Sim64 have been providing SEO Services for over a decade now and have seen a lot of changes in that time.

2011 and 2012 has probably been the most volatile time period for Google since Florida 2003 and as we come to the end of year and start thinking about 2013 the big question now is What does Google Like now that it didn’t like in 2010 or more importantly what doesn’t Google like now that it did like in 2010.

There are some obvious answers such as duplicate content, keyword stuffing, back-link manipulation, hidden links, cloaking etc. but what big thing has changed in this time period?

The first of the major updates occurred in February 2011 and was named the Google Panda Update this rolled out across English language sites in late April the same year and was said to have effected up to 12 percent of search results.

The reported goal of the Panda update was to  lower the rank of low quality or thin content sites and upgrade higher quality sites primarily using an algorithm that measured quality, design, speed and trustworthiness.

The 2nd major Google Update occurred on 24th April 2012 and was named the Google Penguin Update.

Where as Panda was a generic update based on quality and user experience Penguin appeared to be more of an update to tackle SEO and optimisation processes, in particular over aggressive link building and over optimisation based around keyword stuffing and too closely targeted anchor text.

For some the Panda and Penguin Updates were a double whammy, those who were hit by the Google Panda update who improved the content and quality of their sites also engaged in link building campaigns to ensure their new content was seen and indexed by Google only to see their sites punished again by the Penguin update for over optimising.

So as the new year approaches we have to ask Just What does Google Like and what optimisation processes can we assume will be safe in 2013?

Let us know by commenting below.