What the Doctor Ordered: Your Yearly Google Algorithm Update Checkup

(2016 Edition) Glenn Gabe of GSQi

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@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