It was another busy weekend for Google’s algorithm.
Penguin 2.1 rolled out and frustrated even more website owners who lost traffic.
On the flip side, others celebrated gains after recovering from previous penalties.
If you’re having trouble keeping up with all the Google changes and what they mean, this post will catch you up.
1. Inconsistency is the New Constant
The following comment from Search Engine Land’s post about Friday’s Penguin update summarizes what a lot of people are noticing…
In case you haven’t figured it out, Google wants to keep everyone guessing in order to prevent abuse and manipulation.
What works for one site may not have the same effect on another. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they had different algorithms depending on the competitiveness of the niche.
Also, have you ever wondered why a certain site ranks above you when it has fewer quality backlinks and hardly any social media love?
Well that’s the era we’re in now with search engine optimization. There are so many on and off-page criteria that determine where a page ranks, and it changes constantly.
Moz crafted an excellent article on search engine ranking factors and explains how they correlate to one another. This is definitely one for the bookmarks!
2. Penguin Strikes Again, But Wait… There’s More!
As I already mentioned, another Penguin update rolled out last Friday.
This particular update is always about the quality of the links pointing to your site and nothing else.
So if you were caught buying links or obtaining links from places Google doesn’t like, they may lower your rank or drop your site out of search altogether.
Just remember, that doesn’t mean there weren’t other updates that The Big G didn’t disclose.
So if your site got slapped and you weren’t doing any so-called shady link building, there could be other undisclosed updates that Google never announced.
3. Yes, Google’s Algorithm is Still Flawed
Google is constantly emphasizing that quality matters and black hat techniques (link buying, schemes, etc.) will be punished.
For the most part this is true, but no one exposes the weaknesses of Google’s algorithm like Glen Allsopp, and he’s done it again with this post.
No doubt Google has cleaned up a lot of mess in the SERPS, but low quality content still finds its way into the top 10 quite often.
And there’s nothing more frustrating than seeing your hard work outranked by some low-quality site with spun or scraped content.
Even after all the Penguins, Pandas and now the first Hummingbird update, there’s still work to do.
So don’t be surprised if a scraper site still outranks you. Remember, Google is not human, it’s run by an algorithm. And unfortunately people will always find ways to exploit it.
4. Manual and Algorithmic Penalties Require Different Actions
Sometimes Google assigns manual penalties to websites that they believe are engaging in activities that violate their guidelines.
If you get slapped by a manual penalty, you will receive a notification via Google Webmaster Tools.
Your next step is to review the notice, fix whatever you did wrong and then apply for a reconsideration request.
Penguin, for example, is an algorithmic penalty, so submitting a reconsideration request does you no good here.
You need to clean up your backlink profile and use the disavow tool to tell Google to ignore those “bad” links.
Next step… wait it out. When the next Penguin update rolls around, you will find out if your actions were fruitful.
5. How The Hummingbird Update May Affect Your Site
You’ve probably heard about Google’s Hummingbird update by now, but you may not really understand how it could affect your site in the long run.
Well here’s the gist of it…
Google is now relying more on the intent and semantics of search, rather than just the keywords used in the query.
Here’s an example…
Say you do a search for best hamburger. Years ago that query may have revealed different articles that earned a rank by optimizing for that phrase and having the right backlinks.
Today, Google will try to understand your intent behind that query to serve up more useful results.
Maybe you’re performing this search via voice-command from your Google mobile app. So Google assumes you’re looking for a good hamburger place in your area and uses your current location to show restaurants that have “best hamburger” in various online reviews.
So if you have a hamburger recipe website that ranks for best hamburger, you might see it competing with more local results.
This is one example of how Hummingbird could impact your site.
Google has been leaning this way for a few years now with search, but the Hummingbird update just fine tuned this technology more than ever as Google aims to get smarter.
Does this mean that on-page criteria, backlinks and social shares no longer matter? Of course they still play a role. This is just another enhancement to the algorithm.
6. Google Will Start Hiding Keyword Referral Data
Pretty soon when you log in to Analytics, you will not be able to see what Google keywords people are using to find your website.
It will just show a total number of keyword referrals and the words “Not Provided.”
Bummer, I know!
