We explain

The real story

A brief flashback for context

In 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both students at Stanford University, unveiled a search engine named BackRub. Does that name sound unfamiliar? No surprise, since the project was renamed Google just a year later. The search engine, which would become the most influential in the world, had its humble beginnings in a garage located at 232 Santa Margarita, Menlo Park, California, rented by Susan Wojcicki, who later became the CEO of YouTube in 2006.

The Google project truly took off in 1998 thanks to a $100,000 investment from Andy Bechtolsheim. Google began accumulating new users daily and indexed billions of URLs: the project that started in the basement of the Menlo Park house was on the brink of becoming the giant it is today.

 In 2015, Google became a subsidiary of Alphabet

A few years ago, Google restructured. This strategic decision aimed to separate the search engine from other companies owned by the group; thus, in 2015, Google became a subsidiary of the new parent company Alphabet.

Search, artificial intelligence, home automation, health: the company has grown and diversified since its creation 17 years earlier. This reorganization aimed to highlight core businesses to exploit their full potential by removing them from Google’s shadow, while also making the group’s activities more transparent.

Behind the famous search engine results page, a secret algorithm 

To determine the ranking order of a website on the SERP, Google specified numerous rules to “sort” URLs, placing the most relevant sites at the top of the results. This is how the famous “Google algorithm” was born.

SEO experts know that the giant carefully guards the mechanics of its ranking system. It is impossible to know exactly how to reach the top of the SERP; only a few general best practices have been revealed to help improve a website’s positioning.

Matt Cutts, who was the head of Google’s webspam team at the time, disclosed some tips to webmasters and SEOs about the algorithm’s operation.

From these “guidelines” inevitably came abuses: SEO experts sometimes used and still use aggressive or Black Hat techniques to improve their site’s ranking.

But… What exactly is an SEO expert ?

In the early days of search engines, during the 1990s, some curious minds sought to understand how their algorithms worked. Although less sophisticated back then, ranking systems already existed, and various methods were used to improve the positioning of web pages. Keyword stuffing, link exchanges… The techniques were rudimentary but effective in pushing sites to the top of search results !

This is how the basics of the SEO profession were born, driven by web developers or simply tech enthusiasts. Over time, these methods have become more refined, with experts adapting their strategies to algorithm updates, turning SEO into a complex discipline. Today, SEO and its specialists play a crucial role in the online revenue generated by businesses.

Major algorithm updates: Panda and Penguin 

In 2011, Google shook up the SERPs with the massive rollout of an algorithm update, Google Panda. A year later, the Penguin algorithm filter joined the ranks and struck again. Techniques that were once tolerated or not penalized were no longer acceptable, and sites using abusive practices faced the consequences: it was a cold shower for many businesses, which found themselves downgraded or blacklisted from the search engine.

Panda: the war on low-quality content

Google aimed to improve its search results to offer users quality, user-experience-focused sites. Thus, the Panda update was inevitable. When version 1.0 was deployed in the United States, nearly 12% of queries were impacted.

Content farms, directories, over-optimized websites, duplicate content: the domains targeted by Panda saw their rankings and traffic plummet, and some pages were even de-indexed. Some sites were penalized more globally, disappearing entirely from the search engine.

Penguin : the hunt for artificial backlinks

The implementation of Google Penguin again shook the SEO world, only a few months after the upheaval caused by Panda. This time, the focus was on artificial or low-quality backlinks.

Sites using spammy link-building techniques were abruptly downgraded or entirely blacklisted from Google’s index. Recovering from a Penguin penalty is a lengthy process, requiring a thorough cleanup of backlinks to achieve as natural a profile as possible. 

Solutions to overcome a penalty

When a site attracts the wrath of the algorithm or suffers a manual penalty, action can be taken. Initially, Google recommends following all its guidelines and best practices to comply. It is then possible to submit a reconsideration request through Google Search Console, and if the site demonstrates compliance, the penalty may be lifted.

However, do not expect to immediately regain previous rankings and performance; a long SEO effort will be necessary to return to the top of the organic results.

Google is the most used search engine in the world

Today, Google remains the primary search engine for users and is at the top almost everywhere in the world. For businesses looking to grow their online presence, finding a place on Google’s SERPs is essential; their revenue depends on their search engine rankings!

SEO experts are constantly on the lookout for potential Google algorithm updates, striving to avoid penalties and maintain their site’s visibility on the web. Google still rules the WWW kingdom…