Ungagged - Busting Google's Blackbox 2017

@schachin Kristine Schachinger
Busting Google’s Black Box 2017
Navigating Google Algorithms in a Post-Update World
Kristine@SitesWithoutWalls.com

Long Ago & Kind of Far Away
There Were the Days of M.C.
(maybe not that long)

In the Age of MC, there was this guy.
He liked to do dinosaur impressions. No really.

Matt Cutts.

Some saw Matt like this …

From Matt’s Blog
https://www.mattcutts.com/images/matt-cutts-jack3.jpg

And others like this …

But either way…

People listened to what Matt said …

Because he knew a lot.

And shared a lot!

Some called it information …
Some called it disinformation …

But … You still listened.

Because some days …

Zzzzzz …

You woke up to this …

And did this …

(@#*(@#*()##!!!!
(@#*(@#*()##!!!!
(@#*(@#*()##!!!!
%#@!!!! %#@!!!!
And said this…
Google*@#$&*#$&#*

In the Age of MC, you would go to
Google Blog, Matt’s blog or straight to
Twitter to read the tweets…

WAS THERE AN UPDATE???!!!

WHAT DID MATT SAY????

But that was then …

Matt Cutts said “Bye Felicia”…
ok he didn’t really say that… outloud

So he probably did …

So… what now?

NEW GOOGLE SPOKESPEOPLE
Gary Illyes (@methode) & John Mueller (@johnmu)

“I only high-five with my neck in impossible positions.”
real Gary Illyes quote
image: http://golocalinteractive.com/wp-content/uploads/HighFive.jpg
GARY
JOHN

But they don’t play the same role …

AND …
Google no longer announces updates
on algos like Panda and Penguin
because they have been
“rolled up” into
the main algorithm(s)
SHHHHHH….
We are NINJA now!

I’M REAL TIME!
I am NOT RealTime, but I roll when IWANNA!

We
We are all FRED now …

And gone are the 200 ranking factors…
actually been gone a long, long time

So when this happens …

Where do we start?

Google in a (MOSTLY) Post-Update World

Distance from "Perfect”*
how close or far are we
to the points of the algorithms.
*Term coined by Portent

Know Your Algorithms.

What algos could be affecting the site?
• Penguin (core)
• Panda (c0re)
• Phantom now Fred (updates)
• Page Layout Algorithm (updates)
• Interstitials
• And going forward they are all Fred’s
Process of deductive reasoning!
NOTE there are the core algos, there are others.
Main Algorithms

What algos could be affecting the site?
• Internal (on-page, technical, etc)
• Algo(s): Panda, Phantom (Fred), Penguin,
Page Layout, Interstitial
• External (links, citations, etc)
• Algo(s): Penguin
• Third Party (advertising etc)
• Algo(s): Panda, Phantom (Fred)
Process of deductive reasoning!
NOTE there are the core algos, there are others.
Algorithms

Penguin

Know Your Algorithms. Penguin.

Algorithms - Penguin

Penguin 2.0-3.x was angry!

It knocked sites out …

Algorithms – Penguin “Real-Time”

Penguin 4.0 (Real-time)
Rollout: Approximately September 23, 2016 It also rolled out in several phases
completing these rollouts the second week of October. If you never recovered, it
would have happened by now.
Summary: This update was the first in more than 2 years. However, the new
version of Penguin is very different from the old in there is no whole site website
demotion, just granular links devaluation. In addition the links are being
evaluated in “real time” and so changes to link profiles will be assessed quickly.

Focus: Mostly links, but also other Web Spam Factors.
TopTakeaways.
• Confirmed by Google
• Updates are in “real time”
(not the instant they occur, but they are assessed rapidly)
Sites are no longer demoted in search, links are devalued.
Links are devalued?
This means their value (passed Page Rank) to the site is removed from the site’s scoring.
In the past, the entire site was demoted in the SERPs.
This is no longer the case.

When you recover from a Penguin update, make sure you
submitted a proper disavow and have also “acquired”
replacement links.
Without replacing the lost link values the site could be free
of Penguin, but appear to be still demoted.

