The year 2012 can be considered as a turning point in Google’s search algorithm development, which is supported by the number of updates made by the company. Google remained improving the means for interpreting the user intent, filtering the low quality content, and improving the ways of the Web pages’ analysis and the related signals. To webmasters, SEO experts and digital marketers, it was a year of getting to know how best to manage these changes while at the same time keeping websites optimized and competitive within this ever evolving digital environment.
However, before delving into the specific changes that accompanied these updates, as well as their influence on SEO during 2012, let’s unfold the principal strategies which businesses and website owners should follow to remain competitive.
Introduction: The Shift Toward High Quality Content 2012 Google Algorithm Updates
However, in 2012, the company’s main goal of enhancing the search experience of end users was even more evident. The leader of the search engines more and more valued high quality and authoritative content and changed how it looked at various factors including social interactions, user’s behavior, and the content itself. SEO practices evolved from using such techniques as keyword density and link index to producing far more natural user-oriented content.
Over time Google has provided more advanced algorithms that signaled some considerable changes in the year 2012. Now let’s get straight to the major changes and what it meant for SEO.
Google Penguin Update (April 2012): Focusing on the Spammy Link Building Techniques
The first algorithm update that is crucial for 2012 was the Google Penguin Update, which took place in April. This update was aimed at sites that used spammy link building techniques in order to increase their positions on the SERPs. Penguin was designed to strike sites that utilized spammy backlinks such as paid links, link farms and any other black hat SEO technique.
Most important aspects of the Penguin Update
- Spammy Link Penalties: Penguin targeted sites with unnatural link patterns, including many exact-match anchor text and many unnatural links from sites of low quality.
- Focus on Link Relevance and Quality: The last update shifted the emphasis on backlinks’ quality, relevance and diversity, which forced Internet resources to aim at getting organic, authoritative links from credible sources.
- Negative Impact on Manipulative SEO Practices: Sites that employed black-hat SEO practices such as keyword doping, cloaking, or excessive reciprocal linking were hit by Penguin.
Analysis of Findings After the Penguin Update
- Disavow Spammy Links: Following Penguin, webmasters were required to constantly check their backlinks and use the Disavow Tool provided by Google to reject the links of low quality or spam.
- Focus on Quality Over Quantity: Do not aim to get as many back links as you can provide, instead, concentrate on getting more quality back links from preferable sources. Moreover, a guest blogging strategy, influencer approach, and content marketing were critical in acquiring natural links.
- Improve Link Diversity: The idea is to have a diverse link profile meaning get back links from as many different domains, different industries and different kinds of links as possible – they can be a result of editorial placements, social sharing, or simple mention.
Google Panda 3.5 Update (July 2012): Improving the Evaluation of the Content Quality
The first update to Panda was in 2011 and the sophistication of the algorithm with which Google was evaluating content quality was evident in Panda 3.5 in July 2012. This update impacted less than 1 percent of search queries and was endeavored to make refinements to the ranking mechanism for spam sites. Panda kept on promoting the content that was fresh, informative and well-organized, but demoting the sites that offered almost nothing valuable to their visitors.
This article focuses on the key features of the Panda 3.5 update including contextual scanning, progression to an attractive interface, and increased dependence on signatures.
- Refined Content Scoring: Panda 3.5 enhanced the way google would rank content; aspects such as originality, comprehensive content, and quality consumer engagement. The sites with scanty and poor quality content suffered a decline in their rankings.
- Focus on Content Farms: This update further focused on content farms and low-quality spammy sites that produced huge volumes of low-quality, keyword-rich articles.
- Increased Weight on User Engagement: Google then started focusing on other user behavior trends such as time spent on the page, bounce rates and click through rates in order to gauge the quality of the content on the page.
What We Learned Post Panda 3.5 Update
- Invest in High-Quality Content: Web sites were required to create more quality, unique, and relevant Web content to attract more traffic and keep the users on the site longer.
- Enhance User Experience: Make your website more user friendly by navigation, loading speed and of course accessibility on mobile devices. Google prefers the sites that again and again engage and fulfill the visitors.
- Regular Content Updates: The remainder of the blunt objectives was as follows: New content is still relevant for ranking. Another possibility of getting higher rankings might be updating often visited pages with new contents and links for related resources.
Google EMD Update (September 2012): As stated earlier, there are now penalties for exact match domains.
