The Google Fred Update: A Comprehensive Guide

The world of SEO runs on wheels of change, and one of the major milestones marking that wheel is the ushering in of Google’s Fred update. When this update came in, in March 2017, it sent shockwaves throughout the digital marketing community. Websites that had previously ranked high found themselves suddenly losing visibility, traffic, and ultimately revenue. Knowing what Fred over update is, how it impacts your website, and what to do to adapt-are critical keys to SEO success in the post-Fred world.

This all-inclusive guide will break down all you need to know about the Google Fred update: what it targeted, how it impacted websites, and best practices to make sure your site thrives in today’s SEO landscape.

1. What is the Google Fred Update?

The Google Fred update was an algorithmic change whose function was to penalize websites that had become heavily focused on monetization at the expense of providing quality user experiences. Unlike many Google updates, which target a specific element of SEO-such as backlinks or content-Fred seemed to attack a more generalized group of websites. The only clear commonality between the affected sites seemed to be heavy reliance on aggressive advertising with thin content.

Many sites lost traffic overnight. Like any major algorithm update, Fred made a point to show webmasters why their actions needed to fall in line with Google’s big-picture mission of providing users with the most relevant, useful content.

Also Read- A Beginner’s Guide to Google Hummingbird

2. Why Fred Got the Name Fred

The name “Fred” seems weird for an update of an algorithm, as all of its predecessors carried more descriptive names: Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird. But the story behind the name Fred is actually quite funny. In fact, this name comes from a joke by Google’s Gary Illyes. When the question was asked, what to call it-the update was simple: “Fred,” Illyes responded. And there it was: voilà. The SEO community loved the name, and it stuck.

While the name Fred may sound playful, its results were anything but, causing a stir within the rankings of thousands of websites in various niches.

3. The Purpose of the Update Fred

This Fred update was part of the efforts to improve the quality of Google’s search results by suppressing low-quality content only created to generate ad revenue. The update targeted websites that did not greatly add value to users but were mainly kept online for the sake of being monetized.

Websites that had the following characteristics:

Thinly filled pages with either very thin or poorly written content that did not add much depth or value for the user.
Aggressive advertisements: Websites where placing advertisements was the main focus and not giving a great user experience.
Overly affiliated content: Websites so saturated with affiliate links that they really didn’t offer much great information or value outside of those affiliate links.

It was designed to push websites onto making sure that there was a great user experience and quality content on the website, rather than tactics of monetization including heavy ad placement and affiliate linking.

4. How the Fred Update Affected Websites

The consequences of the Fred update resonated across a wide range of industries, though websites dealing in niches related to health, finance, and e-commerce were among the worst hit. This has led to traffic drops of up to 90% on many websites. Significantly, these resulted in great losses in ad revenue, sales, and leads for the owners.

The sites that did take a hit had some common points, which we will see in detail in the next section, but basically, it’s about quality content and user experience versus cash generation. Sites that were essentially heavy-handed with regards to earning money from their site took the biggest hits.

Key stats from some of the top reports:

Ad-heavy sites: Sites heavy with ads, especially intrusive or overwhelming ad placements in the main content, were decidedly de-ranked.
Content farms: Sites with thin content, or low-value content, saw massive declines in traffic.
Affiliate sites: Sites built primarily to promote affiliate products, not providing valuable and related content also saw their traffic tumble considerably.

This loss of traffic appeared to have woken the owners of websites and digital marketers and made them revisit their strategies about search engine optimization and content creation.

5. Important Traits of Sites Hit by Fred

Therefore, what type of sites did Fred attack? Well, here is some of the key attributes of the websites most harmed so far by the update, and they include:

Thin Content: Low content value websites which did not hold much depth or unique insight. Most of these websites would publish loads of articles without really adding much worth to the article.
Heavy Advertising: Fred targeted websites that had quite heavy advertising, especially those with ads hindering a user’s experience. Major hits were taken by sites with much pop-up, auto-playing video, and ad-heavy layouts.
Affiliate-Driven Pages: Other sites that suffered traffic loss included pages that were particularly geared toward selling affiliate products without adding real values for users. These sites often didn’t have more than product descriptions with links for affiliate partners.
Low-Quality Backlinks: Not only content-related issues, but websites that used to buy low-quality backlinks by practicing black-hat SEO also faced a penalty.
Poor Mobile Experience: With the trend of mobile-first indexing, sites that weren’t optimized for mobile devices also suffered after the Fred update.

These characters have been a beacon for the webmaster to indicate that Google was clamping down on content that didn’t prioritize user satisfaction and usefulness.

