Stop Chasing Algorithm Updates

Every few months, the SEO world erupts in panic. Google announces an update—or worse, doesn't announce one but rankings shift—and suddenly everyone's scrambling to figure out what changed and how to adapt.

I've watched this cycle repeat for 25 years. And here's what I've learned: the businesses that chase algorithm updates lose. The businesses that ignore them win.

Let me explain.

The Update Cycle

Here's how it typically goes:

1. Google releases an update (or rankings fluctuate)
2. SEO blogs publish breathless analysis within hours
3. Theories proliferate about "what Google is targeting"
4. Businesses scramble to make changes based on incomplete information
5. Some rankings recover, others don't
6. The SEO industry declares victory for whatever theory they preferred
7. Repeat in 3-6 months

This cycle serves the SEO industry—there's always something new to sell, always urgency to create. It rarely serves the businesses caught up in it.

Why Chasing Updates Fails

1. You're Always Behind

By the time you identify what an update targeted and implement changes, Google has likely refined its approach or released another update. You're playing catch-up against a moving target.

2. The Analysis is Usually Wrong

Most post-update analysis is correlation mistaken for causation. "Sites with X dropped, therefore Google is penalizing X" is almost always an oversimplification of incredibly complex systems.

3. Reactive Changes Often Backfire

Making dramatic changes based on incomplete understanding frequently makes things worse. I've seen businesses destroy rankings by "fixing" things that weren't broken.

4. It's Exhausting and Expensive

The constant cycle of analysis, change, monitoring, repeat consumes resources that could be spent on things that actually grow the business.

What Google Actually Wants

Here's the thing: Google tells us what they want. Repeatedly. In every update announcement, in their quality guidelines, in their public statements. They want:

• Content that serves users well
• Accurate, trustworthy information
• Good user experience
• Real expertise and authority

Every major update in the last decade has been a refinement of Google's ability to identify and reward these qualities. The direction has never changed—only Google's sophistication in measuring it.

The Evergreen Alternative

Instead of chasing updates, focus on qualities that have always mattered and will always matter:

Be Genuinely Useful

Create content and experiences that would be valuable even if Google didn't exist. Solve real problems for real people.

Build Real Reputation

Earn reviews, mentions, and links by being good at what you do—not by manipulating signals.

Maintain Accuracy

Keep your information current, consistent, and correct. This will never stop mattering.

Improve Continuously

Get better at serving customers over time. This compounds in ways that algorithm gaming never can.

What About Penalties?

Sometimes rankings drop dramatically and it feels like a penalty. In my experience, there are two possibilities:

1. You were doing something you shouldn't have been. If so, you probably knew it. Stop doing it. The fix is straightforward even if painful.
2. Competitors improved or the landscape shifted. This isn't a penalty—it's competition. The answer is to get better, not to chase the algorithm.

Genuine algorithmic penalties for white-hat practices are extremely rare. If you're not doing anything manipulative, update anxiety is almost always misplaced.

The 25-Year View

Here's a partial list of major updates I've lived through:

• Florida (2003) - killed keyword stuffing
• Panda (2011) - targeted thin content
• Penguin (2012) - targeted link spam
• Pigeon (2014) - improved local results
• Mobilegeddon (2015) - prioritized mobile
• Possum (2016) - refined local filtering
• BERT (2019) - better language understanding
• Core updates (ongoing) - continuous quality improvements

Every single one of these rewarded the same things: quality, relevance, user value. The businesses that focused on those fundamentals sailed through every update. The businesses that gamed the previous system scrambled to adapt.

The Bottom Line

Algorithm updates are Google getting better at identifying quality. If you focus on being genuinely high-quality, updates help you. If you focus on gaming the algorithm, updates hurt you.

The choice is simple: spend your energy chasing a target that's always moving, or spend it building something genuinely good that any algorithm would want to reward.

In 25 years, I've never seen the first approach work long-term. I've never seen the second approach fail.