Google, by far, is one of the best search engines to have graced the digital world. Not only the search engine provides great user experience, it makes sure that search queries are directed to the most relevant results. This is unique to Google and this can be attributed to its complex algorithm.

Google’s algorithm has always been the talk of the town but nobody could understand it completely. On top of that the search engine giant keeps updating its algorithm frequently to improve the search quality.

In this blog, we will have a look at some of the major algorithm updates that Google introduced from time to time and analyze what it intended to do and how it effected SEO. Let’s begin.

Panda

Google’s Panda update was launched on February 24, 2011. This update aimed to eliminate content that were duplicate or plagiarized, which had user-generated spams and where keyword stuffing was used to rank higher.

With Panda algorithm update, many websites were penalized and some even removed from SERPs (search engine result pages). Panda algorithm assigned quality scores to websites, which was used in ranking.

The impact that this algorithm update had was immense and coerced content creators to come up with unique and fresh content, thereby enhancing the overall user experience.

Exact Match Domain Update

This update did not have a nickname and went by EMD update. This was launched in 2012 and targeted websites that used exact match domains with thin or zero-value content.

The basic flaw with such website was that they used specific keywords to build a site and populated it with spammy, irrelevant or plagiarized content. Google warned such websites beforehand and when EMD was released such sites were heavily penalized.

Penguin

Launched on April 24, 2012, Google’s Penguin update aimed to rank down websites that contained irrelevant or spammy links or links that had over-optimized anchor text. Basically, Google wanted to penalize websites that appeared manipulative.

Google incorporated Penguin as a part of its core algorithm in 2016 and unlike Panda it can work in real-time.

Hummingbird

‘Content is King’ and who understands it better than Google. With an aim to rank down websites that had poor content quality or had too many keywords stuffed into it, Google released Hummingbird update on August 22, 2013.

With Hummingbird update, Google was able to interpret the intent of the search query and provide results that were the most relevant. While keywords are important, Hummingbird made it possible for a website to rank higher even if it did not have the exact keyword that the user searched. This is done with the help of natural language processing that uses semantic indexing, co-occurring terms, and synonyms.

Pigeon

Released on July 24, 2014 in US and December 22, 2014 in UK, Canada, and Australia, the objective of Pigeon update was to rank down websites that had poor on- and off-page SEO. In this update, user’s location played a pivotal part and with Pigeon, Google attempted to bridge the gap between local and core algorithm.

Mobilegeddon

This update was released on April 21, 2015 with an aim to reward websites that created mobile versions of their website. Seeing the rise of mobile technology, it was obvious that users would like to visit good website even from their smartphones. And hence it was necessary to have a framework that forced website owners to create mobile versions of their websites. This was accomplished by Mobilegeddon. Google even filtered out or seriously ranked down websites that did not follow the mobile-friendly approach.

RankBrain

A lot has been speculated about RankBrain, but what exactly it does, still could not be comprehended. RankBrain is a part of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm and uses machine learning systems to understand the meaning behind queries and therefore offer the best search results.

Basically, RankBrain identifies relevance features for web pages ranking for a given query, which are query-specific ranking factors. This update ranks down websites that lack query-specific relevance feature, shallow content, and poor user experience.

Possum

Google’s Possum was one of its kind where the search engine combined search results with user’s physical location. This implied that a user’s location became an important part of Google searches. For example, if a user searched for a food outlet, the ones that are near to the user’s location will be displayed in the result pages. With Possum update, even businesses located outside the city area were benefited hugely.

Fred

Fred is one of the most recent algorithm updates and was released on March 8, 2017. This update targeted websites and blogs that have poor content and were created only to earn ad revenue or for the purpose of affiliate marketing. In a nutshell, Fred penalizes every website that violates Google’s webmaster guidelines.

BERT [Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers]

BERT is the latest Google update and was released on November 4, 2019. BERT stands for bidirectional encoder representation from transformer. It is a natural language processing based algorithm created to understand the correlation between words. With BERT, Google will be able to understand search queries much better and provide extremely relevant results.

Conclusion

Google’s algorithm updates are the basis of great search experiences. In this blog we explored some of the major updates that changed the course of search engine results. To get the hang of these updates, we need to stay on top of trends and understand them in its entirety.

When was the last time you purchased something after watching a television ad? Perhaps you don’t even remember now. Alright! Let me ask you another question. Did you go on a shopping spree during Flipkart’s big billion day sale? I believe that the answer to this question would be a big yes. Isn’t it?

This shift in consumer behavior is the aftereffect of digital marketing. As technology marshaled through our lives, the virtual or the digital world came into existence. And as websites, emails, social media platforms kicked in, commerce too trailed off from brick and mortar stores and went digital.

The world got the first taste of proper e-commerce when Amazon opened its website, which the company referred to as online store. With the rapid progress that the e-commerce website made, it made the retail stores run for their money. Even brands as big as Walmart were forced to expand into e-commerce, which resulted in the former acquiring major shares in Flipkart.

This phenomenal rise of Amazon can be attributed to the ever-growing rise of internet users. Because of the sheer volume of users on the web, more and more companies looked to market their product online where they can meet potential customers without going through the hassles of traditional marketing.

This lead to the upsurge of digital marketing, which now is the most effective way of attracting customers and transforming them into buyers. The growing popularity of Amazon is just a glimpse of what digital marketing have been able to do and it is going to be the mainstay for years to come.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing, simply put is the method of attracting potential customers via online medium such as websites, social media platforms, email, and others with an aim to transform them into buyers.

