Tech Tales Team
2025-03-18
Google releases a variety of algorithm updates to help its users access relevant and top performing websites. With its core releases anticipated mostly in March and November, marketers dread how these updates will impact their efforts to feature on Google’s first page. This means they could either experience a sudden surge in traffic, or lose months of hard work that went into improving their ranking.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. While you may think updates are inconvenient, they might actually be opportunities to beat your competitors. Here’s how.
What is Google Algorithm?
Talking about algorithms, these are complex formulas that determine which websites will show up first when users search for related terms. Think of Google’s algorithm as a set of rules that Google uses to decide which websites should appear at the top of search results.
With every user query on Google, the algorithm parses millions of websites to present the most relevant and trustworthy results. Naturally, the algorithm hasn’t stayed the same since its introduction. More tailored to user searches, striving to give them the closest option to what they need.
These changes may sound intimidating, but their main goal is to improve the user experience. Now, there are two types of updates: small adjustments that happen during the year and core updates, or big changes that can change your website’s ranking. Now, this may sound daunting but core updates can affect many websites across various industries. However, the focus is on improving
How Does Google Algorithm Work?
When the Google algorithm parses a webpage, it assigns a specific numerical value to each characteristic it looks for. This value is then factored into the overall score of the page. Consequently, webpages with the most favourable traits will rank higher because the algorithm gives them greater significance.
These calculations by Google happen at lightning speed, and rankings can change as web developers adjust the elements that influence page rankings, either across an entire site or on a single page.
As a result, the rankings determined by Google’s algorithms are not static. A page that is currently ranked third for a particular keyword could move up to first place or drop to tenth as the content on that page and others in the search results is updated. Typically, the top positions are occupied by websites with a robust SEO strategy.
Major Google Algorithm Updates Released So Far
Here’s a timeline of all the key updates Google has introduced:
- Panda (2011): Through this update, Google aimed to improve the quality of search results. This started with penalizing websites with duplicate, thin, or low-quality content, but it also rewarded websites that featured original, well-researched, and valuable information.
- Penguin (2012): This update was a major cleaning drive by Google to target websites with questionable backlink practices that were spammy or featured irrelevant links to boost rankings.
- Hummingbird (2013): This one single-handedly improved the algorithm’s ability to interpret NLP (natural language processing) queries, focusing on context rather than just keywords from any term searched by users, thus making way for more accurate and conversational search results.
- RankBrain (2015): RankBrain uses AI to better understand user intent while helping Google process complex queries and rank pages based on how well they match the user’s needs. This update also helped recognise matches for unfamiliar or ambiguous searches too.
- BERT (2019): BERT or Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers was directed towards enhancing Google’s ability to understand NLP. This included understanding the context of words in a sentence, thus improving search results for conversational queries and long-tail keywords.
What Are Google’s Key Ranking Factors?
Here’s how you can stay on top of Google’s ranking criteria by complying with these factors:
- Relevance over clickbait: Publish content that talks to the audience, and not at the audience. This means making your content strategy revolve around value-addition and problem-solving through in-depth topic coverage and engaging formats.
- Mobile-Friendliness: Since most users are online on their mobile devices, calling for a highly responsive design and straightforward functionality.
- Page Speed: If your pages load within a second of a user clicking them, there are high chances of converting them and reducing your bounce rates.
- Backlinks: Quality of the backlinks counts, and thus earning link juice from authoritative and trustworthy websites is becoming more and more crucial by the day. Linking reputable sources within your industry is a plus point.
How to Optimize Your Website for Google Algorithm in 2025
Focus on Creating Value for Your Users
User intent is at the centre of everything Google does, and has been doing since the beginning. You’d want to make sure to address your audience’s concerns and not solely please search engine bots. You could try different formats catering to your average user, such as blogs, articles, and resources. Keep them informative while trying to solve their problems with relevance. If you keep it consistent, you can get lasting results.
Stick to White-Hat SEO Practices
Ethical SEO practices are the game now, and shortcuts like keyword stuffing or purchasing backlinks are long gone. If you have a new website and you wish to increase its traffic, don’t get distracted by manipulative SEO tactics or providers that promise to get you cheap backlinks. With SEO, good things take time. Focus on building your reputation with authoritative sites for backlinks and incorporate keywords with context in titles, meta descriptions, and content.
Improve Your Technical SEO
In 2025, Google’s Core Web Vitals announced that metrics like page load speed, interactivity, and visual stability will remain as key ranking factors. Thus, you need to make sure that you have a quick loading website that doesn’t keep your users waiting. Slow loading times can mean higher bounce-rates, and thus the subsequent dip in traffic. You can achieve a quick loading website by compressing your images, using efficient coding practices, and enabling browser caching. You could also try your hands on getting an AMP website for higher speed, provided it suits your business model.
Keep up with Google Algorithm Updates
Google’s algorithm is far from stagnant and experiences continuous updates. One such update was integration of generative AI and enhanced E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) standards. Since these changes can affect your website, you must know when to take action. For this, you can follow trusted SEO blogs or Google’s Search Central updates to adapt your strategies accordingly.
Conclusion
Google’s algorithm in 2025 is more dynamic and now with its AI integration for Google Snippets, it is even harder to get to the top spot. Yet, it isn’t impossible. Regular sanity checks and updates can get you noticed faster, while keeping up with core updates can help you stay relevant among a sea of competitors.
If you’re new to SEO or think you’re better off at giving your website’s reins to someone else, we are your team. Contact The Tech Tales SEO agency Auckland to get a free SEO audit of your website and see where we can take you in terms of CTR, user engagement, and trust building the right way.
