They say both good and bad things come in threes. Historically, Google updates have provided both good and bad things for search engine optimizers, though generally not in that order.
They also tend to come in three sections. Jagger, the algorithm update that is sweeping the globe is no different.
The first round of the Jagger update hit last week and seemed to take particular interest in sites with large numbers of links in their networks. Based on how Google records historic information about backlinks in relation to the document they link to, it is safe to speculate sites that obtained a sudden rise in links in short amounts of time (one or two days) were targeted as Google tries to filter out content it considers “spam”. This doesn’t mean that Google considers sites that suffered dislocation of rankings “spam”, it just means that Google is shuffling the way it sees links directed to those sites. There are still two phases of the update to go.
The second round started this week with a massive recount in the number of back links seen by Google. How that will affect rankings in the long run is open to speculation but we are predicting the effects of the second phase of the Jagger update to start to show over the weekend.
Google has announced a third phase to be introduced early next week though they are tightlipped as to what that third phase might look like or be looking at. We expect that by mid November, Google’s rankings will be back to normal for the vast majority of users. Similar series of events have happened in previous years and will likely happen in the future. Algorithm updates are a net reality in the search engine optimization business.
Jim Hedger is the SEO Manager of StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc. Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, StepForth is the result of the consolidation of BraveArt Website Management, Promotion Experts, and Phoenix Creative Works, and has provided professional search engine placement and management services since 1997. http://www.stepforth.com/ Tel – 250-385-1190 Toll Free – 877-385-5526 Fax – 250-385-1198
