SEO Works With Algorithms: How Updating An Algorithm Affects Your Site Ranking

Understanding the algorithms that search engines like Google use can be bewildering. Let’s start from the beginning:

What is a search engine algorithm?

An algorithm is a mathematical process used by a computer to solve a problem or answer a question. Google, launched in 1998, is the leading search engine. The search engine algorithm was designed to find files on the Internet.

Google uses many algorithms, but the first one used is called PageRank, which measures the importance of all web pages (PageRank is named after Larry Page, the software developer and co-founder of Google). PageRank works by counting the number and quality of links to certain web pages to determine an estimate of the website’s importance and therefore its ranking compared to other websites in the same field or category.

Google has assumed that top websites are more likely to have more links from other websites and therefore rates the website higher in the search engine results page (SERP). PageRank happens to be the most well-known algorithm used by Google. An entire industry of business services to take advantage of PageRank is now called search engine optimization (SEO).

Google’s algorithms change 500-600 times per calendar year, more than once a day. The changes are implemented to make the search experience more relevant to the user. Most of the changes are minor and generally do not change the ranking of the website to any noticeable degree.

For nearly two decades, Google has been refining its search engine service, becoming more sophisticated, with massive algorithms affecting how websites rank.

What is an algorithm update?

Major updates have been rolled out on a regular basis, both named and unnamed. Companies that provide SEO services dedicate their resources to discover how each change affects the websites they manage. The stakes are high, especially for websites dedicated to e-commerce. If a website is built and maintained using best practices, with a focus on unique content and an easy-to-navigate user experience, the website will score well. A strong rating converts to a higher page rank that will bring more traffic to the website.

Some of the named updates over the years have been: Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon, Possum, RankBrain, Mobilegeddon, and Pirate. Each update relates to a specific aspect of a website, such as website link quality, semantic content search, and mobile-friendly (or responsive) websites.

How are algorithm updates revealed?

This is fascinating: some updates are announced; others are implemented covertly and are done entirely by watching page ranking activity. Google sometimes confirms updates after the update starts. Lately, Google has been quiet about confirming its algorithm updates. The SEO industry looks at metrics carefully to determine which aspect of page ranking is affected. When they notice big changes in the search results, they conclude that an algorithm update has occurred.

What is the Fred update?

On Wednesday, March 8, 2017, industry experts noted important changes when using Google’s tracking tools. This algorithm change has been called Update Fred.

Until experts fully digest the meaning of the page rankings, the nature of the update is speculative. Fred Update shows early signs of being associated with quality, not content, of links. Gary Illyes, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, tweeted an image of the colorful Fred fish on March 7: “DYK for each search result there may be multiple candidate titles and users are shown the one thought to work best for the query.” . .

Since an evaluation is carried out to select the best query result, looking at pages that rank higher than your website can uncover opportunities to improve content without duplication. Unique content and quality links to and from your website will help improve page ranking. The most recent massive algorithm update to date is Google Penguin 4.0 (Phase 1 and Phase 2). This update largely removes the penalty for bad links on sites, and in turn devalues ​​bad links, which still negatively affects rankings, but not to the point of penalizing sites.

Penguin was significant because it targeted low-quality websites that contained ‘spam’ content. His main concern was flagging websites that would harm users’ computers or cell phones.

Google Penguin 4.0

The Google Penguin update had been in development, under review, for two years prior to its release. The update was actually released on September 27, 2016. This update was unusual in that it was multi-phased, and it took a bit longer to release than most other algorithm updates.

The second phase was launched on October 6, 2016. After the launch of this second phase, the “temperature” of the algorithm decreased and returned to relatively normal. Moz reports the weather by day showing the temperature or turbulence from Google’s algorithm. When Google makes a change, there is often a reshuffling of the page’s rankings. This week the Moz temperature is 94o; this shows the likely effect of Fred’s upgrade.

Knowing the complex nature of evaluating a website’s value, understanding these updates, and recognizing how algorithms affect a website and its ranking is the job of companies that provide SEO services. You can choose to do this work in-house, but hiring an outside company to handle your SEO is often money very well spent.