6. How to Recover from the Fred Update

Recovering from the Fred update means one thing: shifting from monetization and manipulation of SEO to the quality of content and user experience. If your website was hit by Fred, here’s what you can do to recover:

Quality of Content: Create high-quality, well-researched content that adds value to your readers. This means comprehensiveness, depth in information, and being engaging.
Cut the Clutter of Ads: Again, reassess your website’s ad strategy. Remove the excess from the ads, particularly those that are invasive to the user or disturb the user experience. Ensure that the ads fit well and do not disturb the view of your content.
Improve User Experience: Put in extensive effort to enhance the UX design of your website by improving site speed, navigation, and clean, mobile-friendly design.
Content diversification: This means creating different types of content for the website; these could be blogs, videos, infographics, and tutorials. This keeps the users engaged and interested in returning to the website.
Audit Backlinks: Conduct an intensive audit of your backlink profile. Any low-quality or spammy links responsible for your ranking penalties should be disavowed.
Reduce Affiliate Links: Since the affiliate marketing sites generate maximum of their earnings through affiliate marketing, it should be noted that there is more value being shared than the actual recommendation of products. Balance affiliate links with in-depth and informative content.

7. Best SEO Practices Post-Fred

Technical optimization and quality-focused approach are key to retaining a good SEO presence in the post-Fred era. Following is a list of some best practices that you could follow for SEO post-Fred.

Prioritize Content Quality: Google algorithms continue to favor useful, relevant content towards the user. Make sure your content is well-researched, informative, and acts as an answer to user intent.
E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) Becomes the Prime Factor: Establish your website as an authority in your niche. Publish high-quality, correct, and well-sourced content. Google emphasizes a lot on the same and puts strong weights for sites that are really expert and trustworthy.
Balance Monetization with Value: Yes, monetization is critical, but it must be balanced by not sacrificing the user experience. Ads will be non-intrusive; affiliate links should be supported with valuable content.
Optimize for Mobile: These days, having a mobile-friendly website is significant in terms of ensuring success in search engine rankings. With Google’s mobile-first indexing, it becomes even more critical that your site is responsive and provides a seamless experience across device types.
Improve Page Speed: Slow sites lead to poor user experiences, and poor user experiences will negatively affect your rankings. Take advantage of tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and resolve speed-related issues on your site.
Keep a Clean Link Profile: Continuously audit backlinks pointing to your website and disavow any spammy or low-quality links that may hurt your rankings. Ensure you earn high-quality, relevant backlinks organically.

8. Long-Term Consequences of the Fred Update

The long-term effects of the Fred update proved to be profound: website owners moved to prioritize user experience and the quality of content over aggressive monetization practices. Websites that have adapted to the new standards recovered and even thrived in a post-Fred environment.

Also Read- A Complete Guide to the Google Panda Update

But the Fred update also managed to change how Google approached algorithm updates in general. While previous algorithm updates targeted either links or content, or some other single aspect of SEO, Fred was really a holistic update that aimed at generally raising the quality of search results.

9. Fred within the Larger Algorithm Strategy of Google

This update of Fred fits into Google’s broader strategy of creating the most useful, relevant, and trustworthy search results. It’s part of the broader trend that includes updates such as Panda-targeting low-quality content-and Penguin-targeting spammy backlinks. Each one reinforces Google’s commitment to improving the user experience and returning high-quality content in search results.

Fred is also representative of Google’s growing interest in investing more heavily in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning within their search algorithms. As algorithms continue to develop and evolve further, it is clear that those SEO practices which rely on merely gaming the system will eventually become inept.

10. Conclusion

The revolution in SEO began with the Google Fred update, with sure signs that Google was increasingly focusing on user experiences and quality of content. Sites with low-quality content, over-reliance on ads, and affiliate-heavy pages took a nasty hit, while sites with actual value-adding relevant content were rewarded.

The lesson from Fred for webmasters and SEO professionals seems pretty clear: focus on your users, craft quality content, and build long-term oriented SEO strategies because that also serves Google’s purpose: the best search result.

Recovery from Fred or preparation for future updates to the algorithm means commitment to user-oriented content and optimization: continuous auditing of your site for quality, refining content to meet the needs of users, and balancing monetization with a value-driven approach.

These best practices not only help one stay ahead in this ever-evolving world of SEO but also keep one abreast of any future updates to continuously pass valuable content onto your audience. In so doing, you will be better equipped not only to recover from updates such as Fred but to thrive in this evolving search landscape.