Yet another Google search algorithm update that has everyone scrambling and wondering why their visits and ranking are lower. This Google update has been coined the name, Google Fred.
Here’s what I found out about the Google Fred Update
Early March, 2017, Google’s Gary Illyes officially confirmed that there was a Google algorithm update, we’ll call Google Fred. This update is said to target low value content. With that said, I do believe that low volume content has always been an issue that Google has been trying to address. An SEO practice to stuff a bunch of keywords on a webpage with incoherent other words will no longer work with Google search. You actually have to make coherent sentences. What a concept? I still believe it’s a good SEO practice to have at least and no more than 3 of the exact keyword or keyword phrase peppered in the content. Preferrably at least one in a H1 tag, or page description.
It looks like the focus of this update is on great content which is a good thing, but I also believe there are other things involved in this update. For example, I saw an abnormal amount of crawl errors in Google Search Console. These crawl errors occur when Google tries to crawl your website and an http error code occurs. For now, I just implemented 301 redirects on these urls. If they persistently come up again, I’ll have to do more research and see where these backlinks are coming from. I believe one or all of the following could explain these url errors:
- Google reinserted the domain’s search history
- Data anomalies occurred due to infrastructure updates (Google Fred?)
- All of a sudden I’m getting visits from users that have old links saved or visitors coming from websites that have old links on them. I highly suspect this isn’t the case since the visits happened around the same day, but still will look into it.
My Thoughts on Google Fred
I feel you should always use the best SEO practices. I do outline some of these in the 10 Tips To Get Your Website Found. Additionally, great content is a must. If you can read it out loud, it sounds good and it’s around 6th grade level, I think it’s on the right track to great content.
If you have any questions about Google Fred or you feel you need help with your website SEO, don’t hesitate to contact us.