Death of Google updates and all the fun around it

Google updates are dead-Death of Google updates and all the fun around it.

I have been with Google and other search engines for the past 15 years. Over the years I enjoyed seeing all the updates Google makes to their algorithm. Whether it is PageRank update or core algorithm update, the buzz Google creates in webmaster and SEO community is huge. Starting with the big Florida update in 2013 to a number of Panda and Penguin updates Google has always kept SEO community on the edge of their seat.

Initially Google updates were called Google dances.

Few noticeable updates

Boston update

Google Boston Update

Cassandra Update

Google Cassandra Update

Dominic Update

Google Gominic Update

Esmeralda Update

Google Esmeralda Update

Fritz update

Google Fritz Update

Florida Update ( Biggest update in early 2000s.)

Google Florida Update

Austin Update

Google Austin Update

Brandy Update

Google Brandy Update

Big Daddy update

Google Big Daddy Update

Dewey Update

Google Dewey Update

Caffeine Update

Google Caffeine Update

Hummingbird Google update

Google Hummingbird Update

Payday Update

Google Payday Update

Panda Update

Then came the big killer of onpage SEO spam! Panda update. This is the most important update Google ever made targeting onpage SEO spam. Panda update was followed by many versions of Panda with lot more tweaking

Google Panda Update

Penguin Update

Then came the link killer update ( Penguin ). This literally took many SEO companies out of Business. Till this update everyone had a feeling that Google will not penalize sites for backlinks which the site owner do not have full control over. But Google did not care they went ahead with this major link killer. Sites scrambled to remove every artificial links that links to their site. Then guess what some companies started throwing huge number of spam links to their competitor sites. This sometimes resulted in negative SEO and made some sites tank in rankings even without them doing anything wrong with their backlinks. Google immediately fixed this and made sure competitors don’t hurt other sites by throwing spam links.

Google Penguin Update

After Panda and Penguin there were minor updates like Anti-piracy update, Fred update etc but nothing significant. The age of updates are gone we had more than a decade of fun which no future SEO will have. Now search engines especially Google has become boring. No PageRank update, no Google algorithm update, no Google PR person like Matt Cutts scaring webmasters / SEOs. Now we have Gary Illyes, John Muller helping people with their webmaster and SEO questions. But no one can be like Matt cutts AKA Google Guy.

There are still some blogs and forums trying to create buzz to bring visitors to their site posting about Google updates. Fact is there are no more major or noticeable updates in Google. Google search algorithm has become more real time, all updates are real time updates. For example Penguin and Panda refreshes are integrated into Google algorithm. They can happen every day or every week which rarely people will notice. It has become harder and harder to predict Google. With so many updates and refreshes it is no more feasible to try decoding Google search algorithm.

Stop following blogs that still cry wolf, wolf when there is actually nothing. I have seen some very experienced SEO guys shouting update! update ! when there is actually nothing. They do it just for the sake of gaining traffic. In fact that traffic is from guys who have little knowledge of real SEO or how Google really works.

Age of noticeable updates are gone, major updates are dead. Stop concentrating on updates. Do your homework, good websites deserve top positions. Stop trying to rank undervalued sites. Let the quality sites be on top. I have stopped serious SEO 3 years back and do only for very selective clients. I always recommend them to build great websites rather than cookie cutter sites. I have rejected numerous SEO projects just because they don’t fall under my ethics.

Google Algorithm Updates

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