'Net Features : google seo

86 Google Search Changes; Four Key Trends

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:53:00 GMT

Google has released another (very) big list of search quality changes (86 in total) that took place in June and July of 2012. Instead of detailing each and every one of the changes (which can be cumbersome and, well, boring), let's try and decode the list and see what is in store for SEO's in the coming months (and probably years) by identifying a few (four actually) key trends.

A relevant side note; Google is no longer using individual code names, opting instead for project codenames which does provide some insights into the major shifts the Google search quality team is spearheading. That actually makes it much easier to understand the more substantial trends in the search marketing industry, so thanks Google!

Page Quality: Google has never been unclear on the role that page quality plays in results ranking, and the list of recently released changes for June and July certainly confirms that focus. There are numerous references to its "Page Quality" project which follow a theme SEO's are likely familiar with - high quality content, trusted sources, and unique content. If you were hit hard by Panda or Penguin and still haven't recovered, your site likely features low quality content (read Google Crushes Spinners and Spammers) or duplicate content. And if you have not dug into the data being provided by Google to about the quality of inbound links, you probably should make that a priority.

Site Clustering: There have been numerous reports over the past few months of an increase of results (on the same page) from a single domain. While I expect this mainly relates to brand specific search terms, "site clustering" is a term that can be found in the change list repeatedly and its impact can likely be seen elsewhere. Google indicated that is working on multiple projects to make its system for clustering web results "better and simpler," so expect more changes related to site clustering to emerge in the coming months - and keep a virtual eye on the SERPs.

Snippets: Sitelinks are another important element in the list of changes. Falling under the "Snippets" codename, SEO's should expect less boilerplate text in sitelinks titles, improved clustering and ranking of link in the expanded sitelinks feature, and more useful text in sitelinks.

Answers: Perhaps the most important, but definitely the least discussed since the announcement was made, are the search quality changes related to "Answers." 23 items on the list of 86 were related to the "Answers" project and relate to how Google shows query answers atop search results. In my discussions with other search marketers, many expect that this project is directly related to two very important changes to the way Google is planning to return results in the future - the Knowledge Graph and Google Shopping (that's speculation, but consider it speculation of an informed nature).

The full list of Google's search quality changes can be found here.

Google SEO: 52 New Changes to Know

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:14:00 GMT

Google has released a long list of changes that the search engine made in April 2012, and many are directly related to how search engine optimization professionals will engage in their profession post Penguin.

Website Magazine has listed some of the most important changes related to Google SEO below by generalized category, but do review the full list which focuses on the search experience for consumers as much as anything of note for SEO professionals. In line with previous search quality change reports, Google has assigned codenames for each change which does make it easy to keep track of the impact of the changes in the future.

For the first time in my recent memory, Google noted that it increased the size of its base index by 15%. The base search index is Google’s main index for serving search results. Google also introduced a new “index tier”. Google keeps its index in tier where “where different documents are indexed at different rates depending on how relevant they are likely to be to users.”

And now, on with the Google SEO changes to know!

LOCAL RELATED: Google made some significant modifications related to language relevance and country identification for Web pages. The “Raquel” update takes into account language to help return relevant navigational results, while Sudoku improves the systems currently in place to detect when a website, subdomain or directory is relevant to a set of countries and does so down to the page level. The “ImpOrgMap2” change is likely the most important local related change in this set, which makes it more likely users will find a website from a specific country – e.g. mexico.cnn.com over cnn.com – in the search results pages.

SNIPPET RELATED: Several changes were also made to snippets in April 2012. Google updated its system for generating snippets with the project codename “DSS” to keep it consistent with other infrastructure improvements and is now more likely to show text from the beginning of a page in snippets when the text is particularly relevant - codename Solar.

FRESHNESS RELATED: Perhaps the most noteworthy and actionable of all changes released in this round are related to freshness. Google indicated that its “Citron” update enables the search engine to better identify fresh documents, but its “NoRot” update modified a classifier to ensure content that is identified as low-quality” will be excluded – even though its fresh.

