Google Has Changed The Game, Have You?

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Are you feeling scared this Halloween: Is the prospect of looking at your SEOreport unnerving?

Google is changing and has changed a lot over the last decade, especially in the last two years, as a result how they rank websites in organic search has evolved. Our clients know that at TWMG we stay on-top of the game, but these changes mean older websites need to be updated and that we are now firmly in a mobile first digital environment. Google is a complex and complicated search engine and it’s main purpose – apart from making money now that it is a public company – is to serve up the most relevant search results on the most user friendly platforms.

The main drivers for these Google changes are:

  1. To combat ‘black-hat’ spammy SEO tactics
  2. To improve user experience by ranking sites that work on mobile devices and are accessible for people with disabilities

Much like Google has changed its products around continuously over the last years – Google Apps to GSuite etc, etc. They also do so with their SEOalgorithm changes, in fact they make around 500-600 adjustments per year. Most of these are minor tweeks but in 2015 and 2016 we saw a number of ‘game changers’ – these are massive updates in terms of how Google ranks websites.

Upgrades over the last years include: Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon and ‘Mobilegeddon’ (See infographic)

It PAYS to know the latest digital trends:

  • Over 90% of Australian internet searches are in Google.
  • 2015 & 2016 has seen a radical shift in how Google ranks websites.
  • 2016: Penguin 4.0 has dropped – some results could take time, as Google re-crawls the entire web, but a big change is coming.

Sources: Google & MOZ

*Google is part of Alphabet Inc

If you would like to discuss these points in more detail, then click here and get in touch, and we can give you a call back at a time that suits you.