2014 saw a large number of changes and updates by Google. There were constant ongoing updates right up till October. Why should you bother finding out about these updates? Because, it gives you an indication of where Google is going and how you can adapt your SEO strategy to ensure it's in line with Google's updates.
So which are the top ones you need to be aware of?
Top Heavy 3.0
Top Heavy got its third update. This is an update through which Google has been filtering out web links that have too many advertisements on top of the page and requires the users to scroll down.
Advertisement is a great form of revenue for your site. However, you need to ensure that the ad placement fits into your web design and does not disrupt your user's experience. When anyone comes on your website your number 1 priority is to provide them good information and solve their problem
Pay Day Loans
If you're in the business of giving loans, then this one definitely concerns your business. Google put out this update to try and tackle the immense spam coming out from pay day loan websites. If you are running a business that gives out any kind of loans, go through the content on your website.
Is it unique and good quality content which is solving problems? Would a search engine mark it as spam? The most common reason why any site is marked as spam is because of keyword stuffing and spam link building.
Panda Update
The whole point of the Panda Update is to improve the quality of search links provided by Google. 2014 saw Panda 3.0 and Panda 4.0 roll out. So, how do you ensure that your website has top quality?
- Have a responsive design that allows your users to navigate your website easily.
- Top quality content – Avoid duplicate content, grammar errors and badly written sentences.
Pigeon update is a new one from Google. What it does is improves Google's ability to provide relevant results to local searches. Google takes a person's location into account when he searches for restaurants and provides him the best results.
If you run a business only in a particular city or town, you need to include geo-local SEO optimization. If you don't, you are missing a whole market and losing out on the benefits of Google's pigeon update.
Authorship Removed
The inclusion of Authorship was a big move by Google. Google Authorship added a snipped picture next to the author's name on the search result. This kind of move added credibility to the content written. However, in August, Google pulled out this feature. Google hasn't confirmed or given any reasons as to why it made this move. A few guesses are poor adoption and failure to add value to searches.
You can still leverage Google Authorship on Google Plus, and you should.
Pirate Update
Pirate update was launched by Google to counter against the wide number of piracy links to software's and media that appeared in its results.
Ensure you are not offering any piracy software's through third-party apps.
The key points to take from these updates and what we can expect from Google in the future are:
- Local SEO - Geo-optimize your website so that you can jump onto future Pigeon updates.
- Quality, quality, quality – Always ensure your website has high standards. The Panda updates reveal how obsessed Google is with quality.
- Avoid Spam – Keep a check on your website back links and referral sites for spam.
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