SEO Training Search Engine Optimization Multilingual SEO Pay-Per-Click Management SEO Consultancy Case Studies
Google Updates >> Google Brandy Update

Google Brandy Update Dated: - 11th Feb 2004


Google Brandy update which rolled out in February 2004 incorporated new ways of gauging quality and relevance of websites. Tweaking was done to include authoritative sites and the changes were not as dramatic or heartfelt as those of the Florida or Austin Update. As with other updates, this again affected the rankings of several websites on SERPs.


The areas of focus for Update Brandy were:


(a) Increase in file sizes of Google
(b) Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)
(c) Links and Anchor Textt
(d) Neighbourhoods
(e) Downgrading of the Traditional Tag-Based Optimisation by Google


(a) Google who stores its index on a number of data centers around the world aimed to increase the number of indexed pages. It began by showing old SERPs with the help of several new factors. Insiders of the Search Engine Optmisation and Internet Marketing industry believed that the Brandy Update incorporated some pre-'Florida' update results.


(b) Another area on which Google began concentrating with the introduction of this Update was giving importance to semantic words or the LSI used in the creation of the website content. Google effectively began a close analysis of synonyms or other related words while ranking pages for search results.


(c ) With the Brandy Update, Google shifted its focus to the nature, quantity and quality of inbound as well as outbound link anchor text of a website. It decreased the importance of PageRank which had been Google’s unique ranking system.


(d) The fourth area of focus was Neighborhood, which implies, who knows you and who do you know? In Google analysis this translates into are the links to and fro from your website with related links or links for the sake of linking? The more the relevancy of the links of your website, the better would be the rankings of your website.


(e) Google Brandy update laid less emphasis on tags such as bold, italic, underline, etc. This was done to discourage indexing of pages by the use of techniques considered manipulative by Google.

 

Reasons

Ramifications

Reactions

Our Response

Reasons
Google search engine aims to enhance search engine results on a continuous basis. The Brandy Update was introduced to improve new signals of quality and improve the method by which pages were being ranked by Google. Another factor behind the rollout of this update was to disallow SEO methods used by Search Engine Optimisation and Internet Marketing industry to manipulate indexing of their websites and web pages on Google. This was another step forward to stop spamming and unethical standards used to achieve highest rankings on SERPs.

Ramifications
Since ranking is the most important aspect for every website, the five areas that were the focus of the Brandy update affected just that. This update once again emphasized the ever changing formulas and algorithms used by Google to cache, index and rank web pages. The entire workings of the SEO industry changed as relevancy and quality began to be given more prominence than just tag optimizations and creation of links that had no relation to the content of a website.

Reactions
Google Brandy update did not have such a drastic effect as the Florida and Austin update. For this reason alone, the changes in the rankings of websites were minor. Webmasters and search engine optimizers began focusing on the content and link architecture of their sites. Link development strategies became a major part for every SEO. With the advent of this update, a great emphasis began to be laid on keywords and key phrases that were semantics or related to major search keyword for websites.

Our Response
SEO Guru has always followed ethical practices to improve rankings of clients’ websites. Even with this change we were able to handle the changes to help our clients maintain their rankings on SERPs at similar levels. We were able to continue providing good optmisiation to all our clients in tune with the changes put forward by the Google Brandy Update. We did and continue to emphasize the good quality of content and links to rank websites.

Quick Query
Name:
E-mail:
Phone:
Query: