Overview: Overall Gist: The Google Payday Loan algorithm update from 2013 was an algorithm that targeted spammy queries and spammy sites. Here’s what you should know.
The Payday Loan Update the major algorithm update everyone talked about in 2013. It was a significant update that affected approximately 0.3 per cent of queries in the United States.
Update impact:
- At the time, Matt Cutts, head of Google’s webspam team, said that the impact for Turkish queries could be as high as 4%. It is since those types of queries are more likely to generate spam.
- One of Google’s significant updates targeted spammy queries associated mainly with shady industries such as super high-interest loans and payday loans, porn, and other heavily spammed queries.
- Payday loans, casinos, and debt consolidation websites, according to Cutts, would affected. Other heavily spammed niches, such as pharmaceuticals, casinos with no account, and financial areas such as mortgages and insurance, also affected.
- When Cutts announced this change in a May 2013 webmaster video, he attempted to explain that some queries that tend to be spammy, such as payday loans or pornographic-related queries, were less likely to target Google’s spam team.
What the Google Payday Loan targets:
- Payday Loan updates impacted two things: spammy queries and spammy sites.
- Cutts went on to say that Payday Loan 2.0 targeted spammy sites, while Payday Loan 3.0 focused on spammy queries.
- The payday loan algorithm update phased over a two- to three-month period. In June of 2013, the first payday loan update occurred. Payday loan update 2.0 took place on May 16, 2014, with Payday 3.0 following in June 2014.
- Payday Loan 3.0 also improved protection against negative SEO attacks.
- The update also included counterfeit websites. However, Cutts stated that this was an unintended consequence of the update’s implementation.
- The Payday Loan 2.0 update was more link-based, focusing on high search volume + CPC keywords with a high potential for spam.
- Cutts stated that the affected searches in the United States accounted for only about 0.3 per cent of all searches.
Algorithm Rolled Out: June 11, 2013 , has an impact upto 2014
Cutts officially announced the Payday Loan update 1.0 on Twitter on June 11, 2013.
What has changed in SEO since the Payday Loan update?
- More SEO professionals began emphasising Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, and grey/black hat SEO techniques became riskier.
- Don’t break any of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Don’t be nefarious or predatory. Always employ comprehensive, white-hat strategies for content, user experience, and link acquisition.
- Before this update, SEO was primarily concerned with massive amounts of manipulation. While manipulation continues today, and some techniques available to stay under Google’s radar, it now simpler than ever to get caught if you not careful.
- The best idea? Don’t use these techniques on your site in the first place, and double-check that the technique you’re thinking about using isn’t in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Algorithm Solution: Techniques for implementing or implementing to comply with Google algorithm guidelines
- This author has often heard someone mention a technique that was part of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, and Google went after it, even though it was never part of those guidelines.
- Look before you leap, and always double-check your sources before implementing SEO techniques that could harm your overall SEO efforts.
- Here’s is the organic search report between the drop in traffic and recovery
Most people recommend providing new material to overcome Payday Loan Algorithm preferences rather than eliminating existing information that may not align with the algorithm’s values.
Following that, you may return to improve or update existing information to make it more relevant and accurate.