When we talk about search engines on the internet, there is only one word that comes to mind for the majority: Google. It all started in 1995 when Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford University. Brin was a student there who was assigned to show Page around because he was considering Stanford for graduate studies. A partnership was built and from their dorm rooms, they were able to build a search engine that used links to know the importance of pages on the internet. This was initially named Backrub.
This was renamed to Google, which was a play on the math expression for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. The journey that started from the dorm rooms to the garage and now having more than 60,000 employees is simply amazing. They are known for having the top search engine in the world.
Whenever Google makes updates and changes with their algorithms, SEO experts are always on the lookout. We take a look at some of these changes that happened to Google and SEO in 2015.
- Removal Of Right Hand PPC Ads
Many SEO experts were surprised when PPC Adwords were removed from the search results. Google wants to change the way Adwords are displayed in desktop search results.
This has caused a lot of online marketers to panic and sometimes overreact. When we look deeper into this we realize that this may not be such a big deal after all.
Statistics would show that 85% of the clicks come from ads shown on the top and not from the right side. Only 15% of clicks came from either a right side or a bottom ad.
We can be sure that Google has tested this new layout which they say will improve the performance of advertisements. The ad space did not totally disappear, but only moved to another position on the page.
- Penalties For Bloggers
Google issued a warning that informed bloggers to stop getting links in exchange for free products. Penalties would be given to websites that do not follow this directive.
Google asked bloggers to NoFollow links that point their followers to websites where they can buy the free product they got from them.
This was due to the increase of companies engaging with bloggers with a huge following. This is in compliance to guidelines when it comes to link schemes. Google wants bloggers to treat freebies in exchange for links as if they were sponsored content.
- Panda Becomes Core Algorithm For Google
Google has just confirmed that Panda has become one of their core algorithms when it comes to ranking. Panda is an algorithm update that was released last 2011 in order to reward high-quality websites and filter out the low-quality sites in organic search results.
With this in mind, good SEO in this regard means coming up with high-quality content that provides value and information to readers. Duplicate content should be avoided at all costs. Websites should also aim to become recognized authorities in their industry or niche. Readers should have the feeling that they are secure to give their vital information like credit card numbers on your website. Content is king with Google, and SEO should do away with having too many ads on a page in relation to original content.
- Mobile Optimization Is Required
Google is now giving warnings to webmasters if their websites are not optimized for mobile users. This is due to the steady increase in mobile device usage for searching the internet. There are still many websites that do not have the right design, page sizes, and speed that are fit for mobile devices. Having a website that loads slowly and does not fit well with a mobile device will lead to losing these visitors on your website. There is quite a big difference in the screen size between desktop and mobile devices so this should be taken into consideration. Web pages that are not optimized will surely appear differently on these 2 platforms.
