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The only constant in the world of SEO is change. In fact, Google is reported to change its search algorithm around 500 to 600 times each year. While most of these updates are small and often aren’t even picked up by users and SEO, every once in a while, Google releases major updates.
Over the past two years alone, we’ve seen about nine major updates to the algorithm. The two most recent, “Possum” (released on September 1, 2016) and Penguin 4.0 (released on September 23, 2016) caused a lot of stir in the SEO community.
Over my years in the SEO community, I’ve watched as updates like Caffeine and Vince in 2009, Panda/Farmer in 2011, the Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update and Penguin in 2012, Pigeon in 2014 and the others discussed above shook up rankings and shifted the way SEOs approached their job. Early in my career, I would read post after post and allow the anxiety of the unknown throw me into a panic.
But not anymore. Nowadays, I have three simple guidelines I use to help make sure I don’t overreact — and that I do make the right move for my site and my clients.
[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]
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