Devaluations are much more granular
• Query Set
• Page Level
• Section Level
• NOT Site Level
This makes them harder to detect as their will be a slower decline
in smaller sections of the site, rather than a distinct fall-off cliff as
in previous rollouts. Also “real-time” application.

Cliff vs. Slope

Off-Site Devaluations
Devaluations can affect you if they hit other sites. If the sites
that link to you have their links devalued, then that link juice
cannot be passed.

Disavows?
According to Google, yes you should still
use a disavow, but only if you have a
manual action. (They “lie” )
I don’t know you!

Link Free for All?
Manual Actions have taken over for Penguin
Devaluations, but Google experiments on those
thresholds.

According to Google.
No machine learning in Penguin, no AI.

Know Your Algorithms. Panda.

Panda

KEEP in MIND
Panda Rollouts were no longer announced
after 4th Quarter 2015!
Rolls out around every 3 months. (per Gary Illyes)
First Rollout was in 2016
Likely Feb 27th/28th through the first week in March.
Can be confused with Phantom, though results are similar.
Algorithms - Panda

Panda focuses on content quality MOSTLY
also some site quality items.
Algorithms - Panda

What is Panda content quality?
• No “thin” Content
• Length DOES matter = Time, Effort, Amount
• Exceptions do exist length does not ALWAYS = “THIN”
• Be careful of Duplicate Content
• Make sure you have proper canonicals
• No Duplicate Penalty, but there is a filter!
• Make sure your titles/descriptions are unique
Algorithms - Panda

•Content Clarity
•Content Specificity (RELEVANCE)
•Content Length
•Blogs 350-550 << These are arbitrary, BUT they are good guides
•Articles 750-950+ << These are arbitrary, BUT they are good guides
ESPECIALLY for sites that deal with news, information, or
education (Entertainment especially gossip is an exception)
Note: Query Deserves Freshness (QDF) does not matter for all sites.
Algorithms - Panda

What else?

•ContentTechnical
• Grammar / Spelling / Readability
•Site Architecture
• Confirmed by John Mueller February 2017.
•Advertisements
• Too many ads on a site can cause devaluations
•Site LoadTime
• EspeciallyTime to First Byte (TFB)
• Needs to be under .80ms for best results
Algorithms - Panda

now
…FRED
There’s noWilma

Know Your Algorithms.
Was Phantom.
Then FRED.
NOW All Updates are FRED.

Quality Update (Phantom)
“Panda Plus” witha wider quality focus including UI/X
Summary: Google update that affected sites with low quality indicators.
Focus: Low Quality Pages
TopTakeaways.
• Not typically confirmed by Google
• Can change focus – kind of a catch-all of quality algos
• Have to look for other indicators
• Overlaps Panda in some areas
• Affects Organic SERPs
Algorithms – Phantom now FRED

Phantom
Quality Update Issues (that are most likely Phantom)
• Appears to focus on items such as
• Aggressive Ad Placements
• Content
• Crawl Issues
• Deception (ads, affiliate links, etc.)
• Thin Content
• Bad UI/X
• Interstitials
Algorithms – Phantom now Fred

Only confirmed once.
Now ALL UPDATES are called
“Fred”.

@schachin Kristine Schachingerhttps://twitter.com/methode/status/842653030784876544

Fred was
supposed to
be a joke.

Very similar to Panda, but
BIGGER

How do you know which is which?

You don’t need to!
It doesn’t matter.

Know what is in the algo(s).
Then attack your site
“Distance from Perfect”

Distance from "Perfect”!
GOOD DFP =
FUTURE PROOFING!

Where can you find the answers to
“Fred” issues?

Webmaster Guidelines
are "FRED”
(kind of)
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en

Ads & Interstitials.

As of January 2017
Sites with Disruptive Interstitials
will be devalued!

Maybe… so far roll out has been weak.

