant impact on the business.
However, Google doesn’t refrain from changing its fundamentals, which has a significant impact on SEO. Depending on the requirement, these updates will also require you to change your SEO strategy.
The previous year itself, Google rolled out several updates, and they even took to their official platforms to confirm it. However, it is necessary to keep track of your website and determine if you’ve been affected by the update. Various tools on Google can help you analyze if you’re getting the traffic and make switching pretty easy.
Importance of Google algorithm update
Google algorithm is a complex system that is used mostly for getting data via the search index. It analyses all the possible accurate results of a query. Google is one of the most prominent search engines that get traffic more than other websites.
The high ranked website will eventually appear in the #1 position of the search engine results page of Google. The search engine algorithm is a combination of algorithms that will further help your website rank depending on the relevance with the search engine results pages.
What are the major updates of Google?
Over the years, Google has provided various updates. The main function of Google search engine is to provide relevant information depending on the search engine query.
However, the algorithm updates are aimed at providing relevant and accurate information to the user. If you want to stay on the top, you need to keep up with SEO. The changing and updating SEO algorithms would thus play an essential role in keeping up and staying on top.
Here are some of the significant updates driven out by Google in the past few years.
Panda
This is often regarded to be one of the major updates of Google rolled out on 24 February 2011. The algorithm update checks for duplicate or plagiarized content and checks for keyword stuffing and user-generated spam.
The Panda rolls out quality scores on the web, one of the most important ranking factors. This was regarded to be a part of the Core algorithm of Google. Hence, updates have been rolled out constantly on this section and ignoring the rules and regulations may lead to penalties.
Penguin
Penguin checks for spammy and irrelevant links and over-optimized anchor texts. It down ranks or reduces the ranks of websites if the backlinks tend to look unnatural. The update may bring about low-effort link building which can lead to penalization.
According to the reports, Penguin has now been incorporated in the SEO SpyGlass’s Penalty Risk formula. You can check the Penalty Risk tab and choose the backlinks accordingly, ranking from highest risk to the lowest. The algorithm checks for the malicious links and adds them to Disavow.
RankBrain
Integrated as a part of Google’s algorithm, RankBrain is considered to be one of the essential algorithm updates of Google. It checks for poor UX designs and lack of query-specific relevance.
RankBrain is an essential part of the Hummingbird algorithm. This machine learning system provides meaning against different queries and provides answers to the queries. It is one of the most important ranking factors for RankBrain.
You need to optimize the pages accordingly depending on the comprehensiveness and relevance. The algorithm update helps you analyze the competitors. You can include similar terms to your content to enhance the relevance and eventually increase your ranking.
Core Updates
Initially launched in 2017, the Core updates are still running. The bigger updates of Google are now referred to as core updates. The core updates came into being since 2017. The core updates are responsible for checking the SERP history depending on the keywords you target.
The update allows you to check if your competitors have moved up or not. The Google Core updates improve with each moving day and help analyze the accurate results depending on the updates. The core updates may either be a single update or various small updates bound together.
Conclusion
It is necessary to track the SERP results to know about the updates. When Google rolls out the updates, it is still unknown. However, significant changes and updates happen every year, which is why you might want to keep up to check with competitors.
