Google is consistently changing their algorithm in order to provide a better and easier user experience. It is crucial to stay up to date with Google’s algorithm changes in order to maintain rankings in organic search results. Watch our Whiteboard Wednesday video to learn more about Google’s algorithm changes!

Google’s Algorithm Changes

Welcome back to Whiteboard Wednesday with Gauge Digital Media. I’m Brett, and I’m Dayna. Today we will be taking you through Google’s algorithm, how it changes and what that means. This can get pretty technical, so we are just going to scrap the surface of it for you today. It is important to remember as we’re talking, the whole goal for Google, and changes to this algorithm, is to provide awesome search results using search engines.

Something you might not know, “Google changes their algorithm anywhere between 500 and 600 times per year on average.” The majority of these changes are minor, but occasionally Google will release one that they consider a major update. For example, in 2016, some of these you might have heard about, among the 500-600 changes, were Penguin 4.0, Possum, Mobile-Friendly 2 and Google AdWords. These were some of the bigger changes that actually had an effect on search results. Dayna is going to take you through some of the dates of the bigger changes.

Knowing the dates of the Google updates can help explain the changes in rankings, organic website traffic, and ultimately improve your search engine optimization. Some of those key dates are:

  • In May 2014, Panda 4.0 was released to include an algorithm update and data refresh.
  • In September 2014, Google announces a significant update, with Panda 4.1, that would include an algorithmic component.
  • In October 2014, Penguin 3.0 was released for a data refresh.
  • In July 2015, Penguin 4.2 was released for a data refresh.
  • In September 2016, Penguin 4.0 was released, in real time and considered a core google algorithm.

There are so many different updates, as you just heard, with there being 3 Panda updates in 1 year. Keeping up to speed on the main reasons for these updates can shed some light on ways to help improve your marketing efforts.

Google states: “The goal of many of our ranking changes is to help searchers find sites that provide a great user experience and fulfill their information needs.” Google’s algorithm update focuses on providing users with an easy and good experience. It is important to focus on creating high quality sites that enable good user experience, using white-hat SEO methods instead of engaging in aggressive web-spam tactics. White Hat SEO improves the usability of a site, helps create great content, which benefits the user experience and search engines. Sites engaging in aggressive SEO tactics such as keyword stuffing and duplicate content, will be deemed as spam, in which that specific page will be penalized.

These updates to Google algorithm really emphasize having quality and relevant content to create a better user experience. We’ve talked a lot about that in our previous Whiteboard Wednesday videos, which you are always welcome to check out. You can do that at www.gaugedigitalmedia.com. We look forward to seeing you back here for our next edition of Whiteboard Wednesday!

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