Are you having trouble keeping up with the changing landscape of search engine optimization? You are not alone! Google is constantly making updates to their algorithms, changing the way your website is indexed in search results. To help you stay on top of these updates, we have consulted the Moz guide to Google Algorithm Change History and gathered the updates you need to know about from 2015.
1. Panda 4.2 – July
On July 17, a Panda refresh gradually began affecting websites with shallow or low-quality content. It is rumored to be a slow move out, likely taking several months to fully roll out.
According to The SEM Post, “Google has confirmed that this refresh affects only 2-3% of search queries, which is lower than the previous refresh of 3-5% in September 2014 and the last true update in May 2014 which affected 7.5% of search queries.”
It is recommended that you monitor your website analytics over the next several months, looking out for any possible changes in traffic. If you do notice drastic decreases, it may be time to revisit your site content.
2. The Quality Update – May
The Quality update was a core algorithm change that rolled out on May 3, impacting “quality signals”. While Google did not discuss any of the specific signals involved, the update did appear to have a broad impact.
If you seem to have been impacted by this update, continue working on improving the quality of your website content. Focusing on your users will help you provide the best information and Google will take notice.
3. Mobile Update – April
The biggest update of the year by far was the Mobile Update (or Mobilegeddon). Google actually announced this particular update prior to it taking affect. This way, users were alerted that non mobile-friendly websites would be negatively affected in mobile rankings beginning April 21st.
While there was a lot of hype around this Mobile Update, the impact turned out to be much smaller than was expected. If your website is not mobile-friendly, we recommend making it responsive in the coming months. Responsive design allows your website to dynamically resize to fit whatever device it is being displayed on. This ensures an optimal viewing experience on all devices.
4. Unnamed Update – February
On February 4th, many webmasters reported a “major flux in Google SERPs” (search engine results pages). Many speculated that it was an e-commerce update while others thought it might be related to mobile usability. Google did not officially confirm this update.
Stay tuned for more Google algorithm updates in 2015. Keeping a constant eye on your website analytics will help you stay on top of any changes that may occur. If you need assistance with maintaining your website, contact Informatics.
