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Let it be known: for Google, content is king (“Content is king” as they say in Mountain View) and user satisfaction is queen!
It is no surprise that through its successive changes (Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon…), Google’s powerful and secret algorithm has chosen to prioritize user experience, to the detriment of sites that too quickly forgot the primary reason for the Web: offering users quality, relevant, and high-value-added content.
A quick overview of the main algorithm changes that rule the Web and have made headlines in recent years.
When a user enters a query (keyword or “conversational” question) into Google, the sites offered “naturally” are the result of the search engine algorithm’s work.
We know that the positions of the highlighted sites are mainly based on the relevance of the content relative to the requested subject (which, historically, has fully contributed to establishing Google’s success).
We also know that Google’s algorithm is one of the best-kept secrets in the world, combining more than 200 relevance criteria to “choose” the sites that will have the distinct chance to “rise” to the first page!
Taking the Google “algorithm” into account is therefore essential in any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy aiming to optimally position sites on key queries.
But this algorithm is, to say the least, changeable… Google updates it periodically, naming its main modifications after sweet animal names: Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon…
Far from being anecdotal, these changes periodically shake the Web, as they reshuffle the cards. This is how some major Web players have, from one day to the next, seen a sudden and lasting drop in traffic to their sites after Google algorithm updates.
It is clear: for Google, only sites that correctly meet the needs of users have a right to exist in its search engine results.
This is why, over the years (and its algorithm changes), Google continues to make the user experience of web users its absolute priority.
Google Panda: absolute priority to content quality
Concretely, there was a before and after Panda. Before Panda, the Internet was full of over-optimized sites based on senseless repetitions of keywords and content without real added value.
With Panda (officially integrated into the heart of its general ranking algorithm in March 2013), Google clearly restored order to the Web by ending the play period.
With a message that couldn’t be clearer: give your users quality content or you will be doomed to the Web’s oblivion. Panda thus punished guilty sites by removing visibility from content that was:
low quality
duplicated (copy-paste)
over-optimized
Google Penguin: the end of artificial links
One of the bases of organic search ranking lies in the links (inbound and outbound) established between sites dealing mainly with common or related subjects. In SEO professional jargon, they are called backlinks. Roughly, the more backlinks a site has, in quantity and especially in quality, the higher its ranking.
And it goes without saying that the temptation has long been strong to “force” the dose of backlinks.
Since April 2012, Google Penguin has corrected this drift by penalizing sites whose links were clearly artificial (without relevant reasons for the subjects treated). Furthermore, Penguin is fully capable of assessing the quality of a link: the intention with which it was created is one of the essential factors in its consideration for site indexing!
Google Phantom: war on low-quality content!
Content that is too short, text/visual proportions unfavorable to text, video listing pages…: following Panda, Google Phantom has largely penalized sites that did not put the user at the heart of the content.
The user experience is once again clearly favored by this new algorithm change. To measure your SEO success, do not just count visits! Instead, take into account the number of occurrences where you have aligned your site with what each new visitor was looking for.
Google Hummingbird: favoring sites that answer user questions
In September 2013, Google discreetly changed the way its engine responds to user queries. However, discretion rhymes with a major modification of the relevance algorithm!
Google started from a simple observation: more and more users enter their queries into the search engine in the form of questions (comprising several words). Through the analysis of conversational queries (in other words, questions you might ask someone in a conversation), Google Hummingbird shows that it has integrated voice command use into its operation. It thus adapts to new uses, particularly to the level of requirement of users who wish to find a maximum of relevant information.
Google Hummingbird therefore intends to clearly favor sites that provide clear and precise answers to the questions users ask. However, is Hummingbird really essential?
Two examples (among others) allow for doubt:
1. When Hummingbird does not find satisfactory results for the query, the old co-occurrence algorithm works by default.
2. Hummingbird allows for the inclusion of terms excluded from the search by the algorithm: you can then see the crossed-out keyword under the search result. But Hummingbird intervenes only when the keyword has nothing to do with the rest of the query! Surprising, isn’t it?
Google Pigeon: priority to local ranking (geolocation)
Geographically targeted searches have been better handled since the appearance of Google Pigeon. Thus, the results displayed as a priority integrate ranking parameters linked to geolocation and distance, notably thanks to parameters from Google Maps (or places pinned on a map).
Google also explained that the “new algorithm dedicated to local search was now better linked to classic search.” More precisely, the criteria that bring up a result in Google Maps are now closer to those used to rank classic results. According to Google, Pigeon is supposed to better include the hundreds of criteria used in classic search, but also the Knowledge Graph, spelling, synonyms, and “many other things”…
The engine also specified having improved “ranking parameters linked to geolocation and distance.”
Google Mobile-Friendly (April 21, 2015)
Sites that play the mobile game (which are optimized for navigation on smartphones and tablets) are now favored by Google Mobile-Friendly (Mobilegeddon). If your site is not responsive, it is highly likely that its ranking in Google results pages will suffer.
For large and medium market players, it seems there has been no real change in the results index. No surprise there: having immediately conformed to the new rules, Google’s change had no major effects on their rankings.
On the other hand, small players who do not have the means to adapt their sites to Mobile use (Responsive Web Design) may have seen their rankings decrease. And it’s far from over: the gap between the two segments will continue to widen, in parallel with the continuous growth of Mobile usage.
Google RankBrain: when organic search is already at the age of artificial intelligence.
In early 2016, Google developed an ultra-sophisticated algorithm using an artificial intelligence and machine learning system capable of guessing the meaning of words and expressions it has never seen before. Code name: RankBrain.
Objective: to offer users ever more relevant results, by further improving the indexing robots’ understanding of a site’s relevance.
Currently, more than 15% of daily user queries are processed thanks to the RankBrain artificial intelligence layer. Likely strongly linked to Hummingbird, RankBrain is, among other things, based on understanding the semantic links between words, expressions…
Conclusion
Every major algorithm change makes companies (“pure player” and “brick and mortar”) tremble when their profitability depends largely on their place in results for their key queries.
At the same time, Google is regularly accused of distorting competition by highlighting its own services too much in its results.
In any case, one thing is certain: algorithm change after algorithm change, Google’s philosophy is constantly reaffirmed: to present users with the most relevant results possible from quality sites.
Best practices to remember:
take care of the user experience
limit the presence of advertisements
develop highly qualitative content
hunt down technical errors
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