On March 7-8, 2017, there was a sudden jerk over the internet. The site owners, webmasters, SEO professionals started panicking owning to the sudden decrease in traffic rates overnight. Experts suggested that there might be some kind of algorithm update taking place. It seemed like the low-quality content that was meant to generate revenue were targeted by Google update. And Google kept mum, at least in the initial days.
The secret behind choosing such a name
It is the unannounced update that had made the webmasters and SEOs panic so much. As per reports the webmaster analytics expert Gary Illyes jokingly named Fred and so consequently it got its name. Google officially announced the update much later, on March 24, 2017.
Now the question lies what is Fred?
It is neither an algorithm nor a set of processes. It is a catchall for the quality of an update, site or algorithm that Google does not identify. Fred, thus, is the name of a sequence of quality updates in place of the ones violating the Webmaster Guidelines.
How did Fred come into existence?
Google constantly updates and adjusts its search engine algorithm. In the year 2015, there were a string of events that took place as a part of Google quality updates. The trend continued to exist till 2017, though Google did not confirm the news. In this way, Fred came into being. The companies that had lost their traffic back then are still striving hard to regain their balance from the massive attack.
How did it differ from other updates of the past?
Fred is not like any other said algorithm. It has a lot of difference. It means nothing other than the Google updates. It helps in dealing with the core algorithms that suffers from quality issues. This update is not a specific one. It gets named to the updates that are related to the quality and affects several sites but are unnamed.
Who were affected the most by Fred?
Speculations are ripe around which site has been the most unfortunate to be affected with Fred. Google has no confirmed anything officially. Research reveals companies that had earlier adopted aggressive advertising policies with their poor contents were hit the most. These companies had been prioritizing monetization over user experience.
How to recover from Fred?
Keeping mind Fred is not just one algorithm update. It is a set where all the names are not known. If you are an SEO professional, only then you will be able to understand the movements of it. Google is reluctant to share any kind of information regarding what they targeted on a website if that has been affected by Fred. So the process of recovery is a bit tough.
If your site has been affected by Fred update, the first thing that you should be doing is finding out whether multiple sites are affected or not. If yes, then you can be sure, it is Fred. If not, take a deep breath because it is simply a site issue.
Apparently, there are ways to deal with Fred. There is a document that can come to your rescue. This is the Google Webmaster Guidelines. This provides an idea of the wrongs you are doing with your website.
Another useful document is The Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. If you are facing issues with your site, you can use too. However, it is not an SEO guide. These guidelines can help you to acquire all the necessary information to understand how Google will be evaluating your site.
The negative impact of Fred affects a site for long. There is no fixed rule as to how much time it can take to recover. The faster you address the issues the lesser time it is said to consume. Your traffics would start climbing again.
