Alot of controversy surrounds the algorithm that is unique to Google because of the way webmasters battle it out to achieve a top placement for their keywords. The Google algorithm is a vital part of Google's unique ability to filter the good from the bad. Other search engines have failed where Google has suceeded because of the recipie that has gone into Google's website selection process. When you perform any sort of search in Google, your almost guaranteed to find what your looking for in the top 10 results, which almost makes anything after page 1 pointless, however, how do we keep up with the constant refinements that Google makes to its algorithm?.
No its not a trick question, the answer is as simple as the answer to how do I get good website placement for my keywords. Its all about quality and popularity. Those 2 factors are the blood to living websites, and websites that follow with good quality content & media. Quality is vital because its the central factor that seperates useless websites from useful websites. And popularity re-enforces that the website is of any value. If something was no good it would have no or very little popularity which is why links are an important part of the search engine optimisation process.
The algorithm changes are put into place because Google needs to stay 1 step ahead of webmasters in order to maintain good quality search results, without the algorithm updates we could see poor quality results reaching page 1 after a short period of time. Google's algorithm remains a mysterious thing, however the concepts behind it are as clear as daylight, lets take updates such as big daddy, or the california update where the algorithm was refined on a major scale, seeing a drastic change in website placements, or a more recent update such as Google caffeine which has seen the introduction of quick indexing for news results.
The algorithm has changed significantly sinces its introduction in 1997, where the days of meta usage were heavily monitored.
So how do we keep up to speed with the changes at Google?
Its quite easy as long as your a member of the right communities including the good people at SEO Roundtable, SEOMOZ, SEO Chat and of course the official Google blog which is full of the latest news and updates. Check every day or two to see what upcoming algorithm changes are due. You will find that algorithm changes are actually quite rare as they only happen every 6 - 18 months, instead, very small refinements are made to rankings which usually appear as small increases or decreases in rankings for various website groups.
Is a PR update relative to an algorithm change?
Its a common question, the answer to this is no, PR updates are independant and generally happen very slowly due to the vast volume of websites in Google's index. You can expect to see PR updates more frequently then you would with algorithm changes.
Do I have to rebuild my website to keep up with Google's algorithm changes?
Again, this is a common question, and the answer is No, if your website performs well now, then even after a major update, no ground should be lost. Exceptions can be made if the webmaster has followed blackhat SEO practices such as buying links, which at major updates can be discovered and de-valued. Websites should never require a rebuild in order to reclaim rankings, quality should be found in the form of good content, and if you rank well already, there is no reason why this should change.
Why after a recent Google update has my website lost its positions?
Its not always just the Google update that can cause ranking losses, in fact, ranking losses are always a risk to any website, sometimes it can be a simple thing such as stale content, or a lack of website updates that have shown your website to be more redundant which sometimes has a negative ranking impact. Check to see what changes you have made to your website over the last 2 months, sometimes small changes can have a big impact, silly things such as broken links or improper re-directs can be all it takes to loose ground in the rankings.
Why not bookmark our website, we frequently report on Google updates, or visit our SEO Blog to stay up to date with Google algorithm changes and major updates.