With technology moving at a lightning speed, digital marketers are in great demand as almost every organization is now striving to make its presence felt in the online space. A thorough digital marketing professional will deal with various aspects of marketing, some of which are listed below:

Blog creation
Marketing automation
Content curation, development, and management
Brand management
Website design, development, and maintenance
Editing, copywriting, content writing
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Email marketing
Mobile Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Data Analytics
E-commerce

Alright, the list does look daunting but don’t worry, you don’t have to know everything; two or three skills from the list would be enough to cruise well in your digital marketing career.

Components of digital marketing

Similar to four P’s of traditional marketing, which acts as its cornerstone, digital marketing too comprises of various components that merge together and form its backbone. The components of digital marketing are:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisement
Affiliate Marketing
Influencer Marketing
Marketing Automation
Online PRl
Content Marketing

Who’s a digital marketing professional?

An out and out digital marketing professional is the one who is not just tech savvy but has the knack for marketing too. The ideal digital marketer will display the ability of self-learning and will be interested in the latest trends of the industry. Besides he/she will have immense dexterity over social media and will be invested in building rapport with customers.

The various digital marketing positions that such professionals can occupy are:

Brand Manager
Social Media Marketer
Online Content Developer
Business Analyst
Content Writer
Web Designer
Professional Blogger
Email Marketing Expert
Search Engine Expert

And many others.

Why should you start a career in digital marketing?

With everything moving online including commerce, trade, and even personal lives, it is beyond doubt that marketing efforts in the future will absolutely be digital in nature.

Already a multi-million dollar industry, digital marketing is expected to grow at an exponential rate. As per estimation, the size of the industry will grow upto 100 billion dollars by 2020.

Therefore, the time is ripe for individuals to kick off their career in digital marketing. With huge requirements and scanty resource pool, the industry without a doubt will offer some of the most lucrative jobs.

What are the benefits of starting a career in digital marketing?

Besides being an industry that has huge resource gap and willing to offer jobs that can literally change someone’s life, there are other benefits accompanying a career in digital marketing. Some of them are listed below:

You can literally begin for free: This perhaps is the biggest advantage as digital marketing doesn’t require you to get certifications from ivy league colleges to kick start. Although, a certification is a major value-add but looking at the resource crunch, anyone who can learn the essential digital marketing skills is capable of getting a job.

You can always rely on the digital marketing’s huge market potential: Since this industry is blooming, there are multiple avenues to explore. Not only it provides great career opportunity, it facilitates great learning curve, making the entire process fun.

Don’t forget, the career opportunities are rewarding: Riding on its diversity, digital marketing is capable of offering career that are extremely rewarding. This in conjunction with high earning potential is the sole reason why many are switching to digital marketing nowadays.

Being creative is the only way to ramp your career: If you’re the creative types and are forever stuck in a monotonous job, then digital marketing is the right career choice for you. Creativity is the backbone of all digital marketing endeavor, which you will thoroughly enjoy.

How to kick start a career in digital marketing in 2019-20?

Now, it’s time to answer the billion dollar question – how to start a career in digital marketing? I bet most of you now are interested than ever to kick off your digital marketing career and wondering how to start. Don’t worry, I have your back. The following are some of the tips to begin your journey.

1. Befriend social media: Without a doubt, human interaction in today’s world is driven by social media and as a digital marketer you will have to learn the nitty-gritty surrounding social media platforms to understand how companies interact with their customers.

2. Start networking: Networking is the key when it comes to marketing your product online. Without a proper networking channel, your product might as well go unnoticed. This is why it is important to start building strong connection at the start of your career. One way of doing it is by creating a linkedin profile and joining communities related to your field.

3. Stay on top of key industry trends: While getting an entry into the world of digital marketing might not be daunting now but staying relevant will require a lot of effort. This dynamic playfield is often disrupted by Google’s algorithm changes, Facebook and Twitter’s advertising policy changes and other factors. Therefore, it is crucial to stay on top of such trends to succeed as a digital marketer.

4. Start blogging: It’s not surprising that blogging is a great tool to garner audience for your website. Since the advent of the internet, bloggers have time and again proved that with the right content and right targeting, you can attract a stampede of visitors to your website. Blogging is one of the most effective ways to prove your worthiness as a digital marketing professional and you must get your hands dirty.

5. Learn how to code: Well, I am not asking you to be a coding pro, but a basic knowledge about HTML and WordPress website design will definitely be a value-add in your career. Not only it will impress your employers but also will save a lot of time.

So, here we are five effective tips to kick off your digital marketing journey and if you can follow them diligently, you will be rewarded in the most lucrative way.

What is the role of digital marketing training?

Although, the industry is accepting people who have shown the ability of self-learning and mastering the art of digital marketing all by themselves, in order to stand out from your peers it is essential to get trained.

Now, if you at all want to enroll in a digital marketing training program, it is imperative that you look for the best institutes. Especially, when there are many that have flooded the market, your discretion in choosing the right digital marketing training institute will be crucial in shaping your career.

This is why I urge you to keep an eye on External Experts – Digital Marketing Agency website. We come up with FREE webinars, demo classes, and events, among many others, which can help you take the right decision.

I hope with all the information that you have garnered in this blog, you will be motivated to take up digital marketing as a career choice and might even opt for a digital marketing training program. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Also, shoot any questions that you have and I promise I will get back to you.

Category: Digital Marketing

A complete analysis of major Google algorithm updates