2012 was, to put it mildly, an eventful year from a SEO
perspective!
Google and its search engine algorithm changes – Google Penguin,
above all – understandably stole the headlines, but there were plenty of other
significant events and many different changes that saw the light of day as
well, especially in terms of how SEOs, SEMs and internet marketers optimize
their websites for maximum traffic, exposure, visibility, and of course drive
in sales and maximize revenues.
Here is a list of events (not in chronological or any order)
of some of the significant events that took place in the SEO industry in 2012:
Google Penguin
2012 saw Google introduce its second major algorithm update
after the Panda. This particular update – called the Penguin – was announced on
24th April 2012, and in general terms, was aimed and decreasing
search engine rankings of websites which violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines
– in particular, websites which were using blackhat SEO techniques such as
cloaking, creating duplicate or spun content and websites involved in keyword
stuffing, to name a few. It is said that the Penguin update affected around
3.1% of search engine queries, with further Penguin updates affecting even more
search engine queries.
Google Panda
Google Panda was Google’s first major algorithm change and
while it was introduced in 2011, a lot of what’s happened in the past 12 months
in the SEO industry was directly related to Panda and/or one of its
reiterations. The Panda, like the Penguin, was also introduced in order to
combat low-quality websites/content from Google search rankings, and subsequent
updates to Panda meant that websites making an effort into producing good,
quality content became even stronger.
Emphasis on Quality Content
Understandably then, most of what happened in 2012 was a
direct result of the introduction of Penguin or the as part of the
after-effects of Google Panda (introduced in 2011) or one of its updates. The
clear emphasis on the production of quality content – which was part of both of
Google’s updates – became even more evident and important in terms of search
engine optimization. Websites producing unique, high-quality, useful and
informative content on a regular and consistent basis were given the top spot
in the SERPs and the chance to solidify their position in the search engine
rankings.
Spam
On the other hand, websites with duplicate, spun or
low-quality content or spam content were deindexed and banned from Google’s
search engine results. This included many websites using a different array of
blackhat tactics to game and manipulate search engine rankings in order to rank
better. Unsurprisingly, Google’s banhammer fell, and perhaps the only
surprising thing was that it took Google so long to introduce these updates!
Over-optimization
Google also started penalizing websites for what it called
‘over-optimization’, the purpose of which was to ‘level the playing field’
according to Google’s Matt Cutts. As part of this algorithm update, Google
wanted to give sites that have better content rank above sites that might not
have great content but get better rankings through stronger SEO. While no one
really knows what Google means by over-optimization, you can read this
excellent article over at ProBlogger to get a better understanding of it.
Ads and Design Penalties
Sites that had too many ads on a page, specifically
above-the-fold (which forced people to scroll down to read the content on a
page) became more prone to penalty as part of Google’s updates. Statistics say
this only affects less than 1% blogs.
Panda/Penguin Had Their Flaws
However despite this, Google’s updates were not 100%
effective, as there were plenty of cases where websites, seemingly at no fault,
getting hit by these updates, while a lot of low-quality websites managed to
fly under the radar and escape Google’s wrath. For many, this signaled the
beginning of a long and tedious recovery process.
Social Signals Become an Integral Part of Rankings
Social media gained a lot of prominence and became an
important factor from a SEO perspective in 2012. Social signals started have a
big influence on Google’s search results, mostly because the search engine
giant began taking social signals into account when determining a
website/blog’s rankings. Social content (well, mostly just content from Google
Plus) also started showing up in the SERP. Bing followed suit and started
showing Facebook Likes and related content from your Facebook friends lists in
its search results as well.
Exact-Match Domains
Google (in typical fashion, unable to stay out of the headlines!)
introduced an update in October which targeted exact-match domains, or getting
rid of such domains from the SERP to be precise. Exact-match domains, such as
weightlosstips.com – an exact-match domain for the keywords weight loss tips –
which made it easy for low-quality websites to rank on top for such
extremely-competitive keywords, with the utmost ease, were deindexed.
Facebook Crosses the 1b Users Mark
In November 2012, Facebook became the first ever social
network to cross the 1 billion users mark – which means that 1 in every 7
people on earth are on Facebook and that if Facebook were a country, it
would’ve been the 3rd largest in the world, only just behind
second-placed India! This has provided internet marketers, as well as brands, organizations
and corporations with a fantastic opportunity to harness Facebook’s power and
potential. Many big brands have been able to create a strong foothold on Facebook,
and more continue to do so, in order to create brand-awareness, connect with
their consumers, have customers connect with each other, and of course drive
sales.
Social Media’s Growth in General
Facebook wasn’t the only social network to strengthen its
hold in the social media industry. Pinterest was one of the fastest growing
social networks of 2012, and Twitter wasn’t too far behind either.
Interface-based Changes to Google and Bing
Google, as part of many interface and design-based changes,
started showing more and more content from Google Plus, but most importantly,
overhauled its results page to make it more information-rich. The search tools
moved up, which provided more screen real-estate for Google to provide
information (basic information, stats, books, news, etc.) as well as
advertisements alongside the results. Similarly Bing too started showing
Facebook likes and related content on the SERP alongside the results.
Google Starts to Communicate
In 2012, Google expanded the types of messages and warning
that it send to site owners and webmaster, by sending out warning messages and notifying
domains about their black-hat webspam via the Webmaster Tools, which was
unprecedented for Google. In January and February alone, Google sent out in
excess of 700,000 messages in just two months – more than the total it had sent
out in 2011!
Guest Blogging Warnings
Guest Blogging (white-hat) can be a superb way of building
backlinks (for the guest-blogger) as well as getting fresh and unique content.
However this medium has started to be abused, and this didn’t go unnoticed with
Google; Matt Cutts
issued a warning to blogs and guest bloggers about consequences of blackhat
guest blogging techniques.
What else happened in the industry this year? Did I miss
something out? Fire up your comments in the comments section below!
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