You can still use Google Webmaster Tools to see your average rank and Google AdWords customers will have access to this data too, of course.
So why is Google doing this? Is it really about security like they claim?
Do they want to make keyword manipulation even more difficult?
Are they trying to force more people to use Google AdWords?
My answer to that is simply yes, yes and yes! 🙂
Remember, Google is a business and they are always going to do what’s best for their bottom line.
7. Quality Content Has Been Re-Defined
Are you tired of hearing phrases like “content is king” or “quality content always wins” yet your original, hard work never seems to be rewarded?
Here’s the deal. Quality content does still win, it’s just that the bar has been raised significantly.
In 2008, quality content for search engine optimization purposes was simply an original article that targeted a specific keyword.
In 2013, that same kind of article may not perform nearly as well if no one is sharing or linking to it. And it’s not just about anyone sharing it, but the AUTHORITY of the person linking to or sharing the article.
And you better believe authority is a metric that will constantly be re-defined over and over again. Just because you have 50,000 Twitter followers doesn’t necessarily make you an authority anymore.
Why? Because that metric can be gamed and so can things like social shares.
I got an email from a blogger who didn’t understand why her article with 56 Facebook Likes and 23 Tweets was being outranked by other sites that had almost no social media shares.
Yes, those shares matter, but Google also knows that this can be easily exploited by people joining blogging networks to gain shares or paying for likes through a site like Fiverr.
So it would make sense that they would look at the bigger picture and also take into account the quality of backlinks, the person’s individual AuthorRank and so much more than just one or two signals to determine a page’s rank.
Gone are the days where you can look at a site’s ranking and understand exactly how it was earned. Sure, you can still use certain tools to get an idea, but Google is definitely shaking things up!
If you get nothing else from all these updates, SEO is becoming increasingly complex and Matt Cutts warned us that it would.
8. SEO Scams Are an Even Bigger Business Now
It never fails. At least once a month I get an email from someone who has been scammed by some SEO service that makes ranking promises they can’t deliver.
And the scams seem to be getting worse as SEO continues to evolve, so please be careful.
These people prey on individuals who are new to Internet marketing and don’t how the search engines work.
The only real SEO experts are the ones who work on the Google search team. And the last time I checked, they weren’t for hire. 🙂
Now, that’s not to say there aren’t reputable people and companies who can guide you. Just be careful and get a recommendation from someone you trust.
Arm yourself with education by subscribing to reputable sites on SEO like Search Engine Land, Moz and Search Engine Watch so you at least understand the basics and keep up with the latest news.
Need a crash course on how SEO has evolved? Check out my video from earlier this year.
So What About You?
What are your thoughts on all these updates? Were you impacted? How will it change your strategies? Looking forward to hearing from you!
Lisa,
Great article on Hummingbird. I remember finding the Moz factor list about a month ago as well (not surprising google have put +1’s at the very top eh?) Nothing else really surprised me until I got to how important social endorsements were. Have you ever tested implementing a social sharing toolbar that scrolls with the reader? Thanks!
Hey James,
Yes, I used to use Sharebar until there was a bug with one of the versions. I switched to a more simpler social sharing pluginr in the meantime but never switched back to Sharebar.
Thanks for that article, Lisa. I only created my first website about 2 months ago but Google is driving me a little crazy, especially after their analytics started behaving strangely and they started taking away the keyword data. At least, it seems ranking in Yahoo and Bing is a lot easier. I will keep reading and trying to learn as much as I can about SEO, I really appreciate the links you provided for that.
The irony of it all is, as an end-user, when I’m trying to use Google for some serious, deeper research — all the really good content hits are still WAY down in the results list, with the top of the search results hit list still dominated by crap or trifles not worth the screen space. Oh well.
hi lisa ,
Great post and very informative. I feel that Google want to continue its monopoly in this field so it make changes time to time and keep secret every details for security reason.
thanks for sharing lisa
Hai lisa,
I am just learning SEO, and this information is very helpful me. I want to ask, whether every day google searching? or every week? or every month? if every day we have to update the web?
my blog is new and did not receive to much traffic and i’m unable to see the much changes with my traffic, but i will always to do the quality content at my blog for long term. Google like this
I’m really anxious about the Hummingbird update and how it could potentially affect my site so I’m really thankful for the insight. The hamburger example is excellent. Suddenly got hungry though. Lol.
Mike
LOL! Thanks, Mike.
I agree with statement number 5 which help a lot of mobile users. There are pros and cons for these and I agreed that it has giving huge impact to the previous ‘top ranker’. But I still find some website with less than 50 backlinks standing still on number 1 first page. ouch that’s unfair. Thanks for he info Lisa, I learn something today.
“If you get slapped by a manual penalty, you will receive a notification via Google Webmaster Tools.”
I think the Google Webmaster Tools ir pretty good to check if all our SEO efforts are bringing good results, but like the article said “only real SEO experts” really now what to do!
They definitely want to keep people from figuring out their algorithm, patterns, & SEO standards. I would say that if you just provide good quality content, stick to “honorable” SEO efforts, and obvious techniques, you should be fine. Even if it affects you this time, you might get rewarded next time. Great article, very helpful. To anyone reading this, this website is always worth a read. Big fan of your site, Xavier
People stop worrying about Google! You need to look at all possible traffic sources out there. Video, podcsats, social media etc. Treat organic traffic as a bonus rather than a necessity. If you are relying on organic search for all your traffic you are setting yourself up for a fall at some point.
Well said, Martin!
Hi Lisa,
I’ve read your post, it’s great with proper explanations for the recent Google updates. Nice work. I feel fake websites need something stricter from Google side.
I wasted a lot of time reading about SEO tricks and backlink builiding, without thinking to the most important thing: the content.
This was a big update! Affected many users.
Great post!
Most people blog to make money ; blogging that way will make you start chasing the traffic with all means , some of which Google will penalize you with. The better way is to be natural on your blogging and build the organic traffic through your quality content.
This is a very useful summary of the update thanks Lisa.
I guess Hummingbird goes hand in hand with the recent move by Google to encrypt all incoming keyword data. That is, it will see a shift away from trying to rank for one particular phrase. But I can see how a lot of people will be floundering a little at first with respect to how to approach SEO going forward.
I agree with your conclusion that the hiding of keyword data equates to a probable push towards Adwords. I just hope that we don’t end up having to invest a certain amount with Adwords in order is be able to access the now-free keyword data in Webmaster Tools.
Great info, I had to read this twice just to make sure I was soaking it all in. Thanks!
LOL, well glad you stopped by!
This post is very resourceful. I really enjoyed every insights regarding Google latest penguin update 2.1. I believe is just notifying people don’t just create and keep up with same type of links, thus far try making different and very unique, relevant links. And doing so anyone can impress Google and can achieve improved Google ranking. I definitely feel positive about those 9 ways. Thanks for letting know.
Google has been making so many changes lately, that my head can’t stop spinning. I think you make a lot of really valid points. It”s crazy to my how people still think they can win by cheating SEO, links, content, etc. It might be a quick win, but sooner or later it will be stopped by the SERPs mega machine. Do you have any thoughts of Google’s Authorship?
I think Authorship is playing a bigger role than ever before and mainly because it is a lot harder to game than social media shares, backlinks, etc. Authorship is a great signal because it’s more about WHO is sharing your content instead of just volume of shares by low quality sites or people who have minimal authority.
Ciao Lisa, I’m a new reader and I like your blog!
I wasted a lot of time reading about SEO tricks and backlink builiding, without thinking to the most important thing: the content.
So I can just agree with you and be happy that “the bar has been raised significantly” 🙂
So I decided to delete almost all my SEO blogs RSS and fill in that with Content Marketing blogs…I’m sure that will be a good long term investment.
P.S: in my RSS there is your blog too! 😀
Ago
Hi Ago,
Good for you! Glad you turned over a new leaf and thanks for subscribing!
Hey Lisa,
I should have stopped by here first and shared this post along with your video in my latest one about the Google information. You explained this very well, thank you so much.
Well we briefly chatted and you know how I feel about this too. In all honesty, I was pretty ignorant when I started blogging and was just learning from people I thought were teaching me the right thing to do. I think I just got so overwhelmed with trying to figure all this out that I just stopped for the most part.
