What the Doctor Ordered: Your Yearly Google Algorithm Update Checkup (2016 Edition) Glenn Gabe of GSQi #SEJSummit @glenngabe
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What the Doctor Ordered: Your Yearly Google Algorithm Update Checkup
(2016 Edition) Glenn Gabe of GSQi
#SEJSummit
@glenngabe
About Me
1) President of G-Squared Interactive.
2) Focus heavily on algorithm updates, technical SEO,
and other mysterious disturbances in the force.
3) 98% of my work is assisting companies facing serious
challenges with Google (and SEO).
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Like when this happens:
I help a lot of people like her!
3 Takeaways
1) Understand major algorithm updates that rolled out in 2016.
2) Learn the signature of each algorithm.
3) Know how to avoid negative impact.
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With Google, Change Is Constant
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• Google pushes between 500 and
1,000 changes every year.
• Some are major, some are minor.
• I’m covering major algorithm
changes (big shifts in rankings).
• BTW, Google can, and will, roll
out multiple algo updates at one
time.
Major Google Algorithms To Know In 2016
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• Panda
• Google’s Quality Updates (AKA Phantom)
• Penguin
• Bonus “Popup” Slide
What’s A Major Shift??
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• Significant increases or decreases in rankings and traffic at one time.
• As the algorithm update rolls out, the earth shakes.
• Like this:
What’s A Major Shift??
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• Or this:
What’s A Major Shift??
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• Or this:
What’s A Major Shift??
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• Or this:
Brilliant -> Google’s Object Oriented Approach
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• Google can craft algos in a lab and roll them
out separately (as a filter).
• Examples: Panda and Penguin of the past.
• An object-oriented approach to fighting
webspam and low-quality content.
• But that caused significant movement all on
one day.
• Which led to webmasters screaming bloody
murder.
• Google doesn’t like that…
Core vs. Non-core
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• Google’s Core Ranking Algorithm is trusted.
• Non-core algos are rolled out separately
(and applied as a filter).
• Typically harder to identify core ranking algo
changes, since it is constantly running, with
many moving parts (200+ factors).
• Core does not mean real-time.
Google Panda
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Google Panda
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• First released in February of 2011.
• Targets low-quality content.
• HUGE shifts in rankings and traffic with each
update/refresh.
• Sites could lose 60-70% of their organic search
traffic overnight.
• The worst case I saw was a 91% drop overnight.
• Something changed significantly (IMO) with
Panda 4.2 and beyond.
The Wrath of Panda
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Panda 4.0
The Monetization Team…
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Panda Remediation Could Pay Off
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Panda 4.1
10/24/14 Panda Update
The Monetization Team…
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Panda in 2016
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• Now part of Google’s core algorithm, but not real-time.
• It’s much, much different than past Panda(s).
• Rolls out slowly (and can take months for each cycle
to complete).
• Nearly impossible to isolate now.
• Early March of 2016 and late October of 2016 could
very well have been Panda.
• And Google loves that it’s hard to isolate.
Gary Illyes (Recently) About Panda
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• Google doesn’t view Panda as a penalty.
• Wants to make sure content ranking highly can fulfill user expectations.
• Will adjust sites prominently ranking that shouldn’t be.
“We want users to find the right information (correct information) based
on their query. So, we have to adjust those overly-prominent sites.”
How To Avoid Google Panda
• Always meet or exceed user expectations.
• Improve or remove low-quality content.
• Check top landing pages from Google and
queries leading to those pages.
• Get objective feedback.
• 23 questions from Google.
• Perform crawl analysis and audit through the
lens of Panda.
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Google’s 23 Questions:
Google’s Quality Updates
(AKA Phantom)
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Google’s Quality Updates (AKA Phantom)
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• First uncovered in May of 2015 (by me).
• A confirmed change to how Google
assesses “quality”.
• That’s a HUGE statement.
• Massive movement in the SERPs.
• Big impact on Google organic search traffic.
Phantom Hits Can Be Huge
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The Monetization Team…
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And Phantom Gains Can Be Big
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And Phantom Gains Can Be Big
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Phantom 3
Jan 2016 Quality Update
The Monetization Team…
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Google’s Quality Updates – Phantom Connection
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• Since May of 2015, we’ve seen five more quality updates.
• Sep 2015, Nov 2015, Jan 2016, June 2016, and Sep 2016.
• The connection was extremely apparent. For example:
More About Phantom
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• Seems to require a refresh (happening every
few months).
• Targets “low-quality user engagement”
(which could include low-quality content.)
• Major overlap with old-school Panda (IMO).
• New factors can be added over time… or it
could be retired… or moved to real-time…
• Welcome to Google Land. :)
Phantom and Low-Quality User Engagement “Hell hath no fury like a user scorned.”
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• Disorganized and broken UI.
• Aggressive & Deceptive ads.
• Popups and interstitials.
• Render issues.
• Low-quality supplementary content.
• And more.
• Read Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines
How To Avoid Google Phantom
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• Strong user experience + high quality content =
winning combination. User happiness wins.
• Get objective feedback.
• Perform crawl analysis and audit through lens of
Phantom.
• Cut down on ad aggressiveness and excessive
monetization.
• Don’t deceive users.
• Ensure Google can accurately see your content.
Google Penguin
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Google Penguin
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• Launched in April of 2012 as part of an
algo sandwich.
• Webspam algorithm that heavily targets
unnatural links.
• Was a site-level demotion.
• Crushed many sites (and many never
recovered).
• Left the door open to negative SEO.
Google Penguin Heavily Targets Unnatural Links
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Google Penguin – Rich Anchor Text Links
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Link Profile = High % of Spammy Links
With a High % of Rich Anchor Text
But Penguin Ran Into Problems
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• Penguin morphed into a broken algorithm.
• Google clearly had problems with it over the
years…
• We went 1+ year in between Penguin 2.1 and 3.
• Then almost 2 years in between 3 and 4.
• But Google said that 4.0 was going to be
different...
• And Google was right!
Penguin 4.0 – A Major Shift For Penguin
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• Announced on 9/23/16.
• Devalues spam versus “penalizing” it.
• That’s a HUGE change.
• Previous Penguin penalties/suppression were
removed!
• Knocks out negative SEO threat.
• Questions remain about using disavow file.
• Penguin has a mechanism built in to deal with
“manipulation”. Beware.
Penguin 4.0 Movement
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• Movement first seen in mid-September (around 9/13).
• Then more in late September as Google rolled out Penguin in stages
(and previous Penguin suppression was removed).
• For example:
Penguin 4.0 Movement - Up
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Penguin 4.0 Movement - Up
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Penguin 4.0 Movement - Down
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Penguin 4.0 Movement - Down
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Penguin Movement - Rankings
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More About Penguin 4.0
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• Runs in real-time.
• Spammy links will be devalued on the fly.
• More granular versus site-level demotion.
• Since it’s running in real-time, will be hard to
identify movement beyond initial rollout.
• John Mueller said, “Good luck” identifying
impact from Penguin over time.
• Gary Illyes recently clarified the “webspam”
aspect of Penguin. It’s at the source!
Avoiding Damage From Unnatural Links
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• Penguin devalues spam, but there are other link algos + manual actions.
• Continually review your inbound links (monthly).
• Remove unnatural links if you can…
• Still use the disavow file, when needed,
although less needed for Penguin now.
• Always look to build amazing content,
exceed user expectations, which can help
build fresh, powerful links. Reviewing “new” links in Majestic
Bonus: Who else hates popups?
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Bonus! Popup Algo - January 2017
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• Mobile popup algorithm launching in 1/2017.
• Can demote any mobile page displaying a popup
or interstitial when users visit from Search.
• Horrible user experience.
• But will this move to desktop too? Many hope so.
• Reminder: There’s still a mobile-friendly algorithm
running in real-time.
OK, ready for 2017?
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What the Doctor Ordered: Your Yearly Google Algorithm Update Checkup
(2016 Edition) Glenn Gabe of GSQi
#SEJSummit
@glenngabe
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