Google's War on Spam

Google's gle WAR ON SPAM g+ it o gle Google is on a mission to possible. They are so obsessed with search result quality that they make nearly 400 updates to their algorithm a year. deliver the most relevant search results That's almost one update every day! Most of these updates are invisible, but when Google takes aim at the hundreds of content farms and spam sites, PANDA February 2011 the world takes notice ... OBJECTIVE: Designed to hit large content farms by lowering the rankings of web pages with high bounce rates and low-quality external links. MAYDAY DEBRIEFING: People are furious. Some companies lay off workers. Most content farms are hit hard. Despite this, Google remains vague about what people can do to combat the Panda update. Panda affects 11% of U.S. websites. May 2010 OBJECTIVE: Implements long tail algorithm change for sites that are losing rankings on long tail keywords. CAFFEINE DEBRIEFING: Websites that depend on long tail keyword searches now rank higher. August 2009 BIG DADDY February 2006 PLUTO August 2006 OBJECTIVE: Changes how websites are crawled and determines PageRank by the relevance of their incoming/outgoing links. Sends spam sites into a supplemental category. DEBRIEFING: Users notice that even after complying with Google's "help" their websites are still going "supplemental." JAGGER October 2005 OBJECTIVE: Changes how links are valued and updated PageRank for public view. Encourages user groups to report sites employing black hat SEO techniques. Excludes spam sites from the search engine. Websites with low-value links lose rankings. BOURBON May 2005 OBJECTIVE: DEBRIEFING: Responds to spam complaints and re-inclusion requests. Many high trafficked websites turn upside down overnight. DEBRIEFING: The update attempts to implement strategic changes in search processes and make them more effective. Update focuses on switching from old data centers to new ones. ALLEGRA February 2005 BRANDY February 2004 OBJECTIVE: Identifies spam sites that rank high in the search engine. DEBRIEFING: Encourages users to give feedback about sites that deserve higher rankings. Many users report their websites disappearing from the Google rankings. Some complain that a few sites with spam still receive high rankings after the update. OBJECTIVE: Emphasizes quality content and the importance of Latent Semantic Indexing. DEBRIEFING: Offers useful insights into the workings of Google. Google gives more credit to words like trust, authority, reputation, rather than branding terms. FLORIDA November 2003 AUSTIN January 2004 OBJECTIVE: Eliminates spam with simple linking and other features ensuring that tightly optimized and cleanly linked sites do really well. ESMERELDA DEBRIEFING: Shows a clear progression in indexing, helping to clean up spam. Searchers' interest is given top priority. Update attempts to encourage white hat websites, which adhere to the quality requirements. June 2003 OBJECTIVE: Gives preference to pages offering specific information to visitors. Determines where key phrases fit in the hierarchy. DOMINIC DEBRIEFING: Spam is considerably less than it was after Dominic and Cassandra. The update advises users to compare link counts from Dominic and Esmerelda, which offers a fairer picture than comparing Esmerelda index and pre-Dominic link counts. May 2003 BOSTON April 2003 March 2003 OBJECTIVE: Emphasizes incoming links, targeted phrases, and unique content. DEBRIEFING: back Users report a noticeable decrease links. Heavily cross-loaded linked sites pay a penalty and report lower PageRank. Update favors sites with constantly updated content and impressive back links. SPAM COO0COO When Google drops bombs they hit hard, wiping out millions of top search rankings for many content farms and spam sites. The most recent Panda update hit several sites especially hard .. Who Was Affected? Visibility Losses 93% 91% 94% 93% ESSORTMENT.COM 94% BUSINESS.COM ASSOCIATEDCONTENT.COM SUITE101.COM ARTICLESBASE.COM Search Rank Losses 71% 67% 75% 72% HUBPAGES.COM 79% EZINEARTICLES.COM BUZZLE.COM ASSOCIATEDCONTENT.COM SUITE101.COM 1-800-351-9081 O SEO.c .COM # 1 in Search Engine Optimization CASSANDRA