Google's Latest Algorithm Changes for June-July 2012

Hey everybody! After a short hiatus, I'm back to talk about the latest algorithm updates from Google. Last Friday, August 13th, Google released their algorithm changes report.

Here at Adept, we find it imperative to stay in-tune with the latest Google changes so that we can help our SEO clients navigate through these updates and ensure there are minimal adverse effects.

We watch Google very closely in order to find out what the current initiatives are for them and how they intend to change their algorithm to reflect those initiatives. This, in turn, gives us a better idea of how to execute our SEO campaigns.

Here are some highlights from the latest report:

    • Site Clustering - Google is working on adjusting their search engine results pages (SERPs) in order to "simplify" site clustering. What this means is that one domain address can dominate a SERP to the point where 8 or 9 out of the first 10 results are from that same domain. Based on the multiple projects for this area, we can anticipate some changes here shortly.
    • Page Quality - As most SEOs are aware, high-quality content and relevancy help a website rank in the search engines. Based on the indication from Google, they have added new data into their algorithm that will detect and rank higher-quality websites, coming from more trustworthy sources.
    • Sitelinks - Sitelinks are the page links that Google automatically provides below the main search result in order to help a user navigate to relevant internal pages of a site (see picture below, showing one of our clients, Pet Palace). Based on the report, Google intends to continue their focus on these sitelinks in order to improve relevancy. How they will do this is by "taking the liberty to rewrite titles, drop “boilerplate text” and make the wording of individual search results more user-friendly" (referencing this article on SearchEngineLand).

    • Panda Update 3.9 - Google continues to roll out algorithm updates in order to fight against "spamming". To avoid any penalties from Google here, you'd better make sure you're creating and using unique and genuine content and SEO practices.

 

Now that you are aware of the recent Google algorithm updates, go forth and optimize accordingly. You KNOW we will be doing so!