The Fred Google Update

Some think this is a link quality algorithm update which is aimed at ad heavy, low value content which seems to have been created mainly for the purpose of generating ad revenue.

Here it is, the latest Google algorithm update, and it goes by the name “Fred”

Google released a new algorithm update over this past weekend that really shook up the world of SEO. The new algorithm, which Google has unofficially and jokingly named “Fred”, caused quite a stir with webmasters as a number of sites dropped drastically in rankings. Some websites saw a whopping 90% of their keywords drop several places in SERPs. What do these adversely affected sites have in common? A low quality link profile.

Fred seems to be a link quality algorithm update, meaning it measures a website according to the other sites that are pointing back to it. A strong link profile has backlinks from sites with high domain authority, which means it’s not enough to simply get a wide swath of backlinks from spammy sites. Sites with low quality backlinks are taking a serious hit with this new algorithm.