Google Fred: Friend or Foe?

On the 7th and 8th of March 2017, Google released its latest update, Google Fred. While some people might love Fred, the fact that he has been shaking up rankings on search engines and affecting a lot of pages and websites makes him less favourable among others.

The multinational technology company has decided not to release any information with regards to Fred’s updates. However, two of their
representatives, Gary Illyes and John Mueller, went some way to confirm that the new algorithm was targeting websites that had low-value content, and changing their ranking on search engines. And when we say “changing” we are referring to the major changes that have caused websites to drop from the first page of Google to the 100th page.

Many websites were affected by the new algorithm, but websites that received the hardest punch were mobile sites that featured chat boxes and store locators, because they have been deemed as intrusive mobile interstitials. Chat boxes that take up a large portion of a mobile screen, or float over the main content, might be affected by Google’s mobile intrusive interstitials penalty, thus losing their current ranking on search engines.  The same goes for store locators that take up the whole mobile screen.

Like most things in life, search engines comes with a specific set of guidelines. Since the implementation of search engine optimisation (SEO), it became clear that websites with low-value content wouldn’t make it to the top of Google’s ranking. However, many individuals have used black hat SEO tactics – a term used to describe SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and does not obey search engines guidelines – to improve their rankings. Most of the websites using black hat SEO tactics have now been penalised and dropped below the 100th page on search engines.

If your website was affected by the new algorithm, it is recommended that you look at improving the quality of your website. For a website that won’t drop the next time Google’s updates hit, contact Click Me. None of our websites felt the repercussions of the new updates. In fact, our team members welcomed Google Fred with open arms.