For a number of years Google has introduced significant updates to its search engine. The purpose of this article is to take stock of Google’s algorithms from 2011 to today by presenting their impact over the past few years. Monitoring the evolution of updates makes it possible to detect the main directions taken by Google and to anticipate future developments . The Panda algorithm (2011) – fighting against “poor” content In 2011, Google released the first major update to the Panda algorithm. This update aims to combat sites created solely for the purpose of being referenced without bringing added value to Internet users. Panda mainly attacks “on-page” criteria and wants to ensure that the content of the pages is rich and relevant enough to be referenced.
2 types of sites are mainly targeted by the Panda update affiliate sites whose purpose is to host links to other pages sites with “poor” content Since its publication, the Panda algorithm has been regularly updated to be more and more efficient. Google Algorithms - Panda Country Email List Penguin (2012) – fight against “fake” backlinks Among the Google algorithms, Penguin is probably the most famous. 1 year after the release of Panda, Google is cracking down on fake backlinks . The Penguin algorithm is particularly attentive to the links that sites obtain from other sites. If Google detects that the link obtained is artificial (as in the case of a link exchange for example), it does not give it any value in the referencing of the site.
In the past many SEOs have tried to boost the positioning of their sites by buying links. The sites having benefited from these processes were severely penalized by the Penguin algorithm and permanently lost their position on the search engine. Hummingbird (2013) – the beginnings of voice search In August 2013, Google launched Hummingbird (Colibri). This update brings the foundation to voice search. Hummingbird focuses more on the meaning of sentences rather than taking into account specific words. Google has implemented a true semantic analysis in order to display more relevant search results, taking into account the overall meaning of the query. The results of this update were not immediate.