The team at Site Strategics has been monitoring a Google algorithm update name Fred (yes, like the Flintstones character) since about the middle of March, and we wanted to updated our readers on what we’ve seen so far!
First off, who names an update Fred? I mean, Fred? Really? Just for your education, here are some famous Freds throughout history:
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Not only one of the most famous, but one of the classiest Freds around. Image source: bestmoviesbyfarr.com Fred Astaire (actor and all around classy gentleman)
- Fred Hoiberg (basketball player and coach)
- Fred Couples (golfer)
- Fred Willard (actor)
- Fred Williamson (football player)
- Fred (yes, there’s a soccer player just named Fred)
- Fred Durst (who could forget about Fred Durst, lead singer of Limp Bizkit!)
- Fred Flintstone (cartoon dad, just in case you didn’t know)
- Freddy Krueger (the terrifying movie character)
- Fred Claus (Santa’s brother)
- Frederick Frankenstein (the second greatest mad scientist of all time)
Need I go on? Now, you can add another Fred to this list of greats in the form of the Google algorithm that was created and pushed to target low-quality websites in accordance with Google webmaster guidelines.
Watching a lot of the sites that we manage, we have seen many increases in rankings, traffic, and value over the last month and a half or so since the update was delivered. There has been quite a bit of fluctuation in the rankings, but for those that have been practicing good “white hat” SEO, the trends have been positive.
The main focal point of this update seems to be targeted at spammy and low-quality backlinks and other elements associated with “black hat” SEO. Gary Illyes, the Chief of Sunshine and Happiness at Google (according to his Twitter profile), has confirmed the update as of March 24. This means that those of you out there who know that you possibly have a poor backlink profile, have worked with some shady SEO agencies in the past, or know that you have practiced bad backlinking tactics in the past should be on the lookout!
If you need any help or want to talk to some of the pros over at Site Strategics, we’ll be happy to sit down and have a cup of coffee with you. With many of these updates, the longer you wait, the more damage could potentially be done, so make sure you have someone on the pulse of your account!
