GOOGLE ALGORITHMS TO KNOW FOR GOOD SEO

Google regularly announces new algorithms or updates. To help you navigate this jungle, check out this list with explanations and links for help.

Here is the summary of this folder to put in your favorites:

• Google algo (natural referencing)
• the 20 main algorithms

The Google algorithm (natural referencing)

There is not one but multiple Google algorithms

To simplify, we can say that there is not a Google ranking algorithm but a constellation of algorithms that add up. By the way, it has become so complex that even at Google, it must be tough to navigate! I even think that because of this tangle of algos, filters, and other criteria, there must be a lot of uncontrolled side effects.

Most (if not all) algorithms aim to improve the relevance of search results:

• Penalize sites or pages that do not respect the instructions (for example, artificial backlinks or keyword stuffing)
• Favor sites or pages with a specific characteristic (speed, secure HTTPS protocol, mobile compatibility, etc.)

Google is constantly adding, modifying, and removing algorithms (several thousand modifications per year). Therefore, you need to stay abreast of all these developments! But don’t worry; this article is constantly updated to stick to the Google 2024 algorithm.

Did you know? In 2019, the Google search engine carried out more than 460,000 tests and posted 3,620 changes to its search algorithm online.

The Google search algorithm at a glance

If you’re in a hurry, here are the essentials to remember:

• The major updates to Google’s algo now concern the overall quality of the site. There is no longer a unique name; after talking about “Fred”, Phantom or Panda, the generic name is Core Update.
• Your site must be mobile compatible (according to Google). Otherwise, your ranking on mobile is lower. This is even more important now that Google has moved to a “mobile-first” index. You must not display an intrusive pop-up or interstitial banner to the Internet user arriving from Google.
• Your site must also be very fast, both on desktop and on mobile (low impact). Other aspects related to UX (user experience) is into account by Google from May 2021 (essential web signals, Core Web Vitals )
• The Panda algorithm 
• Is integrate into the general algo so that there is no longer an official date (the last dates back to 2015). It is a primary Google algo that seeks to promote quality sites.
• Penguin is now also integrate into Google’s algorithm, with “real-time” updates. So this is another central Google algorithm.
• Google encourages migration to HTTPS, but SEO impact is low
• Google has a special algorithm against satellite pages (be careful, their definition seems broad, the impact can affect many people), in place since 2015

List of main Google algorithms (SEO)

Here is a list, sorted in order of current importance, with for each:

• his name (official or not)
• the date of its last update.
• a brief description
• links to get free help and advice, or an audit quote, or suitable training

I am counting on you to let me know if there are any oversights or missing updates!

Also, don’t miss the questions and answers below.

1 Cores Updates

• Several significant algo changes do not always have an official name. However, sometimes a name comes to the fore in the SEO community, even if it doesn’t describe reality very well. Since March 2019, Google has offered to call them Core Update, followed by the month of release.
• The dates of the last Core Updates (official) are as follows: June / July 2021, December 2020, May 2020, January 2020, September 2019, June 2019, March 2019 as well as the end of September 2018. Find their ad on the Web Rank Info Google SEO forum.
• The medic released on August 1, 2018, a few days after Google’s official guide update to its Quality Raters. With this change, it seems that the EAT criteria (Expertise, Authority, Trust) are even more critical than before, especially for YMYL content.
• If you are already been penalized by one of these updates, I recommend that you spot your “zombie pages.”

2 BERT Google Algorithms

• This algo was formalized in October 2019, in place only in the USA for requests in English. It was deployed on December 10, 2019, in 70 languages ​​, including French. Therefore, in place on Google France.
• It is a natural language processing algorithm based on AI (machine learning) aimed at better understanding the content (indexed pages) and certain types of requests. BERT is particularly effective for long, conversational queries, thanks to a bidirectional analysis of links between words (the role of prepositions is better taken into account).
• Even if technically the methods used are very different, it can be considered as a continuation of RankBrain (and Hummingbird)

3 Essential Web Speed ​​and Signals

• The consideration of essential web signals has started on June 15, 2021; its deployment is scheduled until the end of August 2021
• For speed, this algo has been officially in place since April 9, 2010, on computers and since July 9, 2018, on mobile
• Officially: on a computer, it aims to promote fast sites, and on mobile to penalize sites that are too slow
• For speed, the algo is applied all over the world (all countries and languages)

4 Products Reviews

• This algo has been officially in place since April 2021
• Officially: regarding product reviews, Google wants to favor the best, that is to say, “which are based on relevant data and on real research work carried out by experts or enthusiasts who master the subject.”
• It is only applied to English content (it is planned to extend it to other languages)

5 Panda Google Algorithms

• Dates: released in 2011, the last official update dates from 07/18/2015, but since January 2016, Panda is officially “at the heart of the algo” but “not in real-time.”
• Panda seeks to assess the quality of the sites; its algorithm, using machine learning techniques, evaluates the content of the pages themselves and the behavior of Internet users.
• The impact is on the whole site, but the lower quality sections are the ones that suffer the most in Google visibility.
• Find out more:
• central page on Panda, an example of Panda audit with RMTech (and its video ), Panda audit quote by Olivier Duffez

6 Penguin (or rather Penguin)

• Released in April 2012, the last official version dates from 23/09/2016; however, since that date, Penguin has been integrated into Google’s global algo and continuously updated.
• It aims to penalize sites that have abused techniques that violate Google’s guidelines (SEO over-optimization). It is essentially a question of too many unnatural links pointing towards the site in practice.

7 Mobile compatibility and the mobile-first index

• This algo was released on April 21, 2015, worldwide. Reinforced in May 2016, it is still in place.
• The sites must be mobile compatible, according to Google’s criteria. However, it only concerns searches carried out on mobile devices (smartphones).
• The impact is page by page: if a page is mobile compatible, it will be favored in mobile searches, while incompatible pages will have a handicap in positioning.
• The algo works continuously: each time Googlebot crawls a page, it tests mobile compatibility.
• Find out more: make your site mobile compatible with Google.

It is not an algo, but it is important enough to indicate that Google has changed its index to mobile-first. Until now, Google has evaluated pages from their desktop version, even for mobile rankings (apart from the mobile-friendly bonus). With this change, Google rates pages from their mobile version, even for desktop rankings.

8 RankBrain Google Algorithms

• This algo was formalized in October 2015 but has been in place since early 2015
• It is an algorithm using artificial intelligence techniques, particularly machine learning, to better respond to the complex requests of Internet users. In particular, it is suitable for responding to queries that had never been made before (around 15% of them every day anyway).
• It is not an algorithm that penalizes or promotes certain types of content or SEO practices. It is, therefore, closer to Hummingbird than to Panda or Penguin. According to Google, it is not possible to optimize for RankBrain …

9 Hummingbird

• This algo was formalized in September 2013
• It does not seek to penalize or favor specific scenarios; this is the most significant overhaul of Google’s ranking algorithm. The objective is to understand better both the indexed content and the Internet user’s request (notably formulated orally, practice on the rise with mobile phones). It is the advent of semantic research.

10 Pigeon and Possum

• This algo was released in July 2014 (for google.com in English) and at the end of May or early June 2015, internationally
• This is an update to the local results ranking algorithm
• It concerns all countries and all languages ​​(since late May-early June 2015)
• An evolution of this algo seems to have taken place around September 2016: in the SEO world, it was called Opossum (or Possum in English)

11 Intrusive interstitial advertising

• Google seeks to penalize cases where too many pop-ups or interstitial banners are intrusive; they interfere with the reading of the content.
• Released January 10, 2017
• The impact is page by page, knowing that this only concerns the first page viewed, only by a visitor arriving on the site from a Google search.
• Note: it is not necessarily an “algo” nor a “penalty” since it is all the same algorithmic
• Pak Marketing Point provides the best SEO services and Social Media Marketing.

12 Satellite pages

• This algo was announced in March 2015 and put online between March and early May 2015
• It seeks to penalize satellite pages, that is, pages created only for SEO, generally with very little or almost duplicated content. It also targets satellite site techniques.
• We do not know if the impact is at the site or page level, nor if the algo is updated in real-time, regularly, or only on specific dates.

13 HTTPS

• This algo was formalized in August 2014
• It favors pages that use the HTTPS protocol
• It is applied all over the world (all countries and languages)
• The impact is page by page, but it is very low

14 Mobile application indexing (App Indexing)

• This algo was formalized in February 2015 ( source )
• It promotes web pages associated with a deep link to a “screen” of a mobile app (App Indexing mechanism)
• If you also use the App Indexing API, you have an additional advantage in positioning
• In addition to the”
• ranking “, the benefit is in the predominant display in the SERPs (there are several possibilities, but your “snippet
• “is much more visible)
• It is a priori applied everywhere in the world (all countries and languages), for the moment only on Android mobiles

15 Excess advertising

• This algo was formalized in January 2012. The latest version is version 3, which dates from February 6, 2014.
• It seeks to penalize the overdose of advertising, in particular above the waterline (we speak of “ads above the fold” or “top-heavy “)
• I think Google is based on analyzes of the whole site: you must therefore avoid having too many pages on the site with too many ads

16Feature articles (in-depth items)

• This algo dates from August 2013
• It sometimes makes a sort of box appear in the results with feature articles highlighted

17 Exact Match Domain (EMD)

• This algo dates from September 2012
• It seeks to penalize sites whose domain name consists exclusively of keywords, and whose added value is very low.

18 Freshness

• This algo dates from November 2011
• It aims to show fresher and more recent results on queries that require it.

19 Pirate / DMCA Update

• This algo was first released in August 2012, version 2 in November 2014
• It aims to remove sites that offer illegal downloads from the results.

20 Payday loan

This algo was first released in 2012. The last version (v3) dates from June 2014

• It seeks to improve results’ quality, especially on specific requests where spam is important (credits, casino, sex, counterfeiting, etc.).
• I have found the translation for “payday loan” for those interested, which means “a short-term cash advance granted by a credit company.”

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