I continued my learning process of course but focused more on just writing content I thought my readers would appreciate and it worked to my advantage. Over time my blog has slowly picked up some steam so I now know how to stay on Google’s good graces but I’m not bending over backwards to make them love me either. I have my readers for that.
Appreciate this information and have a wonderful weekend. Thanks again.
~Adrienne
Hey Adrienne,
Great to see ya here! SEO can be overwhelming but what I’ve noticed from your blog is that you have built relationships with your readers and that’s more important these days than ever. So looks like to me you’ll be fine no matter what Google does!
Thanks for the comment and the shares this week.
Hi Lisa,
I love what Google is doing.
You make awesome points here too!
Google is a biz.
Their bottom line matters to them….
…and they will do what it takes to reach it and to put out a superior product.
Raising the energy of search and the web, I feel.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Ryan,
Yes it is definitely forcing a lot of people to re-think how they approach their sites. It’s time we all start focusing more on people, the overall user experience and less on dominating keywords. If you can do the former very well, the latter will take care of itself.
Hi Lisa
I have only recently started subscribing and reading your blog.
I started mainly because of your articles regarding algorithms and it has in a funny kind of way reassured me not to try to manipulate the thie things that you cannot control. There has been quite a lot of misleading comments and guides on the web and it has confused me and many thousands of people.
I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your articles and I will look forward to your comments and the comments of your subscribers as there is a great deal of clear information that I for one do not yet fully appreciatere.
Thank you
Richard
Thanks for a great article Lisa, as always hitting the nail on the head!
Have only just taken on board the term “Responsive” in the WP Theme context. You have helped to shine some light on the issue, thanks again.
From across the pond.
No problem Steve. What a coincidence. I LITERALLY just responded to your testimonial for my book and then I login and see this comment from you. 🙂
Yes, responsive themes are a MUST these days.
Hey Lisa, very informative article…, I’ve learnt lot of new things from this article..
Hi Lisa Thanks for the great Article .
I think Penguin 2.1 is still rolling as i am seeing lots of changes in google since last 1-2 days .
Yep, it normally takes a few days for the dust to settle with these updates.
Hi Lisa, thank you for this post! My site was ranking well (page 1 or 2) for my keywords until recently, and now I’m nowhere to be found. I am going to take your advice and not worry so much about Google as about providing my readers with value, i.e. quality content. So glad I was referred to your blog by a friend 🙂
Jessica
Hi Lisa,
Really informative post.
Although I’ve seen a ton of headlines about this, your update is the first post I’ve read all the way through about the recent changes with Google’s algo. LOL.
But seriously, I really can’t keep up with it all. It seems like lot to keep track of. It’s way easier for me to just stick with the evergreen strategies I’ve been doing.
I’ll be doing a written interview for one of my readers in a few days and some of the questions he asked are in reference to the recent G updates, so I’m actually having to do some research on what they are so I can give a relevant opinion/answer.
Show’s how little attention to give G, right? 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to write this up for us. It’s really helped give me some insight and further confirm that my anti-SEO stance is exactly where I need to stay. 🙂
Ti
And the fact you are not concerned with what G is doing shows that you have learned how to build a following without them — something all bloggers should be focusing on today. Google can take your rankings, but they can’t take your followers, subscribers, friendships, etc.
shalom, LISA, i have a free website because I am unemployed and I am a newbie, I don’t know how to set it up for click bank so I can start making some money to get my own website. can you help?
Hey Lisa,
Great breakdown of the latest huge tweaks from big G. We have finally gotten a client’s manual penalty lifted last month, and now see SO much fluctuation with rankings across the board. It really feels like we are in the blender of this large shake-up!
Certainly agree with the social signals that rank your page being from authoritative sources via +. Find those super niche-relevant blogs/forums/sites and build a relationship there. Those contextual branded links on pages that speak to the product/service you provide are the ones GSERP loves I believe!
Thanks for the insight and summary! I love that MOZ analysis and survey. I have been digging through that for a few days now. It is helping me line up action plans for sure
Matt
Matt, that’s great you were able to help your clients! Yes, relationships are the new backlinks.
Great info Lisa! Thanks for the update.
Most of what you have been telling us is being echoed by the results of googles updates. In particular, you said diversify website promotion and build your site the right way, without black hat tricks and the site will benefit from this approach.
