The appreciated google algorithms are updates that the system has been making to improve the customer experience. Although they all have specific tasks, it is likely that over time they will be updated and thus the SEO strategy will have to be updated with them. Google algorithms have evolved over time, but before mentioning how you can avoid being penalized by them, I want to talk about the Google algorithm that you should be careful of the most: 

The first update was that of Google Pana, in 2011. This friendly update came to put users who were not sharing their own content in the waistline, it focused on exploring various web content that to position in the first places only filled one page with many repetitive keywords and did not say anything with that content, which in turn made the text inconsistent. The Google Panda algorithm also: 

✔ He came to penalize websites with duplicate content from other websites and to eliminate the famous “content farms”, blogs with content on multiple topics, with little clarity and low quality. 

✔To penalize the pages that copy the content of other networks to add it as their own. Which also made it difficult for Google to identify the original source. 

✔Eliminate content that was not really adding anything of value to users and that was in the first places just for repeating a word a lot. 

This would be the starting point and it is still valid for most SEOs. The reason? valuable content and natural text that provide real solutions to the user is now more appreciated by Google for positioning. So the old practices of repeating only one keyword a lot in content have been forgotten. In the same vein, if your website is an ecommerce, you should also make sure that you are not copying the same product descriptions from other websites, as this can also be classified as duplicate content. 

Google algorithms

✔Google Penguin: It comes in 2012 to teach specialists that they could no longer be linking their web with different pages just to position themselves in the first places of the search engine. Well, that practice had to make sense, link to pages naturally and that the link redirected to where it was indicated. In this way, this cute penguin came to reward all those web pages that were managing to link their contents correctly and in a natural way. But they also showed quality content. 

✔Google Hummingbird: This little hummingbird came to focus on positioning the most natural content. In order to provide users with the best answers to their problems and to position those articles that could make it known without excess words. It arrived in 2013 and affected many websites, but since then it has sought to improve the user experience with content.

✔Update from Http to Https: In 2014 Google announced that it would give more visibility to pages that adapt an https code. This update gives users more security about their data. SSL encryption is of vital importance, because having it indicates that your website has a secure encryption and that your data is being stored responsibly, especially if you have an ecommerce. Having it not only gives you a better chance of ranking in the first places, it guarantees visitors that you are a safe site. 

✔Google Pigeon: This Google algorithm would arrive in 2014 and its main function was to regulate local searches. It would be in charge of positioning in the first places, as a reference to local searches, that is, the websites that were from that country would have priority and this update would be managed with Google Maps. Thanks to Google Pigeon, a local business page can rank ahead of any web page. 

To be up to date with this update you must add your business to Google My Business with all your geographic data and confirm your business with Google so that they can find you.

✔Google Pirate: This update was created by google to attack websites that have pirated download content and has been reinforced 2 times with versions (1.0-2.0). The relevance of sites that are destined to this practice of piracy is avoided, as is the case of websites that are responsible for storing films that have not yet been released. But not only that, also all those web pages that have to do in general with computer piracy, of books, templates, video games, among others. Since then they have become more rigorous with this type of web pages, stopping showing the keywords combined with free download in the first results .

✔Mobile-friendly update : This update awards the first places to websites that are responsive. In other words, they adapt to different screens, including that of mobile phones, without the need for the user to have to zoom in or out on a cell phone. This algorithm came out in 2015 and since then it has been taken into account as a recommendation in an SEO audit. More than anything because most searches are done from a mobile device. 

There is a tool with which you can verify if a website is mobile-friendly, we leave you the direct link here.

Most up-to-date Google algorithms

✔Google Rankbrain: It is Google’s artificial intelligence algorithm, it is responsible for supporting Google in crawling web pages to find the most organic responses. Many SEOs consider it a mystery because in addition to the above mentioned, it is not known exactly what it is looking for. Many say it is the evolution of Google’s Penguin and Panda algorithms. This update allows Google to provide more accurate answers to what the user is really looking for.

It is thought that the Rankbrain algorithm studies mathematically when people enter a result for the answer they are looking for and when they are not satisfied they go to another search. In this way, this artificial intelligence update from Google also seeks to offer the best user experience on the web. The ideal in this case is that your SERPs have the correct information for which the user is entering your website.

✔Google Fred: In 2017 our dear friend Fred came to our lives, this update is the set of several updates that Google was trying to make to penalize websites that were misusing the platform. In a conference that same year, the Google analyst mentioned that: “The techniques that Fred followed specifically are mentioned in the Google Webmaster Guidelines”, this technique was linked to avoiding aggressive monetization.

In this way, they made it clear that: websites that had a charge for paid ads, that did not offer valuable content or those sites that had been created only for advertising revenue and do not provide anything useful for users, would be penalized.

✔Google Medical update: This google algorithm came to the rescue of pages that add value with recommendations from professionals. A little to avoid misinformation around health issues. It came into force in 2018 and affected all those websites with medical content and health advice from people who were not qualified to give them. To avoid this penalty, you must make sure you have confirmed sources of professionals or that they create the content themselves. 

In this way, the Google Medical Update algorithm seeks to give more relevance to all the pages that are actually informing health professionals and their content is of vital help.

✔Google Neural Matching: This Google algorithm update is one of the most recent (2019) and it aims to better understand user searches. In this way, the content of the webs should not focus on the density of the keywords, but rather on answering the real questions that users are asking about a topic. If you manage to do that, you are likely to climb to the top of the search engine.

It is also referenced that Google with the Neural Matching update can more clearly understand the synonyms used of a word and understand that although it was not the exact word that was placed, the person is looking for the same thing. In this way the results improve the user experience. 

✔Google Core Updates: The Google Core Updates update arrived this year 2020 to give priority to websites that make content related to specific niches. In this way, the transparency of the website and what it is dedicated to is valued. This list includes specialized health content, pet websites. 

How can I stay up to date with Google’s algorithms?

One of the recommendations that we can give you is to always keep your SEO strategies with healthy practices. It is not necessary that you are always investigating about the updates (although well if you do), because if you make your own and quality content, you will go one step ahead of many. In addition, if you improve the way you present your content and add frequently asked questions from users, they will be able to improve their experience without resorting to penalized practices. 

The best way to stand out is to do it with your content, differentiate yourself by your brand personality. Making good content will make you visible to others and you will even get them to link you as a reference and in a natural way. More specifically:

1. Avoid plagiarizing content on the web.
2. Create your own product descriptions and titles. 
3. Don’t pay anyone to link you, get it naturally.
4. Make useful content: where you teach something, for example. 
5. Constantly check your website to make sure you don’t have duplicate content.
6. Make your website responsive on different screens. 
7. Improves loading time.