Google’s new SEO update. How Important is Fred?

The internet would be a totally different place if there was no Google. The search engine giant has revolutionized the way we use the internet. And with its new unconfirmed Search Engine update Fred, Il explain how to be on Google’s side.

Big impact

We are in a time where fake news has dominated the conversation. ‘Fred’ is just one example of how misinformation published on the web and social media can create a domino effect of reactions. Even the Washington Post commented that the SEO community is ‘freaking out’ and calling for all companies, whose websites are an important part of their lead generation and branding, to start using SEO services and employ SEO consultants in order not to get caught out in any more Google updates.

With more than 60% of search being facilitated by Google, you have to understand that it is a force to reckon with. An online business cannot survive without being Google friendly. Why is this? Why do you need to be Google friendly? Let us find out.

Figure – Google Searches Over the years.

How updates have shaped Google in past

Right from the inception, Google strives to provide the most relevant and popular content to the people. Over the years, technology has developed and it has allowed Google to understand how people search. With better understanding, Google has launched updates to its search engine algorithm from time to time.

You must have heard about Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird and now Fred. Fred is the current unconfirmed algorithm update by Google to deliver search results and it has been just launched in 2017. Every time Google launches a new update, many sites go completely obsolete. It is because of Google penalty which is levied on the sites that violate Google’s guidelines.

Now, let us understand it using an example:

In February 2011, Google rolled out Panda. This was a major update as more emphasis was laid on ‘high-quality sites’ and ‘low-quality sites’ were devalued. This meant that sites with more advertising and less content and with links to spammy websites were devalued, even if they had the relevant keywords.

So, suppose you had a website dealing with wedding photography. However, your site had more ads than content and many backlinks to your site were from low-quality blogs and link directories. In this case, after February 2011, your site would see a drop in its rankings, even though the relevant keywords were present in your site.

So, in simple words, having keywords in your site could no longer guarantee a high ranking.

Another turn of events that have had a big impact on the search results was the introduction of Google mobile friendliness. In a post on Feb 2015, Google stated that

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact on our search results.”

Now, according to this update, the sites which are not mobile friendly will be ranked lower on Google.

I hope you get an idea of what I am talking about. Simply put, I can summarize this by saying that your site/blog rankings are dependent on how Google-friendly you are, and this applies to both the SEO of your site and the type of content you publish.

Now let’s look at What’s Fred got new to this search engine?

Now Fred was an Unconfirmed Google SEO update. Meaning...

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Read the full article here, as I explain What you should know about Google SEO after Fred update.

If these are not the questions in your mind and plan not to read in detail, you may leave your questions below and I’ll include them in my next post. Maybe then I can be of some use to you.