The Big A and a History of Google Updates
The "Algorithm". This term makes some people shudder in fear, while for others look at it in awe. In both ways, there's goosebumps. This post will explain what Hummingbird is, SEO for Google, some of its past, and what's its currently doing.
To start off, many of you have probably heard of Hummingbird; the second latest update to Big G's Big A. This update targeted websites with proper UX/I and gave them an SEO boost. Is this good for your business?
Well, it depends. I can see this update as a realistic factor. Its aim probably isn't to get the big companies a boost and the smaller, low-budget companies a kick-in-the-kahunas, but rather to ensure that websites are following W3C Recommendations as well as ensuring their good content is, well, readable and accessible.
People aren't resorting to search engines anymore as their only method of accessing information; even if they know this. There's social media. Heck, businesses are now taking their blogs to tumblr for just that: its more accessible. Therefore, if you want to make sure you don't get hit hard by Hummingbird, just sit down and make sure your site is doing two things (a) HTML5 up-to-date and (b) its rich in social media. These are the two things that I feel are going to affect you the most.
There's also the properties on how the site is constructed. Is it poorly developed from the back? Is the code DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself)? Is it editable? Is it readable? I can place money that bots will check this. They'll also check if you're using the <main>, <header>, <footer>, <nav>, <aside>, <article>, <section>, and all the other goodies of HTML5 properly and that you aren't resorting to a <div id="main">.
HTML5 your site. Cut the type="script/javascript" or whatever the type was (lookie how fast I forgot it!) out of your site. Make sure its loading fast. This is basically the web moving on and saying that you need to do a simple (or painful) review of your site.
There's so much about Hummingbird, but it should help you if you're content rich.
Now onto the LATEST instalment: Penguin
Penguin is an anti-link algorithm. What it will do is work on sites and if it keeps finding tons of links pointing to your site that may have been bought or link networked to boost your SEO, you get penalized! This is a huge one. It means you need that if you add your link when commenting on blogs, you could get penalized; I'm sure there's a function in the Big A for identifying genuine vs. fake comments. Penguin will also sit down and read anchor text and what not. Identify "is this link in the content or in the footer?" Link networks can be placed in the footer, in the aside, and so on. I wouldn't worry about penguin, since their update will not affect you, rather it will keep bad business ethics out of your business.
In the past, Google also released Panda, which focused on developing and promoting site that are rich in content and lowing the PageRank for those that are low in content. Panda is the algorithm that you want to make happy. Get past the cute vicious bear and you are going to be loved by Google.
If you want to see how these updates performed and what not, take a look at one of google pages: http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory
This is a huge and in-depth introduction to Google and how it functions.