Pandas and penguins and hummingbirds, oh my! Google released three major updates to the search algorithms in the last three years. What did they do, and how do they affect marketers? Learn the basics about each update, and get quick tips on how to steer clear of their potentially hazardous effects on your websites.

1. INSIDE THE GOOGLE ZOO:
YOUR GUIDEBOOK TO GOOGLE’S
PANDA, PENGUIN, &
HUMMINGBIRD UPDATES
By Brooke McDonald, Happy Dog Web Productions:
http://www.happydogwebproductions.com/

2. Or, how to visit the Google
Zoo – and stay human!

3. WELCOME TO THE
GOOGLE ZOO

4. WELCOME TO THE
GOOGLE ZOO
You’ve probably heard of the three animals featured here.

6. Panda

7. Panda Penguin

8. Panda Penguin Hummingbird

9. Each year, Google changes
its search algorithm around
500-700 times.
(Moz)

10. The purpose of algorithmic
updates?

11. The purpose of algorithmic
updates?
According to Google’s website “Inside Search,”
There are many components to the search process
and the results page, and we’re constantly updating
our technologies and systems to deliver better results.

12. Panda, Penguin, & Hummingbird
represent three of the
biggest changes
to the Google search engine algorithms
in the last three years.

13. Knowing
how these
animals
behave is
critical.

14. Knowing
how these
animals
behave is
critical.
Play nice
with them,
and they’ll
play nice
with you!

15. Meet the animals

16. PANDA
Danger level: Moderate

17. Panda, also known as
the Farmer update, hit
February 23, 2011.

18. To reduce rankings for low-quality websites and
pages that provide little to no value to users.

19. Specifically, sites with:
• Thin content

20. Specifically, sites with:
• Thin content
• Duplicate or empty pages

21. Specifically, sites with:
• Thin content
• Duplicate or empty pages
• Websites with a high ratio of ads

22. Specifically, sites with:
• Thin content
• Duplicate or empty pages
• Websites with a high ratio of ads
• Purchased links

24. Panda wasn’t an entire
overhaul of the system, as
Danny Sullivan at Search Engine
Land pointed out.

25. Panda wasn’t an entire
overhaul of the system, as
Danny Sullivan at Search Engine
Land pointed out.
Panda became a new
important value in Google’s
algorithm. Starting in early 2011,
every site was judged based on
the Panda criteria – and either
rewarded or penalized in the
search rankings for it.

27. From 2011 to 2013,
Google updated Panda
every few months.

28. Altogether, there have been 25 Panda updates.
Now Google has incorporated Panda into its algorithm for
good so the updates should not be so intense.
From 2011 to 2013,
Google updated Panda
every few months.

29. PENGUIN
Danger level: High

30. Penguin rolled out
April 24, 2012.

32. Google’s Matt Cutts wrote: We’re launching an important algorithm change
targeted at webspam.

33. Google’s Matt Cutts wrote: We’re launching an important algorithm change
targeted at webspam.
The change will decrease rankings for sites that we believe are violating
Google’s existing quality guidelines.

35. Fight webspam

36. Fight webspam
What is webspam?

37. Keyword stuffing: Filling a page with keywords in a way
that is irrelevant, out of context, or unnatural in order to
get higher search rankings.

38. Keyword stuffing: Filling a page with keywords in a way
that is irrelevant, out of context, or unnatural in order to
get higher search rankings.
Link schemes: Buying links, linking to sites only to
manipulate PageRank, guest posting with lots of keyword
anchor text links, or using automated linking programs.

39. Keyword stuffing: Filling a page with keywords in a way
that is irrelevant, out of context, or unnatural in order to
get higher search rankings.
Link schemes: Buying links, linking to sites only to
manipulate PageRank, guest posting with lots of keyword
anchor text links, or using automated linking programs.
Other black hat SEO techniques that violate Google’s
quality guidelines.

41. HUMMINGBIRD
Danger level: Low

42. Hummingbird hit sometime during
the late summer of 2013
(Google hasn’t verified an exact
day).

43. Improve search results for natural,
conversational language and more
advanced search queries.

44. Improve search results for natural,
conversational language and more
advanced search queries.
As mobile voice command becomes more and more
important, Google strives to serve better results for these
voice searches.

45. Hummingbird is helped in providing
relevant results through the Google
Knowledge Graph, which links “real
world things and their connections.”

47. “You should
not be
spending your
time
searching,
you should be
spending your
time living.”
Amit Singhal,
Google Senior
Vice
President, on
the
Hummingbird
update.

49. LESSONS FROM THE
ZOO
(or, what to take away)

50. Know how search is evolving

51. As search improves to give better results, marketers can work
with search engines like Google and create websites that
answer visitors’ questions.

52. As search improves to give better results, marketers can work
with search engines like Google and create websites that
answer visitors’ questions.
Understanding how search is changing – and what factors
influence the search results – will give marketers “next steps” on
how to answer visitors’ questions best.

53. Don’t feed the animals!

54. Don’t do anything that will get you into trouble with
Google. The techniques that Google frowns upon have
been made glaringly clear.

55. Don’t do anything that will get you into trouble with
Google. The techniques that Google frowns upon have
been made glaringly clear.
Visit the zoo, but don’t get in the cage with the animals!

56. Focus on visitor experience

57. Try not to worry about all the algorithmic updates. Let Google do
their job and manage the animals.
You focus on your job.

58. Try not to worry about all the algorithmic updates. Let Google do
their job and manage the animals.
You focus on your job.
Create a memorable visit for everyone who finds your website via
the search engines.

59. Try not to worry about all the algorithmic updates. Let Google do
their job and manage the animals.
You focus on your job.
Create a memorable visit for everyone who finds your website via
the search engines.
Make them want to come back.

60. Try not to worry about all the algorithmic updates. Let Google do
their job and manage the animals.
You focus on your job.
Create a memorable visit for everyone who finds your website via
the search engines.
Make them want to come back.
Answer their questions.

61. Try not to worry about all the algorithmic updates. Let Google do
their job and manage the animals.
You focus on your job.
Create a memorable visit for everyone who finds your website via
the search engines.
Make them want to come back.
Answer their questions.
Impress them with your knowledge!

62. Bottom line: Give visitors what they came to see!

63. Created by Happy Dog Web Productions
For more fun content, follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/HappyDogWebProductions
Or Twitter @hdwebpros
Visit our blog athttp://www.happydogwebproductions.com/happy-dog-blog/