- Google’s 2011 Updates: What Business Owners Need to Know
Google is constantly changing and tweaking its algorithms in an effort to improve the user experience. As a result, SEO strategies that worked last year may not be as effective this year. Here are some of the most important Google updates from 2011 and what they mean for businesses who want to stay ahead of the curve.
Panda Update
The Panda Update was first released in February 2011. Its goal was to lower the ranking of “low-quality sites” and raise the ranking of “high-quality sites.” In order to do this, Google looked at a number of factors, including the content of a site, its design, its loading speed, and whether or not it was mobile-friendly. Sites that were found to be lacking in any of these areas were given a lower ranking by Google. As a result, it’s now more important than ever for businesses to make sure their site is well-designed, fast-loading, and optimized for mobile devices.
Google & Integration
In June 2011, Google announced that it would be integrating its social networking platform, Google+, into all of its other products and services. This integration meant that, for the first time, Google would be able to take into account the social interactions of its users when determining search results. So, if someone in your network +1s (i.e., gives a virtual thumbs-up to) a particular website or blog post, that site will likely show up higher in your search results than it would otherwise.
This update also affects businesses who have set up Google+ Pages for their company. These Pages Now show up in search results when people search for your company name or relevant keywords. As such, it’s now more important than ever to make sure your Google+ Page is complete and up-to-date with useful information about your business.
Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have announced support for a new approach to structured data that will result in richer search results.
The companies have also created a number of new “schemas” that will allow developers to more easily add structured data to their pages. This new approach is a result of the companies’ joint efforts to improve the way search engines work.
The goal is to make it easier for developers to add structured data to their pages, and to make search results more relevant and useful.
The new schemas will make it possible for developers to provide more information about their content, and to better control how that information is presented in search results.
This will ultimately lead to better search results for users, and more traffic for developers.
Freshness Update 2011
Google Freshness Update 2011 is an algorithm update from Google that was first announced on November 3, 2011. This update is designed to improve the quality of search results by giving preference to websites with fresh content. The update affects both organic and paid search results, and it is rolled out on a global basis. Google has said that the update will affect roughly 35% of all searches.
The Freshness Update is based on the assumption that people are generally looking for the most recent information on a given topic. As such, websites with fresh content are more likely to rank higher in search results than those with outdated content. The update also takes into account the time frame of the user’s query; for example, a query about a current event will return different results than a query about something that happened in the past.
Google has not released many details about how the Freshness Update works, but there are some best practices that businesses can follow to ensure that their website is optimized for this change. First, it’s important to regularly add new content to your website. This can be in the form of blog posts, articles, news updates, or even just new product listings. Second, make sure that your website’s metadata is up-to-date and accurate; this includes things like title tags, meta descriptions, and image alt text. Finally, keep an eye on your website’s performance in Google Search Console to see if there are any changes after the update is rolled out. By following these tips, you can help your website rank higher in search results and get more traffic from Google.
Page Layout Update 2011
Page layout update happened in early 2011 when google decided to give more weightage to websites having content above the fold. The ‘fold’ refers to the area of a web page that is visible without scrolling. This update was targeted towards websites that had a lot of ads above the fold, and not enough actual content. As a result of this update, many websites saw a significant drop in their search rankings. Google has since clarified that this update only affects a small number of websites, and that it is not meant to penalize websites with advertising. However, it is still important to make sure that your website has a good balance of content and ads, in order to avoid any negative impact on your search engine optimization.
March 50 Pack Update & Tweaks to handling of anchor text 2011
The 2011 March 50 Pack update from Google includes a number of changes and tweaks to the way anchor text is handled. One of the most significant changes is the way that Google interprets the relationship between anchor text and target page. In the past, Google would give more weight to anchor text that exactly matched the target page’s title or keyword. However, this led to some abuse, as webmasters would deliberately choose keywords that were not relevant to their content in order to improve their search engine ranking. As a result, Google has now changed the way it interprets anchor text, giving more weight to relevance and context. This should ensure that users are more likely to find relevant results when they search for a particular keyword. In addition to this change, the latest update also includes a number of other tweaks and improvements designed to enhance the user experience.
Final Words
Google is always changing and evolving, which means that what worked last year might not work this year. As a business owner, it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest changes so that you can adjust your SEO strategy accordingly. By paying attention to updates like the Panda Update andGoogle+ Integration, you can ensure that your website stays ahead of the curve and shows up in front of your target audience—no matter how much Google changes its algorithms.
