Not a year goes by without Google making at least a few changes that force us SEO professionals to rethink how we do things. The year of 2013 was no different. In fact, a case could be made for this being one of the most profound years in recent memory where Google changes are concerned

Throughout the year several things we relied on day in and day out were taken away from us. A new algorithm was introduced that has the potential to make the search experience better for everyone. And Google continued their crusade to hit web spammers where it hurts.

In this post I will explain all of Google’s most important changes in depth. These are the ones you really need to know about—no matter what business you’re in or what your level of experience with SEO is. Google has rewritten some of the fundamentals of SEO this year and I’m here to tell you all about them

How will these changes impact your SEO efforts going forward? Well I’m glad you asked because I will be explaining that as well! There are a few revisions you’ll need to make to your SEO playbook going into 2014, and I’ll help guide you in the right direction.

Join me as I take you through Google’s most important changes in 2013 and pass along some advice for how to revise your strategy in the new year.

Google Launches Penguin 2.0 and 2.1 Updates

On May 22nd Google launched version 2.0 of the Penguin webspam algorithm that affected 2.3% of English-US queries. As is the case with all Penguin updates, this one further penalized sites that use black-hat SEO techniques while rewarding sites that play by the rules.

What made Penguin 2.0 significant was the revelation that previous Penguin updates only analyzed the inbound link profiles of website home pages. Penguin 2.0 digs deeper into the inbound link profiles by analyzing a website’s internal pages as well.

On October 4th Google launched Penguin 2.1, which Matt Cutts claims only affected around 1% of search results to a noticeable degree. This update improved upon the 2.0 update by identifying newer sources of inbound link spam pointing to a website’s internal pages.

A bit of good news with all these Penguin updates is that each update is an opportunity to recover from the old one. This means if you’ve done your due diligence in identifying and removing spammy inbound links, the next time Google rolls out a Penguin update you have a good chance of recovering from any penalties you were previously hit with.

All Google Keyword Data Is Now ‘Not Provided’

On September 23rd, Google made a dramatic shift towards encrypting all search data. SEO professionals everywhere were cut off from valuable keyword data that used to be readily available, such as what keywords were used to find sites. Keyword data now shows up as (Not Provided) in Google Analytics, unless it comes from other search engines like Yahoo or Bing.

This update is significant because keyword data was, and still is, an important part of doing our jobs as SEOs. This information was also incredibly useful to the average website owner, not just people who work in the SEO industry. Now we all have to resort to much less efficient ways of mining keyword data, which some people may not end up doing at all if they don’t have time to be bothered with it.

Google says they made this change to protect the privacy of their users, but in my opinion Google is doing their users a disservice. It’s more difficult to create content users want if you have no idea what they’re searching for. I wish I could say there is a net positive to the shift towards protected keyword data, but I believe it adversely affects everyone.

New Hummingbird Algorithm Is Introduced

Google rolled out the new Hummingbird algorithm on September 27th, the day of Google’s 15th birthday. Hummingbird promises to improve the search experience with smarter, more precise, and faster results.

More specifically, Hummingbird is designed to better understand queries containing whole sentences, not just groups of words, in order to deliver better results. Google wants to return pages in search results that match the entire meaning of the query, rather than pages that rank well for just a few of the words. Content that delivers full, complete answers to questions now ranks better as a result.

Hummingbird is significant because it marks the first time since 2001 that a Google algorithm has been so dramatically rewritten.

Keyword Tool Is Replaced With Keyword Planner

On August 27th Google replaced their much beloved Keyword Tool with a less efficient option called Keyword Planner. This change was heavily criticized because Keyword Planner does not provide match type data for search volume, or mobile vs. desktop search data.

Keyword Planner did come with a few nice, new features though. It offers better geographic segmentation and the ability to upload far more keywords to get performance data.

This change is significant because the old Keyword Tool was something SEO professionals relied on and it was swiftly taken away from us. However, a month later we would all learn a bit more about why Google did this when they announced their aforementioned shift to encrypted search data.

Authorship Rich Snippets Reduced By 15%

You know those rich snippets in search results that show Google+ authorship information about who the post was written by, along with a picture? Well on December 19th Google reduced the amount of those authorship rich snippets appearing in search results by 15%.

Google did this in an effort to improve the search experience for users by showing only the most authoritative authors. As a result, low quality sites with less authoritative authors lost their ability to display authorship rich snippets.

This is a significant change because authorship rich snippets have been known to improve click-through rates, so losing the ability to display them could have a negative impact on traffic. Not to mention it was a bit of a wake up call in regards to how authoritative Google really thinks you are.

What To Do Going Forward

After digesting all this information about the major Google changes of 2013, I’m sure by now you want to know how it will impact your SEO efforts in the new year. Here is a list of several things that should become ingrained in your SEO strategy in light of these changes.

Key Takeaways:

• Focus on creating good quality, rich content that satisfies the needs of users and solves their problems. Cheap content that offers little-to-no value isn’t going to cut it anymore.
• Stay away from black-hat link building techniques. Use tools, like the ones offered here at Ahrefs, to monitor your inbound link profile. Keep an eye out for anything that looks unnatural or spammy and get those links removed ASAP.
• Get comfortable with other methods of obtaining keyword data. We’ll never have it as good as we did before encrypted search, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on it all together.
• Work towards being seen by Google as an authority in your niche. This means not only creating great content, but demonstrating expertise on a particular subject and hopefully getting linked to by other authorities.

Of course, 2013 brought many other changes from Google beyond the ones I listed. The changes I discussed in this post are the ones I believe to be the most important. If you feel like I left something out, or have any questions, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts!