Google Hummingbird and Google Penguin Updates

Google changes or updates its algorithms 500-600 times per year!  For a small business, this is a lot to keep up with.  Having a webmaster that keeps up with these changes will make a big difference in your bottom line. 

Had changes recently in your search results?  Knowing when the Google algorithm updates took effect may help explain those changes:  SEO MOZ list of major algorithmic changes that have had the biggest impact on search.

August 2013, Google Hummingbird

Hummingbird was created to help provide better “conversational search” results, paying more attention to every word in a query, rather than pulling from a few key words.  When you speak a search topic such as, “Place to buy Green Bay Packer jersey?”  Traditional search engine may have focused on matches for the words, “buy” and “Green Bay Packer,” for example.  Hummingbird takes the search a step further by focusing on the meaning behind the spoken search words.  If your location is shared with Google, it will recognize and compare it to your search words.  It may understand that “place” means you want a brick-and-mortar store. It might get that “Green Bay Packer jersey” is a particular brand and type of clothing carried by certain stores. The goal is that pages matching the meaning do better, rather than pages matching just a few words.

October 2013, Google Penguin

Hummingbird is like Google’s entire ranking engine, whereas Penguin is like a small part of that engine. Penguin is a part of Google’s overall search algorithm, designed to detect web spam and remove it from results.  If links are showing high in search results, but appear to be “paid” or “spammy,” Google will penalize your search results.     

Over the years, there have been many update versions of the penguin algorithm.  (Penguin 1, 1.2, 2, 2.2, etc.)  If your site was affected by the most recent Penguin update, you would have noticed a marked drop in traffic over the past week.  How to fix the problem?  Get rid of those paid links.  

Remember “Relevance and Quality”

Content on sites must be relevant and sector-related to fair well on Google search.  Double check to ensure links are relevant to their specific topics and that they have developed organically.   It is also vital that the content on your site is frequently updated and changing.