SPELLING RELATED: Google released a set of changes related to spelling corrections. The “Potage” update internationalizes one of Google’s algorithms to prevent bad spell corrections; the “Pita” update extends spelling corrections to more than 60 languages, and the “Spelling” update is a change which makes it more likely that queries get a spell correction even if it’s longer than ten terms.

Everflux SEO & Post Penguin Predictions

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:30:00 GMT

Google’s latest round of algorithm changes, which affects just 3 percent of queries, is now known as the Penguin update. The latest sweep of the SERPs penalized spinners and spammers, and sends a clear message about what the search engine expects from the SEO community.

So, should your SEO strategy change?

Not Just SEO, Everflux SEO
While Google has been battling the most roguish of SEOs since it came into commercial being (see a brief history of Google updates below), many digital marketers still mistakenly believe that black hat shortcuts are better than having a sustainable white hat strategy.

As someone who likely requires some measurable success with SEO, your best tactic in the now post-penguin era is to invest your energy in Everflux SEO. No, it’s not a software or a service, it’s a mindset – a mindset that demands a greater focus on creating genuine value-added experiences for Google’s users and your prospective visitors. While the search indices are constantly in flux, SEOs need to be “ever” vigilant in adopting the many well-known best practices.

To understand what Google wants, or any search engine for that matter, you must first understand its history with the SEO community and the changes and modifications it has made to provide users the best possible experience over the years and which lead us to today.

A Brief History of Google Updates
The number, scope and depth of algorithm changes made by Google over time is extensive, but even by examining a brief history (we’ve highlighted the “key words”) can we start to see what SEOs should be focusing on. For example, Google has always been concerned with link quality. The Cassandra and Dominic updates put the quality of links at the center of discussion in the search engine optimization community, and that conversation continues today.

When the Florida update rolled out in late 2003, the practice of SEO became much more serious. Shortcut SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing, which once provided the most open point of access into the search results, were finally sealed with Florida.

With several loopholes closed, in early 2004 Google introduced an update known far and wide as Brandy, which dramatically improved Google keyword analysis through Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI). This set the stage for the most significant changes to the Google SERPs in the Jagger and Big Daddy update of 2005. Google cracked down on link manipulation with Jagger and introduced the term canonicalization with Big Daddy, which made site quality issues (and some would argue search usability) the focus.

For many, it was the golden age of search engine optimization and out of the blue – it got much better. The Universal Search update in 2007 created a much more immersive experience for search engine users and provided SEOs with many more tools to practice their craft. News content, images and video started Google down a path of introducing new content formats to the user search experience. Google has continued with these integrations and, in some instances, bought companies outright (ITA Software, Zagat) which provide content that users can’t or don’t provide. For those it could not purchase, Google partnered with. The best example of this is seen in what I refer to as the “Fire Hose Wars”, where the interest in real-time search was at fever pitch. Google starting indexing content from a variety of services, including the fire hose (or full feed) of Twitter.

The real-time search update presented some further speed and indexation problems, which were addressed in the Caffeine update of mid-2010. If 2010 was the year of real time and caffeine, then 2011 was the year of the Panda, a broad update which harshly punished “thin content sites.” Then, in mid-2011, Google and other search engines announced support for Schema.org – again providing something of value for SEOs in terms of a means to provide more information to Google and influence their position on the search results.

As the interest in social media rose, so did Google’s reliance on social signals. And of course what still remains as one of the hottest topics in SEO, Search+ Your World further changed the already highly dynamic, personalized search results by incorporating user profiles and more social data. Social media optimization is now an essential technique for success with SEO.

By understanding the update history and with a firm belief in the importance of Everflux SEO, we can finally make some post-Penguin predictions.

