Make sure you are up to date with all Google updates to avoid penalties on your website
Google's beloved algorithms are updates that the system has been making to improve the customer experience. Although they all have specific tasks, it is likely that they will be updated over time and thus the SEO strategy will have to be updated along with them. Google algorithms have evolved over time, but before mentioning how you can avoid being penalized by them, I want to tell you about the Google algorithm that you should be most careful about:
The first update was that of Google Pana, in 2011. This friendly update came to put users who were not sharing their own content on the line, it focused on exploring the content of various websites that, in order to position themselves in the first places, only filled one page. page with many repetitive keywords and did not say anything with that content, which in turn made the text inconsistent. The Google Panda algorithm also:
✔ It came to penalize websites with duplicate content from other websites and to eliminate the famous "content farms", blogs with content on multiple topics, with little clarity and low quality.
✔To penalize the pages that copy the content of other networks to add it as their own. Which also made it difficult for Google to identify the original source.
✔Eliminate the content that was not really contributing anything of value to the users and that was in the first places just for repeating a word a lot.
This would be the starting point and it is still valid for most SEOs. The reason? the content of value and the natural text that provides real solutions to the user is now more appreciated by Google to position. So the old practices of repeating only a lot of a keyword in a piece of content have been forgotten. In this same order of ideas, if your website is an ecommerce, you must also make sure that you are not copying the same descriptions of the products from other websites, as this can also be classified as duplicate content.
Google algorithms
✔Google Penguin: It arrived in 2012 to teach specialists that they could no longer be linking their website to different pages just to position themselves at the top of the search engine. Well, that practice had to have a meaning, link to pages naturally and that the link redirected to where it was indicated to go. In this way, this cute penguin came to reward all those web pages that were managing to link their content correctly and in a natural way. But they also showed quality content.
✔Google Hummingbird: This little hummingbird came to focus on positioning the most natural content. With the aim of providing users with the best answers to their problems and to position those articles that could make them known without excessive words. It arrived in the year 2013 and affected many websites, but since then it seeks to improve the user experience with the content.
✔Update from Http to Https: In 2014, Google announced that it would give greater visibility to pages that adapted an https code. This update gives users more security about their data. SSL encryption is of vital importance, because having it indicates that your website has secure encryption and that your data is being stored responsibly, especially if you have an ecommerce. Having it not only gives you a greater chance of positioning yourself in the first places, it guarantees visitors that you are a safe site.
✔Google Pigeon: This Google algorithm would arrive in 2014 and its main function was to regulate local searches. It would be in charge of positioning in the first places, as a reference to local searches, that is, the websites that were from that country would have priority and this update would be handled with Google Maps. Thanks to Google Pigeon, a local business page can be positioned ahead of any web page.
To be up to date with this update you must add your business to Google My Business with all your geographic data and confirm your business with Google so that they can find you.
✔Google Pirate: This update was created by google to attack websites that have pirated download content and has been reinforced 2 times with versions (1.0-2.0). The relevance of sites that are intended for this piracy practice is avoided, as is the case of websites that are responsible for storing movies that have not yet been released. But not only that, but also all those web pages that have to do with computer piracy, books, templates, video games, among others. Since then they have become more rigorous with this type of web page, stopping showing keywords combined with free download in the first results.
✔Mobile-friendly update: This update awards first places to websites that are responsive. In other words, they adapt to different screens, including mobile screens, without the need for the user to zoom in or out of an image on a cell phone. This algorithm came out in 2015 and since then it has been taken into account as a recommendation in an SEO audit. More than anything because most searches are done from a mobile device.
There is a tool with which you can verify if a website is mobile-friendly, we leave you the direct link here.
Most up-to-date Google algorithms
✔Google Rankbrain: It is Google's artificial intelligence algorithm, it is responsible for supporting Google in tracking web pages to find the most organic responses. Many SEOs consider it a mystery because in addition to the above mentioned, it is not known exactly what they are looking for. Many say that it is the evolution of Google's Penguin and Panda algorithms. This update allows Google to provide more accurate answers to what the user is really looking for.
It is thought that the Rankbrain algorithm studies mathematically when people enter a result for the answer they are looking for and, not being satisfied, go on to another search. In this way, this Google artificial intelligence update also seeks to offer the best user experience on the web. The ideal in this case is that your SERPs have the correct information for which the user is entering your website.
✔Google Fred: In 2017 our dear friend Fred came into our lives, this update is the set of several updates that Google sought to make to penalize websites that were misusing the platform. At a conference that same year, the Google analyst mentioned that: "the techniques that Fred followed specifically are mentioned in the Google Webmaster Guidelines", this technique was linked to avoiding aggressive monetization.
In this way they made it clear that: websites that were charged with paid advertisements, that did not offer valuable content or those sites that had been created only for advertising revenue and do not provide anything useful for users would be penalized.
✔Google Medical update: This google algorithm came to the rescue of pages that add value with professional recommendations. A little to avoid the bad information that is around health issues. It came into force in 2018 and affected all those websites with medical content and health advice from people who were not qualified to give it. To avoid this penalty, you must ensure that you have confirmed sources from professionals or that they create the content themselves.
In this way, the Google Medical Update algorithm seeks to give greater relevance to all the pages that are actually informing health professionals and their content is of vital help.
✔Google Neural Matching: This Google algorithm update is one of the most recent (2019) and its objective is to better understand user searches. In this way, the content of the websites should not be focused on the density of the keywords, but rather on answering the real questions that users are asking about a topic. If you manage to do that, it is likely that you will climb to the top of the search engine.
It is also mentioned that Google with the Neural Matching update can understand more clearly the synonyms used for a word and understand that although it was not the exact word that was placed, the person is searching for the same thing. In this way the results improve the user experience.
✔Google Core Updates: The Google Core Updates update arrived this year 2020 to give priority to websites that make content related to specific niches. In this way, the transparency of the website and what it is dedicated to is valued. This list includes specialized health content, pet websites.
How can I stay up to date with Google algorithms?
One of the recommendations that we can give you is to always maintain your SEO's strategies with healthy practices. It is not necessary that you are always researching updates (although it is fine if you do), because if you make your own quality content, you will go one step further than many. Also, if you improve the way you present your content and add frequently asked questions from users, they can improve their experience without resorting to penalized practices.
The best way to stand out is to do it with your content, differentiate yourself by your brand personality. Making good content will make you visible to others and you will even get them to link to you as a reference and in a natural way. More specifically:
Avoid plagiarizing content on the web.
Create your own product descriptions and titles.
Do not pay anyone to link you, get it naturally.
Make useful content: where you teach something, for example.
Constantly review your website to make sure you don't have duplicate content.
Make your website responsive on different screens.
Improve loading time.
We hope you can put it into practice, if you are into the SEO wave this article can also help you: How to do an SEO audit
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