Google Algorithm Changes
I have come across this eye opening article that sheds some light on the algorithm changes committed by Google over the years. It has encouraged me do a little research and think about the effects it might have on sites in the future. The article shows plausible evidence that Google is not reluctant to make fundamental changes to the way they are indexing documents on the web nor anxious about what this means to e-commerce companies in the world. Google has set a goal to serve their customers (the users) primarily with less regards to corporate entities whose role also is, or supposed to be, to serve them. The SEO community is divided about their methods, but we are all used to that being futile anyway…I mean having an opinion about it.
So, facts.
In February Google has released an algorithm change that had an impact on 12% of the results in the US. This might not seem a lot but we are talking big numbers here, in the realm of millions. Here is what Google had to say about it:
Google changes its algorithm on a regular basis, but most changes are so subtle that few notice. This is different. Google says the change impacts 12% (11.8% is the unrounded figure) of its search results in the US , a far higher impact on results than most of its algorithm changes. The change only impacts results in the US. It may be rolled out worldwide in the future.
By looking at the changes they have made to the algorithms it seems that Google is only following the naturally evolving trends. For instance in 2009 the broad algorithm has weighed domain authority, link popularity of a specific page, anchor text and keyword usage on page level that all corresponds well with the previously known slower evolving, more static and highly diverse site structures prior to the social media boom.
In 2011 however, the first four driving factors are all revolve around link authority combined with content relevancy on both page and domain level. Social metrics have climbed upwards on the list while they recognized how little control the domain owner has over inbound anchor link texts therefore it is not part of the new algorithm – or at least it isn’t a decisive factor any more.
Changes to the way the algorithms calculate relevancy supports the theory that Google has started a crusade against content farms that are highly diverse in content and mean little relevancy for any specific search term. It is now also clear that “big” brands get a greater bias and the major categories driving e-commerce today such as travel, real-estate, etc. have specific ranking features applied to them and the result ordering is highly influenced by them.
In the future Google is planning to improve the analysis of a site/page’s perceived value to users and pay increased attention to social signals both at page and domain level. Also CTR and bounce rate will have a higher influence on rankings. They are also planning to penalize over-optimization such as high number of keyword rich anchor texts pointing to a page. – This is a 180 degrees turn from the common belief among SEO experts not long ago!
What this means? What can we do?
- evolving trends demand more attention
- site-wide relevancy relevancy needs to increase therefore sites will need to be more targeted
- strengthening brand is increasingly important
- title and description tags are important, because they will affect CTR
- design, readability and usability will affect bounce rates
What should we avoid?
- cloaking pages from Google vs. users
- selling links
- display paid advertisement and links on the site
- temporal spikes of links from questionable sources
Summary
Learn about the new trends and technologies, care about your users, and do everything in your power to serve them the best you can. Google only expects the same.
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