Google’s algorithms are responsible for analysing searches, determining which sites are the most relevant and should therefore be displayed at the top of the results. However, it’s not as simple as tailoring your website and content to meet the needs of one algorithm, as Google is known for frequently updating and chancing them in an effort to keep results relevant and prevent spam or irrelevant sites from rising to the top.
Minor changes are being made constantly, but every now and again, Google will completely overhaul their algorithm to make significant changes to the way they rank search results. Here are some of the biggest Google updates to take place so far. Whatever changes take place in the future, we will make sure to stay up to date with them so we can continue to provide the most relevant website design and content services.
PANDA
One of the main purposes of this update was to keep low-quality sites with duplicated or spam content from climbing to the top of the rankings, which was previously a big problem, and make sure people are presented with relevant and useful results when they conduct a Google search. The ultimate result of Panda is that sites must now have original, high quality content in order to compete.
PENGUIN
Before this update was introduced, sites could gain high rankings fairly easily simply by having a lot of external links, which opened the door for website owners to abuse the system. Penguin was designed to separate the quality sites with relevant links from the ones which had simply inserted links for the sake of higher rankings.
HUMMINGBIRD
Websites must now cater to the needs of real people as effectively as possible in order to succeed, and this update reflects this new reality. The aim of Hummingbird was to make search results more nuanced and better suited to the needs of the searcher. This update has been particularly valuable as voice searches have become more widely used with the proliferation of tablets and smartphones.