Google hummingbird, Google mobile friendly update, Google panda update, Google penguin update, Google pigeon update, Google payday update, Google pirate update, Google EMD (Exact Match Domain) update and Google top heavy update are just some of the famous and important algorithm updates that Google had made in the past. And now comes the new so called, unconfirmed “FRED UPDATE”.
The webmaster and search engine optimization community show strong signs that there was an algorithm update that will target more of the link quality aspects, and not the content aspect or a spam algorithm update around links, which also happened last February, but was never confirmed by Google even after strong evidences. As per record, the black hat SEO community is more link–focused, which convinced many experts that it is a link quality aspect that is being updated because it is the black hat community that is more garish about it.
Most of the famous tracking tools that show updated results of rank changes also show significant changes in terms of site position. Some of these tracking tools include RankRanger, SEM Rush, Algoroo and SERPMetrics. Just by using all the data from these tracking tools, it is safe to say that changes are being made and update is going on. However, Google didn’t confirm or disclose any information about it yet.
John Mueller and Gary Illyes, both Webmaster Trends Analysts at Google, denied the update on their respective Twitter accounts. John Mueller said on one of his tweets, “Yes, we make changes almost every day.” While the name “Fred” came from Gary’s request on one of his tweets saying “Sure! From now on every update, unless otherwise stated, shall be called Fred”.
Spam-related updates and the large content quality Google update on February 7, 2017 were never confirmed by Google, which may also happen in this Fred update. However, bloggers, web enthusiasts and the search engine optimization community in general will never lose heart in revealing massive changes and fluctuations in Google Algorithm that indicate that the company is implementing updates.
For others, this might be an uninteresting topic, but generally speaking, changes in link line ups or rankings will greatly affect not just the owner or developer of the websites and links, but also the average Google users. That is because change in line up or ranking will mean change in search results which may be more helpful or on the other hand, devastating.
A lot of industry chatter and webmasters were both complaining about ranking declines and celebrating the increase in ranking. Still Google remains silent about the issue. Owners and developers of affected websites and links are still waiting for an explanation, or at least a confirmation by Google about the said changes. However, one thing is for sure, link ranking will change and there are real affected sites users and owners around the globe waiting for answers. Google never denied nor confirmed any update and chatters still need to wait for further words.