A few days ago, there were speculations going around that a new google update will be released anytime soon. Strong signs of an upcoming Google algorithm ranking update has been shown. The webmaster and search engine optimisation (SEO) community, together with the automated Google tracking tools, has given away a few signs. However, there is no confirmation about it yet.
Not Fred from Flintstones
The update was called as “Fred” which is not about the character in Flintstones. Gary Illyes of Google went on a vacation for a few weeks and shared a photo he took. On a Twitter conversation for the photo he posted, the name “Fred” was mentioned. Barry Schwartz suggested on Twitter to adopt a name for the said update. Gary replied on a tweet:
@rustybrick @i_praveensharma @JohnMu sure! From now on every update, unless otherwise stated, shall be called Fred
(https://twitter.com/methode/status/839817382088572928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Gary agreed and he jokingly suggested to name all things without a name as “Fred”. He even liked Barry’s tweet about the name suggestion which many assumed as a confirmation.
Fred update still unconfirmed
The Fred update not only caught the attention of SEOs and webmasters. It has been getting a lot of attention from the whole SEO industry. They are watching when will the Google ranking update will be rolled out. Many are even guessing that it seems to be targeting the link quality aspects of a lot of websites.
There were reports of changes and discussion within the “black hat” SEO community. There were rumours that it can be just a spam algorithm update around links. A similar rumour on a new update happened in early February that caused quite a stir within the SEO sphere. A lot of webmasters and SEOs saw some significant changes in their Google’s search rankings algorithm.
Many are thinking it can be related to Panda due to its effect on content and site quality versus the link factors. There are other factors that can be affected if there is an algorithm update from Google. A shift in the quality content, link quality or something else can happen. SEOs and webmaster were busy watching for the status in their ranking reports or the traffic from Google analytics. Other tracking tools to view any visibility are also used to keep an eye for any changes. However, Google did not give any comments about the said update and it was never confirmed.
Now, the chatter about any impending update heightens because there were changes that occurred in the rankings. The webmasters are both complaining and rejoicing because some ranking declines while other increases. Automated tracking tools are used to track the significant fluctuations and see the instability of the rankings. These changes can be an indicator of an update.
A lot of people want to know more about the so-called new ranking algorithm. They are keeping an eye out for any statement that will be released by Google. Do you think it will give positive or negative effects to many?
