Updates to the Google algorithm can potentially cause major changes to SEO-optimized blogs and websites. Whether that’s good or bad for you as SEO depends entirely on the condition of your website. But let’s first clarify what this is all about.
What is a Google Update?
Google publishes so-called “core updates” at regular intervals. These are refinements of the algorithm that determines the ranking of the web for certain search terms. These refinements are based on the constant quality control of the search results, which Google constantly carries out itself. They also address the constantly changing requirements of the modern web – for example the increasing importance of optimizing websites for mobile devices or changing data protection requirements.
What kind of Google updates are there?
Possible Google updates are:
- Permanent updates: Daily updates that serve to increase the general search quality
- Updates regarding technical requirements: Updates that address the optimization of a website for mobile devices, speed, security (SSL) and the like
- Updates regarding legal requirements: Updates that serve the conformity of websites of certain countries with current legislation (keyword GDPR)
- Updates regarding the semantics of search queries: for example to differentiate between general vs. local search queries (restaurants, gas stations, etc.)
- Updates to detect manipulation: for example, to reduce the rankings of websites with an unnatural backlink profile
In addition to these core updates, which affect websites of all genres and subject areas, there are also subject-related updates that focus on websites of very specific industries and / or topics. Regardless of which type of website these updates affect: sooner or later you will feel the effects of a Google update.
What are specific Google updates from the last few years?
The aforementioned types of Google updates can be found in Google’s update history:
- 2011 – Panda Update: Detection of inferior content with low user acceptance
- 2012 – Penguin Update: Detection of tampering with the backlink profile of websites
- 2013 – Hummingbird Update: Semantic update to take into account the user’s search intention
- 2014 – Pigeon Update: Consideration of the user’s location when delivering search result pages
- 2015 – Mobile Update: Differentiation between desktop and mobile version of a website
- 2018 – Medic Update: Update on the more critical assessment of “Your Money Your Life” (YMYL) content websites
- 2019 – BERT Update: Update for better recognition of natural languages (optimized semantic understanding of requests)
- 2020 – January 2020 Core Update: Update to reassess trust in a domain
- 2020 – May 2020 Core Update: Greater focus on “Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness” (EAT), probably primarily with regard to the removal of websites that pass on false medical information in the context of the Corona crisis
- 2020 – December 2020 Core Update: No official details known yet
- 2021 – July 2021 Core Update: Core Web Vitals, i.e. ranking factors relating to the user experience, are given higher weighting.
We never know exactly what the content of the respective updates is. This list is by no means complete. However, it does give an idea of how Google works. The following video can give you an idea of what Google was aiming for with the latest update from 2020.
Are Google Updates Good Or Bad?
In order to answer the question of whether you should be a friend or an enemy of Google Updates, the question of perspective arises first.
From the perspective of a user, i.e. someone who enters search terms into a search engine and expects matching results, Google updates are usually good. After all, this is exactly the goal of fine-tuning the algorithm that Google wants to achieve.
From the point of view of an SEO, a Google update can in turn be both beneficial and disadvantageous. So ask yourself: which methods do you use as SEO to bring your website ahead to Google?
The question is: how much manipulator are you as SEO?
If in the past you paid a lot of attention to the (self-inflicted) increase in your backlinks, bought links and / or only paid as much attention to your content as was absolutely necessary, you will hardly benefit from a Google update. Exactly such sites would like to recognize these algorithm optimizations and give them less traffic in the future than other, more user-centered sites.
If, on the other hand, you as SEO have put your content in the foreground, observed legal requirements, optimized your blog or website for different devices and let the backlink building happen organically, you can only benefit from all Google updates sooner or later.
Who or what is at the center of your SEO universe for you?
In order not to have to be afraid of future Google updates, but on the contrary to be able to look forward to them, you can ask yourself as honestly as possible: Who are you focusing on – your traffic goals or your visitors?
Remember: Google has no interest in getting you as much or as little traffic as possible. Google simply wants to ensure that the user is suggested exactly the websites that match his search query. So it is always just a question of which visitor can you serve the most, and how exactly can you ensure this benefit?
A suitable visitor for you should be at the center of your SEO efforts. Then every Google update is your best friend.
Google therefore implicitly rewards a solid SEO methodology and the creation of high quality websites.
The Google Update conclusion
What we as SEOs know as Google Update are natural iterations as a search engine matures. They are the technical equivalent of what nature holds as natural mutations in order to adapt to the environment in the best possible way.
If possible, never ask yourself how you can best take advantage of the current changes in the algorithm. Instead, ask yourself what you as a user on and from your own website would most likely want, and how much you already meet these requirements. If you don’t: Optimize your website accordingly. The next Google update will thank you.
In our SEO section, we have often spoken of the things that you should consider in the context of a structured SEO methodology for the search engine optimization of your project.
Here we made a distinction between points that have to be implemented on and outside of your website.
Backlinks as part of a higher-level SEO understanding
Let’s recall two essential design levels of an SEO-conscious web project:
- Aspects on your website: content, structure, ergonomics, usability, performance, security, data protection, mandatory information, etc.
- Aspects outside of your website: Presence in social networks, backlinks, etc.
For details, like to leave our SEO checklist again.
Backlinks are clearly outside of your website, but are not automatically outside your sphere of influence.
What are backlinks?
Of course, we understand a link to be the connection between two websites using a clickable hyperlink. You either set such links internally from one blog article to another, or you set an external link to another website.
If another website links you, then that is a reference from the web back to you – and hence the name backlink.
Why are backlinks important?
To answer the question of why you should pay attention to backlinks at all, remind yourself what a search engine like Google actually wants to achieve.
Google has no interest in ranking your site particularly well or particularly badly. The goal of a search engine is always to provide the user with a result that fits his query as well as possible. So your website has to be relevant to a certain topic.
One way of checking this relevance is to review the topics your blog is addressing. How your blog articles are linked to each other gives Google (already via the term they were linked to) information about which topic your site is concerned with.
Strong Links
But a purely thematic classification does not give Google any indication of how valuable your contributions are ultimately for a visitor.
If, however, several other pages with the same topic link to you, then Google assumes a certain authority on your page with regard to the topic with which you are dealing with the content.
Therefore backlinks are an important influencing factor for the ranking of your site and therefore important for your SEO project.
What should I consider when building backlinks?
Basically, you shouldn’t force backlinks to be built. Links from other sites are created automatically the more your content matures and thrives in terms of quality and quantity. But of course every new web project starts from scratch, and that’s why we would like to give you a few tips on how you can build a healthy backlink profile without forcing your luck.
But first, the following points should serve as a guide:
- Organic links are created without you having to do anything. Trust that other websites will link you.
- Do not exchange links. Google now recognizes very well which page owners have a certain “proximity” to one another and whether they are using the SEO strength of their own website to help others.
- Don’t take money for a link that you put on another page.
- Don’t offer money to anyone for a link that appears on their page.
- Do not write guest articles on other blogs that hardly differ in terms of content, or that have already appeared on you or other websites in the same or similar form.
- Don’t enlist your website en masse in link networks. Such backlinks are of very poor quality and, if they are too high, can even be detrimental to the Google ranking.
- Do not allow yourself to be linked to other sites via Moneykeywords such as “Earn money online” or the like. Today, Google recognizes these very well and ascribes little importance to them.
- Always make sure that your backlink profile does not become too one-sided. The anchor text of your links should consist of the brand name, then a source, a recommendation page, an article, and once again simply the URL, and here each provided with both rel = “nofollow” and rel = “follow”. This results in an organic backlink profile.
At the last point you can already see: the best backlink profile grows completely by itself and without your intervention.
How can you build targeted backlinks?
If you’re supposed to avoid all of the above, you may be asking yourself: what’s left? Well, there are quite a few things you can do without manipulating your backlinks:
- Write two to three very well-researched articles that you present to other blogs as guest articles. These blogs should have the highest possible reputation: high domain age, thematic soundness, editorial review. The rule here is: the harder it is for you to get in, the higher the chance that you will get a positive effect.
- Be active in networking with other bloggers. Whether at trade fairs, on social media or on the beach: if you prove yourself and your content skills, bloggers will either advertise your content in their own channels or even link you permanently from a real article.
- Write your own articles as deep and sound as possible. Great content will be linked, all by itself, you can count on it. One means of triggering this more strongly is to incorporate your own definitions for certain topics that only have distributed and widely differing definitions. Here you may want to be quoted as a source from other sites, if the content is in agreement with you.
With specifically desired backlinks (especially with guest articles), make sure that the link to your page is not invalidated by nofollow this time. That would make your efforts worthless.
How can I check which backlinks I have?
There are different ways for you to check whether you have backlinks and which ones they are. Essentially, three variants can be distinguished here.
Option 1: Query Google directly
A very simple, but also very imprecise way is to enter the following in Google:
link:DeineDomain.tld -site:DeineDomain.tld
You replace “YourDomain.tld” with your own domain. This is telling Google to list the links on your website and ignore your website’s internal links.
Unfortunately, you will quickly find out that these results also contain many entries that do not represent a real backlink, but are only similar in spelling to you.
Option 2: Use special backlink tools
The following tools specifically track backlinks:
- https://monitorbacklinks.com (from $ 25 monthly)
- https://de.semrush.com (from 99,95 $ monthly)
- https://ahrefs.com (from 99 $ monthly)
- https://www.sistrix.de (from 100 € monthly)
- https://www.xovi.de (from 99 € monthly)
- and many more, with similar prices
These tools are usually part of large SEO suites for professional agencies or providers with domains such as ebay.de and others. You will rarely need these tools, but they are a more accurate way of tracking your backlinks than Google itself.
Option 3: Use the SERPBOT backlink checker
Our own tool offers a very inexpensive alternative to the professional tools mentioned above, without sacrificing functionality.
The SERPBOT Backlink Checker is part of our regular Pro subscription with EUR 17.00 per month.
What if I don’t want a specific backlink from a page?
That is a very important question. Because you can actually experience disadvantages in the ranking through spam and other sites with a negative web presence as soon as they link you. But for this there is this the Google disavow tool. You can use it to deny Google certain pages that you have found in a backlink tool. They no longer have a negative effect on your ranking.
But be careful: if you are not sure, you should not invalidate a link. Because you can also harm yourself by removing a link if it comes from a website that is viewed positively by Google – even if you may not do that.
The little backlink conclusion
Links from other sites to your site are an important indicator for search engines of the relevance and authority of your site. They prove the popularity of your content on thematically related pages. You can encourage backlinks to be built by networking and posting guest articles. But first and foremost, you should publish first-class content. This will be linked in any case. Be patient.
Some backlinks can have a negative effect on your ranking. You can deny such to Google. Checking backlinks can be done using various tools. You are also welcome to use our own tool. We wish you every success and many organically grown backlinks. Stay tuned! 🙂