8 Major Google Algorithm Updates That You Should Know

Google has so many ultimate products, and almost every next day, Google changes its algorithms and gives new updates to increase the efficiency of its users. The data shows that almost 500-600 times Google introduces updates in a year. Not all changes given by the company is major. Some are minor and some are core updates which help in ranking. 

If you are not new to Google algorithms, then, you can understand a hike or downfall in your search rankings at the time of major algorithm updates. In this blog, we are going to discuss some of the major Algorithm Updates. Keep reading to understand the major algorithm changes, their purpose of occurrence & impact in detail.

So, here are the 8 popular updates that you should know:

Panda

• Launch Date: Google gave this update on February 24, 2011.
  
• Need: To detect or ban duplicate, plagiarized, or thin content & activities such as keyword stuffing, content spamming, etc.
  
• How it works: For each Website or Content, Panda assigns a "Quality Score," which works as a ranking factor for Google. Before using Google Algorithm, Panda was just a filter. Yes, it was a filter instead of being part of the Google ranking algorithm. In January 2016, Panda is officially incorporated into the core algorithm of Google. It becomes more frequent day by day. This update also has faster rates of penalties and recoveries and it now happens faster.
  
• How to adjust: To be Panda penalty free, check your website Content on a regular basis so that it would be spam free. If you get any content duplicates, then, remove it as soon as possible and recrawl that page to Google. You can also use Copyscape to check the plagiarism of the content. In so many cases, the owner cannot use the original content such as e-commerce websites can never have 100 percent unique content then, it is advice them to use original images in place on content.

Penguin

• Launch Date: The update was launched on April 24, 2012.
  
• Need: To set a penalty over spammy or irrelevant links / to support quality link building.
  
• How it works: It works in real-time, and always looking for spammy or irrelevant links. It sets a penalty to websites those have spammy or irrelevant links & drops their rankings in SERPs. The main objective of this update is that just go down the rank of the website whose link seems manipulated. It became part of Google's core Algorithm in January 2016. As we know, Panda works in real-time but, Penguin has no connection with the real-time process.
  
• How to adjust: You can manually find spammy backlinks & remove them and you can use Google disavow tool to tell Google which of the backlinks you want for your website. It will help you to monitor regular run audits of your profile. In this update, you will get a summary dashboard which will enable you to check the progress graph for the link of growth of the profile.

Hummingbird

• Launch Date: The update was launched on August 22, 2013.
  
• Need: To find & remove irrelevant or spam content and to understand user query intent efficiently.
• How it works: The Hummingbird helps Google to understand a user’s query & the intent of that query so that it can interpret all the possible results & provide them with the best one at the top of SERPs. A keyword is the main part of this Google algorithm. You can achieve the target with the help of natural language. 
  
• How to adjust: Analyze what & how your targeted audience searches & what they want their semantic versions. Create quality content which provides the appropriate & expected answer to the user’s queries. It is good to focus on concepts rather than just on keywords. To get a good and full proof idea you can take the help of the ultimate source, Google Related Searches and Google Autocomplete. This insight is also helpful to study the language of the audience clearly. Your content should satisfy the intent of search of each and every audience.

Pigeon

• Launch Date: It was launched on July 24, 2014, in the US and in UK and Canada on December 22, 2014.
• Need: To Improve On Page & Off Page SEO.
• How it works: the “Pigeon Update” is a which affects location-based searches & provides more useful, relevant, and accurate local search results that are tied more closely to traditional web search ranking signals. 
• How to adjust: Analyze & improve your on-page SEO & off-page SEO. Start with Off Page activities such as start doing Relevant Business Listings in High authorized Directories & try to create good quality local connections & backlinks. A good move for the website is to run the on-page analysis with the Website Auditor. This is a very useful tool and it is used to take an idea about the features of on-page optimization. And, when it comes to the other form of SEO then, it is good to get listed in relevant business records. The backlinks help to increase the rank of the site.

RankBrain

• Launch Date: It was launched on October 26, 2015.
• Need: Used to sort live search results and give users the best fit for their search query.
• How it works: RankBrain is the one and only available AI part of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm. It helps Google to understand the meaning behind queries so that Google can serve the best results for the search queries. As per Google, it is one of the third most significant ranking factors. The ins and outs of Rank Brain are not clearly known today, but, one thing is sure it is important for Google. The main purpose of this algorithm is to identify the exact or relevant result for web pages.
• How to adjust: Create very informative & useful content which is able to give sufficient information for the related search queries. Optimize Website Content for Users, not for the Search Engines. You have an option to take the help of WebSite Auditor‘s TF-IDF tool. 

Mobile

• Launch date: It was launched on April 21, 2015.
  
• Needs: For poor mobile usability and poor mobile version of the page.
  
• How it works: Mobilegeddon is the Google algorithm which is also known as Google’s Mobile Update. The main purpose of this is to make sure that all the mobile-friendly pages rank at the top of the mobile search. Apart from that, those not optimized pages for mobile will be filtered out from the SERPs (seriously down-ranked.)
  
• How to adjust:  The first thing which you need to do is to go mobile and focus on the speed and usability of the mobile version of the page. With this tool, you can understand which factor you need to work on so that your mobile version’s visibility will improve. As well as, you can check mobile friendliness quickly with the help of WebSite Auditor.

Possum

• Launch date:  It was launched two years ago on September 1, 2016.
  
• Needs: Tense competition in your target location.
  
• How it works: This algorithm is based on the location of the search. The update makes sure that local results vary more as per the searcher's location. If you are closer to the address of the business, then, you will likely get the more exact local result. It also gives results in a large variety among results ranking for very similar queries.
  
• How to adjust:  One of the best ways to increase the searches is to expand the keyword list and also do location-specific rank tracking. Into the local SERPs, the Possum brought lightness. When you check your location, always ensure that you are doing this from your target location. 

Fred

• Launch date: It was launched on March 8, 2017. How it works: One of the latest updates by Google it targets the websites that disrupt Google’s webmaster conditions. Blogs with low-quality posts affect the site but, it is actually created to generate ad revenue.
  
• Needs: This is useful for ad-centered content. 
  
• How to adjust:  It works as a watch out for thin content and also reviews the Google Search Quality Guidelines that the article or blog created is matching the guidelines or not. The content should be high-quality if you are adding advertisements in it. Google can know each and every aspect of when trying to trick it. It is legit when a company earns revenue from ads but, make sure not to cheat Google for any interruptions.
  
• Thus, 8 of the above-mentioned algorithms of Google, and, every update have their own functions and purpose. You can go through All SEO Algorithm Updates 2018 and we are sure that many new updates will take place in the upcoming future. To overcome the ranking downfalls after any major update, we have to focus on what a user wants from us, rather than focus on how to manage Algorithm updates. Hope these details about the updates you understand clearly. So, keep searching for a better result!