@schachin Kristine Schachingerhttp://www.thesempost.com/updated-google-quality-rater-guidelines-eat/
Ads & Interstitials

Interstitials THAT ARE Affected
• Showing a popup that covers the main content, either immediately after the user
navigates to a page from the search results, or while they are looking through the
page.
• Displaying a standalone interstitial that the user has to dismiss before accessing the
main content.
• Using a layout where the above-the-fold portion of the page appears similar to a
standalone interstitial, but the original content has been inclined underneath the fold.
http://searchengineland.com/interstitialgeddon-google-warns-will-crack-intrusive-interstitials-next-january-257252
Ads & Interstitials

@schachin Kristine Schachingerhttp://searchengineland.com/interstitialgeddon-google-warns-will-crack-intrusive-interstitials-next-january-257252
Ads & Interstitials

Interstitials NOT Affected
Those types are:
• Interstitials that appear to be in response to a legal obligation, such as for cookie
usage or for age verification.
• Login dialogs on sites where content is not publicly indexable. For example, this
would include private content such as email or unindexable content that is behind a
paywall.
• Banners that use a reasonable amount of screen space and are easily dismissible.
For example, the app install banners provided by Safari and Chrome are examples of
banners that use a reasonable amount of screen space.
Ads & Interstitials

Applies to First Click from SERPS ONLY!

Distance from Perfect.

RECOVERY, FUTURE PROOFING, SEO
= All the Same it’s DFP

According to Google
Content + Links = Top Two Ranking Factors
Third is RankBrain …

Rank Brain

Rank Brain is used for Unknown Queries.

Only algorithm that uses AI
on the live results

This is Rank Brain

Google is confused …

Rank Brain.
Google does not use NLP
(Natural Language Processing)

Rank Brain Uses Users Clicks
to Help It Understand Query Intent.

Rank Brain
Uses Entities & Known Relationships
Person, Place, Thing = Noun = Entities.
Nouns or Persons/Places/People/Things are what we call entities. Entities
are known to Google and their meaning is defined in the databases Google
references.

Rank Brain
Uses Entities & Known Relationships
There is no optimizing for Rank Brain and why would you want to?
Rank Brain Queries = Query (User) Intent to SERPs = weak association.
Bringing irrelevant or weak traffic.

But… but… I wannnnnnnaaaaa!

(Gary Illyes)

Just write in natural and conversational language.

Technical. Not Just Make-Up.

Content & Links are the top two ranking
factors, but will add technical here
as the 2.5th

Technical Can Do This!Technical Can Do This!

What are we looking at?

•Http vs. Https
•Robots
•Sitemaps
•Canonicals
•Redirects & 404s
•Architecture
•Navigation
•SchemaTagging
Technical

• Http vs. Https
• Do the pages have mixed status?
• If pages moved to https, did the URLs change everywhere? CDN?Tag Manager?
Analytics?
• Are the pages redirected?
• Use the Aleyda Solis checklist for https migration
• Robots
• Sitemaps
• Canonicals
• Redirects & 404s
• Architecture
• Navigation
• SchemaTagging
TechnicalTechnical

Technical SEO Audit – The Basics
• Http vs. Https
• Robots.txt
• Can it be crawled? If not, googlebot goes away!
• Is it written correctly? (test it)
• Are you using it when they should be using no-index?
• Robots.txt blocks the page crawl, but not the URL indexing
• Are you blocking CSS &/or JS?
• Must unblock!This can cause a site demotion.
• Sitemaps
• Canonicals
• Architecture
• Navigation
• SchemaTagging
TechnicalTechnical

• Http vs. Https
• Robots.txt
• Sitemaps
• Do you have one?
• Is it written correctly? (test it)
• Check their sitemaps for
• Limits
• Types (video, image, page, news < different XML)
• Index Sitemaps (use them!)
• TIP Google does not use priority or date modifiers
• Canonicals
• Architecture
• Navigation
• SchemaTagging
Technical

• Http vs. Https
• Robots.txt
• Sitemaps
• Canonicals
• Do you have them on the site?
• Are they written correctly?
• Do they follow the rules for writing canonicals?
• Architecture
• Navigation
• SchemaTagging
Technical