Post Penguin Predictions

Greater Reliance on Knowledge-Base Optimization (KBO): The Web doesn’t exist without information, and more often than not, the more you have, the better the opportunity to receive website traffic (visitors). But you can’t get those website visitors if at some point you don’t first create the content. Knowledge-base optimization puts your whole organization/enterprise to work, developing and sharing information that will by its very nature appeal to those looking for your products or services on the Web.

Deeper Exploration of People-Powered Optimization: The practice of search engine optimization has changed and, for many, it has not been an easy transition. Today’s SEO must be skilled not only at content creation, site architecture or keyword analysis. Today, the best in the SEO business are those that have mastered the art of people-powered optimization. To benefit in this new era, you’ll need to understand the practice of social media optimization and the role that individuals play in the success of not just SEO, but of the entire digital enterprise.

Google SEO: Algorithm Changes - February 2012

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:15:00 GMT

Google announced several (40, in fact) search algorithm changes it made in the month of February 2012.

The changes (which, as mentioned in previous announcements, now come with codenames for easier reference) address a variety of user experience and functionality features including on related searches, sitelinks and a lot more.

Perhaps most noteworthy is that this update refreshes data in the Panda system, making it more accurate and more sensitive to happenings on the Web. Google also (in my opinion in a very vague way, unfortunately) indicated that it also modified how it evaluates links, turning off one dated method for evaluation and restructuring it to keep its system "maintainable, clean and understandable."

Without further hesitation, here is a quick roundup of a few of the most interesting Google algorithm changes for February 2012:

- Related Searches (codename Fuzhou): New data has been added to aid in the generation of related searches. Expect greater coverage in the future (meaning that related queries will appear for more queries).

- Sitelink Modifications: Google adjusted signals for its sitelinks feature, tweaking a categorizer used to identify duplicate snippets (codename Snippy) and adjusted signals so that expanded sitelinks are based more on page content and less on the query itself (codename thanksgiving).

- Locally relevant predictions in YouTube (codename Suggest): Google has improved its rankings predictions in Youtube to provide more locally relevant queries. An example of this would be users in two countries searching for the same generic term (lady gaga). A user in the U.S. will see results akin to "Lady Gaga in Times Square" whereas a user in India would see "Lady Gaga in Delhi".

- Official Page Detection Accuracy (codename WRE): Adjustments were made to how Google detects official pages, which will lead to fewer pages incorrectly identified as official.

- Image Index Expanded (codename Images Universal): Google has expanded the size of its images index which means more relevant images on a larger set of queries. Visual assets are playing an increasingly important role in SEO, so ready those pictures!

- Site Query Update (codename Semicolon): In what will be much discussed over the coming days, Google adjust its Site: query operator to increase the diversity of results. Google provided no indication of what sources would be used for the query but it should be relatively easy to ascertain after a few queries.

- Data Refresh for Related Searches (codename Chicago): This update refreshes the approach Google takes to generate the related searches section when queries are performed in succession by the user. So when you search for banana and apple in succession, you must be looking for information on fruit (and not Apple the company).

Also worthy of note in this round of changes is the international launch of shopping rich snippets, improved snippets for video channels, and improvements related to freshness of the index which now feature greater consolidation of signals for spiking topics.

Google Update - Buckle Up For Dewey

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:16:00 GMT

Many SEO's are noticing some major shifts in their rankings this morning at Google. Early reports are of a major update (now being dubbed "Dewey") which began last night and is continuing throughout the morning.

During an update it's important not to react too swiftly, instead waiting a few days to see how things flush out and if sites regain their previous listings. Frequently, the initial signs of an "updates" signify more radical shifts over the coming days which is why it's smart to wait a while before implimenting any new optimization efforts.

The good part about this update is that more established sites are seemingly moving down the search results pages (albeit slightly) and other previously lower ranking sites have found their way onto the first page. This may not last but it may signify that Google is continuing to crack down on sites without sufficient content and that rely on anchor text (perhaps paid text ads) from other sites.

We'll keep you posted but if you're keen on checking your rankings, now is the time.