2023
Google Updates Overview
Summary
Google 9 Major Updates Overview
1. Panda
2. Penguin
3. Hummingbird
4. Pigeon
5. Mobile
6. RankBrain
7. Possum
8. Fred
9. Medic Core
1. Panda
Launch date: February 24, 2011
Hazards: Duplicate, plagiarized or thin content; user-generated spam; keyword stuffing
How it works: Panda assigns a so-called “quality score” to web pages; this score is then used as a ranking
factor. Initially, Panda was a filter rather than part of Google’s ranking algo, but in January 2016, it was
officially incorporated into the core algorithm. Panda rollouts have become more frequent, so both penalties
and recoveries now happen faster.
How to adjust:
*Run regular site checks for content duplication,
thin content and keyword stuffing. To do that, you’ll
need a site crawler, like SEO PowerSuite’s Website
Auditor.
* To check for instances of external content
duplication, use a plagiarism checker like
Copyscape.
2. Penguin
Launch date: April 24, 2012
Hazards: Spammy or irrelevant links; links with over-optimized anchor text
How it works: Google Penguin’s objective is to down-rank sites whose links it deems manipulative. Since
late 2016, Penguin has been part of Google’s core algorithm; unlike Panda, it works in real time.
How to adjust:
Monitor your link profile’s growth and run regular
audits with a backlink checker like SEO SpyGlass. In
the tool’s Summary dashboard, you’ll find a progress
graph for your link profile’s growth. Look out for any
unusual spikes: those are reason enough to look into
the backlinks you’ve unexpectedly gained. The stats
that we know Penguin takes into account are
incorporated into SEO SpyGlass’s Penalty Risk
formula.
3. Hummingbird
Launch date: August 22, 2013
Hazards: Keyword stuffing; low-quality content
How it works: Hummingbird helps Google better interpret search queries and provide results that match
searcher intent (as opposed to the individual terms within the query). While keywords continue to be
important, Hummingbird makes it possible for a page to rank for a query even if it doesn’t contain the exact
words the searcher entered. This is achieved with the help of natural language processing that relies on
latent semantic indexing, co-occurring terms and synonyms.
How to adjust: Expand your keyword research and
focus on concepts, not keywords. Carefully research
related searches, synonyms and co-occurring terms.
Great sources of such ideas are Google Related
Searches and Google Autocomplete. You’ll find all of
them incorporated into Rank Tracker’s Keyword
Research module.
4. Pigeon
Launch date: July 24, 2014 (US); December 22, 2014 (UK, Canada, Australia)
Hazards: Poor on-page and off-page SEO
How it works: Pigeon affects those searches in which the user’s location plays an important part. The
update created closer ties between the local algorithm and the core algorithm: traditional SEO factors are
now used to rank local results.
How to adjust: Invest effort into on- and off-page SEO. A
good starting point is running an on-page analysis with
WebSite Auditor. The tool’s Content Analysis dashboard
will give you a good idea about the aspects of on-page
optimization you need to focus on.
A good way to start with off-page SEO is getting listed in
relevant business directories. Not only do those act like
backlinks, helping your site rank; they rank well in Google
themselves. You can easily find quality directories.
5. Mobile
Launch date: April 21, 2015
Hazards: Lack of a mobile version of the page; poor mobile usability
How it works: Google’s Mobile Update (aka Mobilegeddon) ensures that mobile-friendly pages rank at the
top of mobile search, while pages not optimized for mobile are filtered out from the SERPs or seriously
down-ranked.
How to adjust: Go mobile and focus on speed and
usability. Google’s mobile-friendly test will help you
see which aspects of your page’s mobile version
need to be improved. The test in integrated into
WebSite Auditor so you can check your pages’
mobile friendliness quickly. You’ll find it in Content
Analysis > Page Audit, under the Technical factors
tab.
6. RankBrain
Launch date: October 26, 2015
Hazards: Lack of query-specific relevance features; shallow content; poor UX
How it works: RankBrain is part of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm. It is a machine learning system that
helps Google understand the meaning behind queries, and serve best-matching search results in response
to those queries. Google calls RankBrain the third most important ranking factor. It identifies relevance
features for web pages ranking for a given query, which are basically query-specific ranking factors.
How to adjust: Optimize content for relevance and
comprehensiveness with the help of competitive
analysis. With the help of WebSite Auditor‘s TF-IDF
tool, you can discover relevant terms and concepts
used by a large number of your top-ranking
competitors: those are a brilliant way to diversify
your content.
7. Possum
Launch date: September 1, 2016
Hazards: Tense competition in your target location
How it works: The Possum update ensured that local results vary more depending on the searcher’s
location: the closer you are to a business’s address, the more likely you are to see it among local results.
Possum also resulted in greater variety among results ranking for very similar queries, like “dentist denver”
and “dentist denver co.” Interestingly, Possum also gave a boost to businesses located outside the physical
city area.
How to adjust: Expand your keyword list and do
location-specific rank tracking. Local businesses
now need to be targeting more keywords than they
used to, due to the volatility Possum brought into
the local SERPs. As you check your rankings,
make sure you’re doing this from your target
location (or, better yet, a bunch of them).
8. Fred
Launch date: March 8, 2017
Hazards: Thin, affiliate-heavy or ad-centered content
How it works: The latest of Google’s confirmed updates, Fred targets websites that violate Google’s
webmaster guidelines. The majority of affected sites are blogs with low-quality posts that appear to be
created mostly for the purpose of generating ad revenue.
How to adjust: Review Google Search Quality Guidelines and watch
out for thin content. If you show ads, make sure the pages they are
found on are high-quality and offer relevant, ample information. This
is basically it: Don’t try to trick Google into thinking your page is about
something when it really is a gateway page full of affiliate links. Most
publishers make money off ads, and that’s totally legit as long as you
are not cheating.
9. Medic Core
Launch date: August 1, 2018
Hazards: Impact on Health/Medical Sites: Affected organic rankings for health, fitness & medical sites.
How it works: Google's Medic Update was a push for the search engine giant to help improve the
identification of authority and expertise online. it seemed to have a huge effect on health and medical,
financial, legal and “Your Money Your Life” (sites that can impact someone’s current or future well-being such
as their safety, finances, physical health etc.) sites.
How to adjust: Enhance E-A-T of your site, expertise
authoritativeness trustworthiness. Include author’s bio in articles, and
find specialists in your site area to review your content and add this
to your page to increase credibility. Focus on user intent within your
page by reducing promotional content as much as possible. Another
key point is to ensure site reputation is high. Add search reviews left
for your site, and provide areas for reviews to be left by consumers.
Thank You
Any Questions!!!