GOOGLE ALGORITHM
GOOGLE UPDATE DEFINITION
The formula Google uses to rank the resulting Web pages from a user's query. Along with the PageRank system that was Google's major contribution to evaluating Web site importance due to popularity, Google uses numerous other criteria that change periodically to deliver more relevant results as well as to prevent people from gaming the system. For example, if one criterion were the quantity of identical words in the page, search engine optimization (SEO) specialists might embed multiple occurrences of the word in the page that are invisible to the user but not to the search engine spider that crawls the Web. When Google finds that people are doing excessive "keyword stuffing," it may lessen the value of that criterion in the overall mix. Continual Changes Over the years, Google has had numerous algorithm changes, many of which have names and multiple versions, including Boston, Caffeine, Cassandra, Dominic, Esmerelda, Fritz, Florida, Austin, Brandy, Allegra, Bourbon, Gilligan, Jagger, Big Daddy, Buffy, Dewey, Panda and Penguin. In 2013, the Hummingbird algorithm was a major change in order to deliver more targeted results for users. Some Gain, Some Lose With each algorithm change, some percentage of Web sites gain in popularity, while others lose. Occasionally, even major sites take a huge hit, drawing 10 million page views one day and 5 million the day after an algorithm change
GOOGLE WEB SPAM DEFINITION
(1) Any form of Web page content that is created to improve search rankings without regard to any value for the user. See spamdexing and cloaking.
(2) Web pages with many links to other Web sites. The pages may pretend to provide assistance or facts about a subject, but the help is often meaningless and the information shallow. Web spam pages use repetitive text in the copy or meta tags in order to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results. See spamdexing and popup ad.
10 million page views one day and 5 million the day after an algorithm change
GOOGLE AMP DEFENITION
(Google Accelerated Mobile Pages) An open source Web format from Google for delivering faster Web pages on mobile devices. Introduced in 2016, sites that are AMP enabled are expected to receive higher priority in the search results, because retrieval speed is one of the criteria Google uses to rank sites. See page ranking.
GOOGLE SPAMDEXING DEFINITION
Techniques employed by some Web marketers and site designers in order to fool a search engine's indexing programs. The objective is to ensure their Web site appears at or near the top of the list of search engine results. Word/Keyword Stuffing A common method is "word stuffing" or "keyword stuffing," which embeds descriptive words on the page dozens or even hundreds of times. These words may also be invisible to the human eye, such as white text on a white background, but search engines see them. Bait and Switch Another technique combines word stuffing with "bait-and-switch," which loads the page with a popular search word such as "sex," "travel" or "antivirus," even though the word has nothing to do with the site content. Search Engines Are Savvy Major search engines always try to outsmart spamdexers. For example, they may automatically give a lower ranking to any page that contains a lot of repeated words. However, as soon as one method is successfully defeated, spamdexers come up with others. Legitimate Methods Site designers can use ethical ways to make their site get a higher ranking, such as inserting appropriate keywords in the page's meta tags. In addition, the search engine itself may offer tips on how to obtain higher rankings. A good source of information is Search Engine Watch (www.searchenginewatch.com), which covers the major search engines. See doorway page, meta tag, spam and Google bomb.
GOOGLE PAGE RANKING DEFINITION
PageRank is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites in their search engine results. PageRank was named after Larry Page, one of the founders of Google. PageRank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages.
GOOGLE ALGORITHM BASIS OF YEARS
2016 Updates
AdWords Shake-up — February 23, 2016
2015 Updates
Panda 4.2 (#28) — July 17, 2015
2014 Updates
Pigeon Expands (UK, CA, AU) — December 22, 2014
Penguin Everflux — December 10, 2014
Pirate 2.0 — October 21, 2014
Penguin 3.0 — October 17, 2014
Panda 4.1 (#27) — September 23, 2014
Pigeon — July 24, 2014
Panda 4.0 (#26) — May 19, 2014
2013 Updates
Authorship Shake-up — December 19, 2013
Penguin 2.1 (#5) — October 4, 2013
Hummingbird — August 20, 2013
Penguin 2.0 (#4) — May 22, 2013
Panda #25 — March 14, 2013
Panda #24 — January 22, 2013
2012 Updates
Panda #23 — December 21, 2012
Panda #22 — November 21, 2012
Panda #21 — November 5, 2012
Penguin #3 — October 5, 2012
Panda #20 — September 27, 2012
Panda 3.9.2 (#19) — September 18, 2012
Panda 3.9.1 (#18) — August 20, 2012
Panda 3.9 (#17) — July 24, 2012
Panda 3.8 (#16) — June 25, 2012
Panda 3.7 (#15) — June 8, 2012
Penguin 1.1 (#2) — May 25, 2012
Panda 3.6 (#14) — April 27, 2012
Penguin — April 24, 2012
Panda 3.5 (#13) — April 19, 2012
Panda 3.4 (#12) — March 23, 2012
Panda 3.3 (#11) — February 27, 2012
Panda 3.2 (#10) — January 18, 2012
2011 Updates
Panda 3.1 (#9) — November 18, 2011
Panda 2.5 (#7) — September 28, 2011
Panda 2.4 (#6) — August 12, 2011
Panda 2.3 (#5) — July 23, 2011
Panda 2.2 (#4) — June 21, 2011
Panda 2.1 (#3) — May 9, 2011
Panda 2.0 (#2) — April 11, 2011
2010 Updates
Brand Update — August 2010
Caffeine (Rollout) — June 2010
“After months of testing, Google finished rolling out the Caffeine infrastructure. Caffeine not only boosted Google's raw speed, but integrated crawling and indexation much more tightly, resulting in (according to Google) a 50% fresher index.”
May Day — May 2010
2009 Updates
Real-time Search — December 2009
Caffeine (Preview) — August 2009
Google released a preview of a massive infrastructure change, designed to speed crawling, expand the index, and integrate indexation and ranking in nearly real-time. The timeline spanned months, with the final rollout starting in the US in early 2010 and lasting until the summer.
2008 Updates
Google Suggest — August 2008
Dewey — April 2008
2007 Updates
Buffy — June 2007
Universal Search — May 2007
2006 Updates
False Alarm — December 2006
2005 Updates
Big Daddy — December 2005
Bourbon — May 2005
2004 Updates
Google IPO — August 2004
Brandy — February 2004
Austin — January 2004
2003 Updates
Florida — November 2003
Fritz — July 2003
Boston — February 2003
2002 Updates
1st Documented Update — September 2002
2000 Updates
Google Toolbar — December 2000
