Last week, there was news that Panda is part of Google’s core ranking algorithm, and this has gotten many in the industry talking and discussing. SEOs are wondering, what exactly does it mean to be part of the core algorithm. Perhaps, our questions are answered, as Google is sharing some more information about it. According to them, the algorithm is consistent enough that it doesn’t require very many changes in the future and can run without having to hold its hand all the time.
There was a Q&A involving Google’s Andrey Lipattsev, where he spent some time talking about the confusion around what it means to be part of the “core” algorithm. He also explained why it’s difficult to always define a Google update.
We linked you to the video where Andrey Lipattsev, a Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google, talks about what core means, and it begins around the 8 minutes mark:
It is less about the functionality, which means it probably doesn’t change that much over time, and it is more about how we perceive it, in the context of the algorithm. Do we still think this is an experimental thing, it is running for a while and we aren’t sure how long it will last. Or is it like PageRank, it is part of it, it will always be there, at least in the foreseeable future and then probably call it in certain context part of the core algorithm.
Andrey cited Gary Illyes from Google on how he tried explaining it on Google+ with this analogy:
I think this is really the worst takeway of the past few days, but imagine an engine of a car. It used to be that there was no starter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starter_(engine)), the driver had to go in front of the car, and use some tool to start the engine. Today we have starters in any petrol engine, it’s integrated. It became more convenient, but essentially nothing changed.
For a user or even a webmaster it should not matter at all which components live where, it’s really irrelevant, and that’s why I think people should focus on these “interesting” things less.
The way Gary meant is that, since Panda is now part of the core ranking algorithm, it means that they don’t really need to know how it runs anymore. It’s tested, it works, and it can run on its own without much outside influence.
As Ammon Johns put it in the Hangout, “once they forget how it works, it is core?” In response, Andrey replied, “that is exactly right.”
Check out the following video to not only check out what was said about the core algorithm for yourself, but for anything else that might catch your interest in the video: