Staying Up-To-Date With the Latest SEO Industry News
SEO industry changes can be daunting to keep up with; from new tools and techniques to shifting algorithms. There’s so much happening that it’s difficult to stay informed.
There are a few fantastic newsletters out there to keep you informed, such as SEO Chatter: 1. SEO Chatter
1. Google’s Penguin Update
Google’s Penguin update was an algorithmic adjustment introduced in 2012 that targeted black hat SEO link building practices and became part of their core algorithm over time.
Contrasting with Panda, which focuses on content quality, Penguin strictly penalizes websites with spammy or unnatural links while rewarding those that feature natural and legitimate ones.
Once a Penguin refresh or update comes out, people are left panicked over how it will impact their websites. Due to various myths and misconceptions around this update, such as disavowing links as being helpful against penalties – this has since been proven untrue.
2. Google’s Panda Update
When we hear “Panda,” most people immediately associate it with cute black-and-white animals frolicking around a zoo, but in SEO parlance, Panda refers to Google’s content quality algorithm.
Initialy, Panda was run independently from Google’s main algorithm and updated monthly, focusing on poor spelling and grammar as well as keyword stuffing and thin content.
SEO professionals were taking advantage of loopholes created by this update and exploited by SEO professionals, leading them to exploit certain tactics for ranking, which negatively impacted websites that relied on them for ranking – content farms in particular were hit hard. Online tools that understood Google ratings quickly identified which websites suffered, with some experiencing as much as 86% reduction!
3. Google’s Hummingbird Update
Following their Panda and Penguin updates, Google unveiled Hummingbird in 2013; unlike these it wasn’t intended to punish sites but rather focused on understanding search queries better.
Google announced in 2009 that one-to-one matching between keywords in a query and keywords on a webpage was no longer an essential ranking factor, helping Google understand more quickly what a query was about and provide results which fulfilled its intent.
As part of its introduction, Semantic Search also introduced an entirely new era for SEO; meaning that SEO must always adapt in order to stay abreast with how language evolves and people search online for information.
4. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Update
Google’s mobile-friendly update was officially rolled out in April 2015, having been announced two months prior. This update gave priority to pages that were mobile-friendly over those that weren’t, allowing those that were mobile-friendly to rank higher in search results.
Though Google’s update was widely known as Mobilegeddon or mopocalypse, it didn’t cause major rioting when mobile search became the focus. This may be attributed to giving plenty of notice before introducing mobile search changes – giving people sufficient notice and time to respond can help prevent widespread outrage when algorithms change.
5. Google’s Index Update
Google recently implemented an index update that may have affected the rankings of some sites, likely in order to combat spammy on-page keyword usage.
Google recently unveiled a minor Penguin refresh, impacting “0.3% of queries”. This update was considered data-only rather than algorithm-related.
Google recently implemented an additional type of news result which contained links to long-form articles in order to promote quality content and prevent “dumbing down” of search results.
6. Google’s Search Console Update
SEO is a rapidly developing field, so keeping abreast of its latest updates and news is vitally important. In order to optimize your website for users, Google Search Console updates must also be monitored closely.
Google recently unveiled an update for Search Console that allows marketers to monitor pending issues, helping improve overall performance by streamlining workflow processes.
Google also introduced an updated version of their URL Inspection tool, designed to assist SEOs with inspecting and debugging pages faster. New features of this version of the tool include AMP and canonical inspections as well as supporting image credit structured data within Fact Check and Q&A rich results reports.