After a rash of fake news, intrusive content ads, and black hat SEO tactics began to negatively influence search results, Google rolled out a series of major algorithm updates.

Some of these updates were not communicated to the public. These nameless updates have been dubbed Fred. Fred has many content managers and SEO experts worried because their mastery of Google algorithms is how they are able to guide sites to high rankings. However, this worry may be unfounded.

New policies in the post-update world

The shift from announcing updates happened during a change of management. Matt Cutts, former Head of Web Spam, used to name and announced the changes. Now, Google announces only the big changes, like the recent Penguin updates. This period is now dubbed the “post-update world.” In the post-update world, updates are not officially named or identified. Also when an update has been rolled out there is no confirmation on the update (Search Engine Land). 

Why the post-update world has many concerned

Without information about recent changes, if a website starts losing its ranking or experiences a drop in traffic, an SEO expert may be at a loss as to what to do. There’s also concern that without full and transparent information about the algorithms determining ranking, SEO experts and content managers will not be able to ensure their websites are not being penalised.

No need for concern

Though the worries have many SEO experts concerned, there are still ways to ensure that you are ranking. Google has only ever targeted websites that engage in bad practices. These updates focus on link issues, page layouts, technical problems, and the user experience. If you avoid bad practices when building your website, crafting your content, and planning your marketing strategies, you shouldn’t have any issues. Follow the guidelines, set by Google and you should be fine. You can find the Google SEO guidelines in a handy pdf here (Google).

Ultimately, the updates really should not impact your website as long as you are engaging in good practices. These practices haven’t changed much, despite the latest updates. If you are still worried that the algorithm updates may have negatively impacted your search engine ranking, you need to hire an expert. ALHAUS can help. We produce only quality content; are well-versed in SEO best practices; and can help ensure that the content on your website helps you rank.