In September 2012, Google released an update that aimed at EMDs more than any of the previous updates. EMDs were domains that included the particular keyword or a phrase people were looking for in their search, for instance, ‘bestdigitalcameras.com’ or ‘cheapflowers.com’. Although many of these domains were advantaged with high ranking from Google, it began to scale down the importance of EMDs and favor sites with superior content and usability.
The most important Functional changes in Google was The Florida Update, released on November 2003.
Major changes in the EMD update
- Lower Rankings for Low-Quality EMDs: This change affected websites with exact match domains which were earlier identified as low quality or spam. Google downgraded the relevancy of these domains for ranking when the links in the domains didn’t meet the intended purpose of the domains.
- Focus on Content Over Domain Names: Google then made it clear that having a domain name in place would not be enough to rank high on the search. This is because high-quality content, relevance and ease of use also translated into better ranking rather than conventional blackhatters’ EMDs.
Value Added Post-EMD Update
- Quality Content Matters More Than Domain Name: And although an exact match domain might still be beneficial, the focus on quality content became the number one priority. Make sure that the content that is published on your website is helpful relevant, organized and valuable to the users of the website.
- Diversify Your SEO Strategy: Do not put all your eggs in the domain names basket; seek other ways of improving your SEO among them are developing quality content, backlinks and user experience.
- Improve Site Trustworthiness: Online site reputation is another factor and you can work to get links from reliable sources, post positive comments from users and be fully transparent on the site.
Google Pirate Update (August 2012): Policies for dealing with Piracy and Copyright Infringement
Later in August 2012 Google rolled out the so called ‘Pirate Update’ whose purpose was to filter out websites that provided content that was copyrighted or otherwise distributed without permission especially movies, music and software. The update was expected to enhance the capability of the search engine filter out Websites that are in violation with copyrights.
Uncover the impact of the 2011 Google algorithm update and its influence on search rankings. Learn more in this detailed analysis
Key Features and Anomalies of the Pirate Update
- Content Piracy Detection: The Pirate Update was devoted to recognizing and lowering the rank of websites that provided the customers with pirated materials or materials that violated the copyright, such as torrenting sites and unlawful streaming services.
- Penalty for DMCA Violations: Any website that continued to post material that attracted DMCA takedown notices was likely to suffer some form of punishment or be delisted completely.
- Improved Copyright Enforcement: Google also intensified the fight against piracy by making it possible to index only legal content in the search engine.
Updated with Pirates: Actionable Insights
- Ensure Content Legality: If you operate a website that posts third party contents, ensure that they obtain the content legally and also ensure that you are not violating copyright laws.
- Monitor Takedown Requests: Protect yourself from copyright infringements on the site you operate. In case of any DMCA complaints, ensure that they are responded to as soon as possible to avoid the implications.
- Emphasize Original Content: Google’s Pirate Update reminded people to use the content prepared by the copyright owners. Do not post or link to anything illegal as it will impact your site’s standing with the search engine badly.
Google Algorithm Updates 2012: Your Top 10 Questions Answered
1. How did the Penguin update influence the websites with low-quality backlinks?
The Penguin Update was aimed at affecting sites with unnatural or even spam-like link profile that includes aspects like paid links, link farms etc. To revive from such penalties, websites had no option than to concentrate on getting high quality, authoritative backlinks from relevant sources.
2. What did the Panda 3.5 update actually concentrate on?
As for the Panda 3.5 Update it was also aimed at Low-quality content, content farms, and Thin pages. Google upgraded the content quality filter and put more focus on original, useful, and engaging content.
3. In what way has the EMD update affected exact match domains?
The EMD Update decreased the advantageous positions that exact match domains previously had and also criticized the content of such sites. More specifically, the sites that produced relevant content of high quality and better usability had a higher increase in their ranks.
4. What am I going to do to help my sites when the pirating update takes place?
To prevent getting a ban from the Pirate Update, make sure that every content you are hosting in your site is legal and has no violation on copyright. Act on any DMCA notice received and takedown infringing content as soon as possible.
Conclusion: Strategies for changing with Google’s 2012 algorithm changes.
The 2012 Google algorithm updates signified the move away from trickery, gaming the system and other black-hat methods in an attempt to rank websites higher in search engines. The site’s algorithms continued improving in the way that it identified and penalized LQ, spam and content farming; in response, business had to concentrate on the generation of authoritative, high quality content, organic link building and the avoidance of legal infringements of copyrights. These changes allowed the sites to stay relevant and easily found in Google search engine result pages SES.
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