For those looking to examine how their site responded to major algorithm changes, SEOMoz has a great new tool to help you: a compilation of the major Google algorithm changes that have happened over the last decade. While most minor changes are skipped (Google updates their algorithm in minor ways hundreds of times each year), SEOMoz touches on the most significant changes in Google’s approach to the SERP.
How to Use This Data
Let’s take a quick look, as an example, at this year’s major changes. According to SEOMoz, these are:
- Overstock.com Penalty (January 2011)
- Panda/Farmer (February 23, 2011)
- The +1 Button (March 30, 2011)
- Panda 2.0 (April 11, 2011)
- Panda 2.1 (May 9, 2011)
- Schema.org (June 2, 2011)
- Panda 2.2 (June 21, 2011)
- Google+ (June 28, 2011)
- Panda 2.3 (July 23, 2011)
As you can see, this year has seen a large number of updates already. SEOMoz is also tracking everything from social aspects of Google to UI changes to substantial penalties and beyond. Whenever possible, SEOMoz has included the exact date. This allows you to check your own search traffic relative to these dates and see if you may have been impacted by one of the major algorithmic changes. If you have been, then SEOMoz also provides links that give more data on what the changes entailed, letting you make reparations as necessary.
The data compiled by SEOMoz is also a good way to make sure you’re up to date on the current SEO tactics. For many search marketers, old approaches die hard. However, knowing that there have been major changes that impact specific tactics is as good as a funeral pyre, and lets us move on to the most cutting-edge techniques.
[Sources include: SEOMoz]