Here’s our annual infographic showcasing the major changes Google made to their search algorithm over the course of 2015.
We’ve been summarizing Google’s algo updates in infographic form for the past four years now, and we notice that 2011 to 2013 were the “penalty years” when Google was more focused on eliminating spam from their search results – and consequently, the internet as a whole – and bringing errant webmasters and SEO spammers to book. And they’ve largely succeeded in doing that. As a result, there have been progressively less impactful (from an SEO point of view) tweaks in 2014 and 2015. These were the years when they’ve attempted to raise the UX bar, with changes related to speed, snippets, security, and accessibility.
And while Google continues to flush worthless content down the SERP depths, the mainstream business and tech media has joined search marketers in the usual wild speculation and analysis surrounding algo updates. This year, they all got worked up about Mobilegeddon and RankBrain.
If your site or app has been affected by any of these updates, the exact date of impact might vary, because
- Google hasn’t announced or acknowledged all of the updates. With Matt Cutts gone, the SEO industry no longer has access to a single point of contact whose word can be taken as final.
- Many changes are now rolled out over an extended duration. While some constituent factors of each update might have been permanently integrated into the algorithm, others could have been rolled back.
However, industry experts have confirmed and explained these changes in depth (be sure to take a look at our sources), so pull up your GA to tally the ups and downs or just scroll down and enjoy the show!
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