Google made several algorithm updates between 2012-2013 that focused on original content, freshness of updates, and user engagement over unnatural optimization techniques. The Panda, Penguin and subsequent updates aimed to reward high-quality websites and reduce the impact of content farms, link schemes, and over-optimized sites. Google also began integrating more social features through Google+ to encourage user interaction.

1. Google SEO Updates
2012

2. Google Panda
Farmer Content
Penalties Freshness
Original EMD &
Content PMD

3. Google Panda
Farmer Penalties
Ever since the beginning of website development there have been people who steal
content from other websites. These website scraping domains came to be known as
content farms. As Panda progressed in 2012 there were rolling updates to the algorithm
as Google became better at recognizing these sites.

4. Google Panda
Original Content
One of the ways Google began to recognize quality
websites was by determining the level of original
content produced. The idea is that your website, no
matter which competitive group it lives in, should have
enough interesting and original content to support
every page.
In other words, you can no longer expect a page to
rank for a certain keyword if the content on the page
does not back it up. Matt Cutts has been known for
stressing the importance of having adequate content
support for any page creation - not the other way
around.

5. Google Panda
Content Freshness
Another key factor for rankings that has
come from Panda is the idea that the
natural progression of a website should
have regular content additions. Google
believes that if a website is going to stay
relevant it will need to be interesting for
users and follow current trends.
Blog creation, regular updates on sale
information, weather updates,
upcoming events, etc. – These are just a
few of the ways a business can maintain
website freshness in its competitive
space.

6. Google Panda
EMD & PMD
Exact Match Domains (EMD) & Partial Match Domains (PMD) are receiving more
scrutiny from Google Panda these days. After an update in September 2012 there
were a lot of EMD that lost top page rankings if they were not supported by quality
content.
Having keywords in the domain name of your website used to be a ranking factor
toward the positive in the world of search. Talk of reducing the value of an exact match
domain has been around for a couple years, but it wasn’t until the Penguin update
came along to more closely measure the quality of a site that it was made possible.
www.NO-MORE-KEYWORD-STUFFING.com

7. Google Penguin
Page Quality Links
Layout
No More
Black Hat!!
User
Reduce Over Engagement
Optimization

8. Google Penguin
Page Title With Relevant Keyword
Page Layout
When Penguin was released in March of 2012 it
was originally called the Page Layout update by
Google. The algorithm was updated to evaluate Engaging Content Interesting
the quality of each individual pages based on its Visual
layout.
This part of penguin refers to the structure of the
page itself. In other words, how does the page
read and is it user friendly. The idea of placing
engaging content “above the fold” became an
important part of SEO practices. Interesting Engaging Content
Visual

9. Google Penguin
Reduce Over-optimization
Taking the page layout guidelines even further Google began to penalize over-optimization.
In a rare pre-release notification, Matt Cutts told the SEO community that this update was
intended to give equal opportunity to websites creating high quality content.
The Penguin algorithm update changed the nature of SEO so that nobody would have the
upper hand by using tricks to game the system. With this evolution happening in the SEO
world the industry became less focused on ways to gain rankings and more focused on
finding innovative business marketing strategies.

10. Google Penguin
Quality Links
The number of links that point to a website directly effects its domain authority. It used to
be that you could purchase links whether that was through link farm websites, directory
listings or article placements.
Google then took it one step further by penalizing websites who continue to have “bad
links” pointing to their domain can now be penalized by Google. They even began a new
service `in Google Webmaster Tools to alert website owners that they had “questionable
links” for their domains and should work to get them removed.

11. Google Penguin
User Engagement
For white hat SEOs this piece of our job has
always been the most important. How do users
interact with the website and are they finding
what their search queries brought them here
for? With the Penguin update fewer and fewer
poorly constructed websites are making the
cut.
Google has been reporting on user engagement
in Analytics for years and now they are giving
more value to how interesting a website is. Not
only is a website expected to have original and
robust content to support search queries, but
how a searcher behaves once they arrive to
your site is also very important.

12. Google+
Google+ Local User
Reviews
Business Social
Pages Interaction

13. Google+
Google+ Local
Everyone chuckled a little when Google
developed the “+” universe as competition to
the ever-popular Facebook. Then early this year
the switch was made from Google Places to
Google+ Local. With the popularity of Google
Maps and the slow start of Google+ they
decided to combine the two.
Business Pages
By creating a business page on Google+ you are
giving potential customers more information
about your product that may make it more
engaging. The more information you can
showcase about your business the more likely
you are to get new customers who find you
through relevant search queries.

14. Google+
User Reviews
Google has become more dependent on reviews in determining the value of a business in
the local market. Taking that one step further, Google also places value on the response
businesses give to their customer reviews and the ways in which they encourage people to
leave their thoughts.
Social Interaction
Google+ for business has become a way for many websites to incorporate social
interaction through their listings. Users who are signed in to Google can now leave reviews
at the push of a button and give your business a +1 at the same time.