• Http vs. Https
• Robots.txt
• Sitemaps
• Canonicals
• Are they using 302 or 301?
• Google says they don’t care, but …
• How many 404s?
Are you bleeding links? Should they be 410?
• When redirecting links from removed pages topical matches
are a MUST or the links passed could lose value
• Architecture
• Navigation
• SchemaTagging
Technical

• Http vs. Https
• Robots.txt
• Sitemaps
• Canonicals
• Architecture
• Is the structure vertical or horizontal?
• TIP Google prefers wide and flat over deep and tall
• Are you giving Google a proper content outline?
• Think 10th grade English Class
• Are you specific, certain and clear?
• Navigation
• SchemaTagging
Technical

• Http vs. Https
• Robots.txt
• Sitemaps
• Canonicals
• Architecture
• Navigation
• Are you using proper navigation?
• Are you constructing a contextual view of your site?
• Are you throwing in the kitchen sink?
• TIP Users can only process 5-8 piece of information at a time
• Going to be even more important in mobile first indexing.
• SchemaTagging
Technical

• Http vs. Https
• Robots.txt
• Sitemaps
• Canonicals
• Architecture
• Navigation
• SchemaTagging
• Just do it! Really. Microdata is Google preferred.
• TIP Any data point can be used in the KG without copyright
violation.
• Check Google Search Console for mark-up validity.
• Make sure to add to your mobile site for mobile first!
Technical

Speed.

Speed….
You know fast….
Like really fast…

HOW DO WETEST FAST?
WebpageTest.org and of course
Google Pagespeed Insights
Also there is information in Google Analytics.
Page Speed

And Google …

You want an 85 min – 90+ is bestPage Speed – Score over 85

Mobile Algorithm.

Mobile First Indexing

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!
Kind of …

Mobile Site is a Must!
Best to use responsive NOT M.

A MUST!
Mobile. Do. It.

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/11/mobile-first-indexing.html

• One Index
• Mobile Crawler will be used for all sites
• Mobile Content will be used for ranking
• Mobile SERPs
• Desktop SERPs
• AMP NOT a factor in mobile first indexing

Content you want to
rank for MUST be in
your mobile site

If you do not have the content on your mobile site, the site
cannot be found for it even in desktop.
This means they will rely more heavily on sitemaps to find
content.

Mobile First Indexing SiteTypes
• If you have a mobile m. site
• Make sure to verify this site in Google Search console
• If you have a responsive site
• No changes needed
• If you have AMP+ Desktop, but NO MOBILE
• You will be evaluated on your desktop content, but mobile friendly boost
• If you have AMP ONLY
• You will be evaluated on AMP site.
http://www.thesempost.com/details-googles-mobile-first-indexing-change/

UI Hidden Content.
Unlike Desktop, content hidden in accordions and tabs will not
be devalued in mobile first indexing.

Schema.
If you removed schema in mobile, it must be added back to
your mobile site to get into the snippets.

Links.
Links will be handled by either the site being responsive (no
changes needed) OR if you have an m. your canonical will allow
Google to combine the value of both your desktop and mobile
links.

So what’s the secret?

Everything you need to know?
It’s in the Google Quality Raters Guide
(and the Webmaster Guidelines)
https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//inside search/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf

Winning in the end
= doing more than
your competitor

• Panguin http://barracuda.digital/panguin-tool/
• WebPageTest.org
• Page Speed Insights (Google) https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
• Screaming Frog http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/
• Deep Crawl https://www.deepcrawl.com/
• Google Webmaster Guidelines https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en
• Google Search Console Help https://support.google.com/webmasters/?hl=en#topic=3309469
• Aleyda Solis http(s) Migration http://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/http-https-migration-checklist-Google-docs/
Resources

Busting Google’s Black Box
Navigating Google Algorithms in a Post-Update World
Kristine@SitesWithoutWalls.com

Ungagged - Busting Google's Blackbox 2017

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