Thanks again,
Lisa,
Thanks for the various updates on Google. I am new on the internet market and so will not comment much about happenings on Goggle. I got a company that created four websites foe me.
Google has refused my application to join Adsense for lack of enough content. I will re-apply in four weeks times. But I have registered with clickbank and speedyads. I want the company to create 12 more domains for me. Is that a good investment to make?. I want to make money online and want your honest opinion.
Cheers
I absolutely just realized all my misuse of ”affect” and ”effect” its super early here and im reading SEO articles from bed……. please excuse me! 🙂
Can anyone explain the affect of creating posts like ”round up” where a site provides say 25 links to other sites with a specific category like 25 Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes and how this affects a website linked to these posts and creating these posts … in regard to backlinking etc.. these posts get a ton of Pinterest traffic to our site but I dont do them often because I always wondered about the link building :/ is it safe to say yes ok create them but still make sure to link to high ranked sites or does it even matter anymore? Thanks for your input
Ann, these posts are perfectly fine. There’s nothing wrong with naturally linking out to websites in a post like this.
I long gave up on trying to deal with Google when they ranked a website with no content above mine for my main keyword purely because they had constructed a false popularity with social media. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to what they do and there is no second guessing them either. So I will carry on doing what I have been doing for the last year which is to focus on building up alternative traffic sources which now considerably outweigh the ever fluctuating Google traffic.
Andy what sources are using for alternative traffic?
Lisa I’m just starting out but if I’m looking at things correctly my site just got bumped up in the rankings. Also great article, thanks for keeping us posted.
“I got an email from a blogger who didn’t understand why her article with 56 Facebook Likes and 23 Tweets was being outranked by other sites that had almost no social media shares. Yes, those shares matter…”
Lisa, I was under the impression that Facebook had banned Google’s ass from combing Facebook pages to pick up FB likes and shares, which was one of the factors in Google deciding to set up Google Plus.
I’m not sure what you mean. This person earned these “likes” from people reading her page and naturally hitting the “Like” button. So I’m not sure what you’re referring to with Facebook banning Google. You lost me.
Lisa, there was an issue as of fall 2012 with Google (not) being able to continue to index / spider Facebook ( http://searchengineland.com/google-search-results-show-some-facebook-user-posts-leaking-out-of-walled-garden-130894 ). Bing was able to, as there was some kind of deal between Microsoft and Facebook. I haven’t read anything yet that things had opened up for Google on Facebook — but then things change so fast, I wouldn’t be surprised!
Every time there is a Google update my website always does better and gains more traffic… I average 30-60 more unique visitors each day since the last update… and the update before doubled my traffic. I guess this means you just need an honest website to be raked higher.
Thanks as always Lisa. I only follow a few bloggers in this space and you are one of them. I trust you and appreciate how candid you are 🙂
I have come to the conclusion that worrying about SEO is a waste of time, and I try to diversify where my traffic efforts are concerned and have been successful with that approach. You are right, there are a lot of people who are trying to make a lot of money on SEO, and I have signed up with a few, but fortunately all were money back guarantees, and I was refunded each time 🙂
Mike
Thanks Lisa for another great post! I have seen some increases in traffic over the past few days. However, I am more focus on building more content for my website. So I wasn’t too worried at all since I have young site. I have realize though, the more you update your site the better it is for you in the long run.
I am now seeing a lot of Google Plus posts showing up on page 1,2 and 3 in the Google search engine. I really think that Google is up to something with regards so social media and so I have started to post most of my recently updated content on Google Plus!
Thank you for the analysis!
All the best!
Carlinton
Thanks Lisa for another great article. You have always preached not to depend on Google so much, and I have listened. Thank you. I continue to write the best articles I can that are related to educating people about my niche, photography. And I enjoy doing it. So whatever way the wind blows with Google, or any of the other search engines for that matter, does not get my blood pressure up. I figure the people who need my information will find it.
The new Hummingbird architecture is sure to be a big step for google. I personally know of companies that were scammed by SEO optimization promises that were never delivered. Everyone has experienced garbage search results when using Google. Hopefully this new algorithm will help prevent some of this exploitation and provide the best answers.
http://www.gomoment.com
I think ‘Write a good content and people will find you!” doesn’t make sense.
1.Without promoting your site on the web nobody will find you. Logically you should spend more that 50% of your time on that.
2. What is “quality” content? Nobody knows, but everybody pretends to create it.
3.Hummingbird is good – general context, questions answering, authorship ant authority.
Congratulations, big G!
If writing good content was all there was to it, everyone would be at the top of the search engines. If you would care to actually read my entire post, you will note that I said you need to write good content AND promote it.
I just said that trying to get to the top of the search engines anymore was simply not worth the effort and that making use of other means such as Social Media will yield you much greater results for your time.
I wasn’t inspired by your comment! I hate this phrase you can find all around the web.
I agree with you that “trying to get to the top of the search engines is not worth the effort”… now.
At the end of the day, why do we even care about what Google, Bing/yahoo, etc does. Currently, my SEO efforts occupy only about 1% of my website promotion efforts. It is simply not worth while trying to keep up with all the BS that these search engines have to go through to stay ahead of the asshats that try to cheat the system.
In the end, having a site with Good, Well-Written, Expert, Authoritative content will get you what you need as people will find you. Once you have that in place, then Social Media efforts, both organic and paid, will yield a huge amount more benefit than anything you can do on the Search Engines.
Very well put, Ron.
This is why we, website owners, should not rely solely on search engine traffic.
In my opinion, this new algorithm (hummingbird) is more beneficial for a website that has a lot of comments. Quality articles can be defeated by a less quality articles, but they have a lot of comments.
Nice work Lisa… nice continue from what we talked about on our call.
I think you are right.. Google wants to keep us in the dark on what works and what doesn’t and how long it does work.
I’m still 50/50 on the real benefits of social… I agree that they most likely look at the authority of where those shares come from, but in my experience of getting shares from some authorities to a huge amount of authorities it is 50/50 if that post will rank higher from those shares.
From what you shared and what Moz shared, it still is and always will be more about the quality of links you get that will really help you.
The social shares are a nice bonus and if they help boost ranks, great, if not, then you will still be benefiting from the traffic and relationships those shares get you.. so you win either way.
Well said, JP!
Thanks for the great summary, Lisa! I have stopped worrying about Google a long time ago. I just don’t care what they do, and focus on delivering content that our readers like and network on forums within the niche.
Also, I’m not sure if you noticed this, but the Google Adwords Keyword tool changed completely too. Making it pretty much useless for keyword research purposes. Which, as far as I can tell, would also effect popular keyword research services like Market Samurai, as they are pulling data from Google.
Yep, good for you! That’s really the way to go.
Yes I did a video on the new Keyword Tool a few months ago. I use Long Tail Pro and it still works. They just make you login to AdWords first.
Thanks Lisa!!
What I really like about this site is that you give a comprehensive overview , in a way that I “get” it. :). Plus, the detailed links where required allow the focus to remain laser like and not be diffused.
It a complex topic, and you have made it simple, without being simplistic.
Thanks again, and please keep up the good work !!
Lisa, I was referring to the recent change just happened a couple of weeks ago., where they no longer give you current CPC, but an avarage. Of course they don’t say it is an avarage of what time period. My husband was actually looking at some keywords the day before and the day after the change, and the data is now completely different. Keywords that looked good previously no longer did. This is especially crucial for keywords that are seasonal, or about a new topic. There were other changes, but this was one of the most significant ones.
Ahhhh I see what you mean. I thought you were talking about the new planner. Yes, they are indeed making it harder with regards to keywords all around huh?
Hey lisa… I wanna ask one question
I had subscribed to MOz..,Search Engine Land,etc. But i had seen there they own are not implementing their own tips. I saw in Search engine watch with 87 characters title , 236 characters seo description, and some other violations. Why is it so??
Please answer
Those character suggestions are just a guide. I don’t really follow them to the letter either. Plus, they (Moz, Search Engine Land, etc.) have such great popularity they rank well because of their brand.
Can you give a smart and practical suggestions for seo and CPC?
Not sure what you mean. CPC means cost per click and is normally associated with paid advertising. SEO typically refers to ranking organically.