"How Google’s Algorithms Rank your Websites"
- 1. Algorithms of Google These algorithms are complex systems designed to evaluate and rank web pages Written by: Anam Ansar Adan IT Center
- 2. PageRank (1996) Purpose: The original algorithm that started it all. PageRank evaluates the quality and quantity of links pointing to a webpage to determine its importance. Impact: Websites with more high-quality backlinks ranked higher Panda (2011) Purpose: Targets low-quality or thin content and penalizes websites with duplicate, spammy, or irrelevant content. Impact: Websites with high-quality, original content saw improvements in rankings, while content farms and low- quality sites were demoted.
- 3. Penguin (2012) Purpose: Focuses on link quality and penalizes websites with spammy or manipulative backlink practices (e.g., buying links, link farms). Impact: Websites with unnatural or low-quality backlinks saw ranking drops. Hummingbird (2013) Purpose: Improves understanding of search queries by focusing on semantic search (context and intent) rather than just keywords. Impact: Better handling of conversational queries and long-tail keywords.
- 4. Pigeon (2014) Purpose: Prioritizes mobile- friendly websites in mobile search results. Impact: Websites without responsive design or mobile optimization saw drops in mobile rankings. Purpose: Improves local search results by tying them closer to traditional web search ranking signals. Impact: Local businesses saw more accurate and relevant local search rankings. Mobilegeddon (2015)
- 5. RankBrain (2015) Purpose: Improves local search results by filtering out spammy listings and considering the searcher’s location more accurately. Impact: Local businesses saw more diverse and location- specific results. Purpose: A machine learning- based algorithm that helps Google process and understand complex or ambiguous search queries. Impact: Improved handling of never-before-seen queries and better understanding of user intent. Possum (2016)
- 6. Fred (2017) Purpose: A core algorithm update that primarily impacted websites in the "Your Money or Your Life" (YMYL) niches, such as health, finance, and legal. Impact: Websites with poor expertise, authority, or trustworthiness (E-A-T) saw ranking drops. Purpose: Targets low-value content created primarily for ad revenue rather than user benefit. Impact: Websites with excessive ads or affiliate links without useful content saw ranking drops. Medic (2018)
- 7. BERT (2019) Purpose: Broad updates to Google’s core algorithm that aim to improve overall search quality. Impact: Websites providing the most relevant and authoritative content tend to benefit, while others may see fluctuations. Purpose: A natural language processing (NLP) algorithm that helps Google understand the context of words in search queries. Impact: Improved understanding of conversational queries, prepositions, and complex sentences. Core Updates (Ongoing)
- 8. Page Experience Update (2021) Purpose: Rewards websites with content created primarily for users rather than search engines. Impact: Websites with "people- first" content saw improvements, while those with "search-engine-first" content were demoted. Purpose: Introduces Core Web Vitals (loading, interactivity, and visual stability) as ranking factors, alongside mobile- friendliness, HTTPS, and intrusive interstitials. Impact: Websites with better user experience metrics saw ranking improvements. Helpful Content Update (2022)
- 9. Spam Updates (Ongoing) Purpose: Targets spammy practices like cloaking, keyword stuffing, and link schemes. Impact: Websites using manipulative tactics saw ranking drops or removal from search results.