Story Based Question
Imagine you’ve built a blog dedicated to affiliate marketing, focusing on making money by promoting various products. Over time, your site has gained a lot of traffic from Google and your affiliate links have been a major revenue stream. However, after the Google Fred update, you notice a significant drop in organic traffic. You’re confused and wonder: “What exactly is the Google Fred update, and why is my site being affected?”
Exact Answer
The Google Fred update, released in 2017, was designed to target websites that focused heavily on low-quality content, excessive ads, and aggressive monetization tactics. Sites with little value for users and that prioritize making money over delivering quality content were most affected.
Explanation
The Google Fred update was somewhat of a mystery at first, as Google didn’t officially confirm the update or give much detail about it. However, over time, SEO experts and webmasters noticed a pattern. The Fred update seemed to target websites that violated Google’s quality guidelines by focusing too much on monetization at the expense of the user experience. Here’s how it impacted websites:
- Low-Quality Content
Sites with content that provided little value to users were hit hard by Fred. This included content that was thin, not useful, or mostly filled with affiliate links and ads. The goal of Fred was to reduce the rankings of sites that prioritized making money rather than delivering genuinely helpful, high-quality content to users. - Overuse of Ads
Websites that bombarded visitors with excessive ads—especially those that took up too much screen space or were hard to close—were particularly affected. Google’s focus with Fred was to penalize sites that disrupted the user experience for the sake of ad revenue. Pages that had too many ads above the fold, where users couldn’t easily navigate the site, were flagged. - Aggressive Monetization
Sites that relied heavily on monetization schemes like affiliate links, ad-heavy content, or clickbait were also penalized. If the primary goal of the site seemed to be making money rather than helping users or providing valuable information, Fred targeted them. - Sites Focused on Quick SEO Tactics
Websites that used quick SEO tricks, like keyword stuffing or creating content purely for ranking without adding any real value, also suffered. The Fred update aimed to reward websites that were more focused on long-term content quality and user engagement rather than cheap tactics to boost rankings.
Example
Let’s imagine you run a blog that focuses on reviewing tech gadgets and earning affiliate commissions. Over time, you noticed a steady rise in traffic and income from your affiliate links. However, you made the mistake of cramming your blog posts with ads, affiliate links, and clickbait headlines to boost your revenue.
Then, the Google Fred update rolls out, and suddenly, your traffic plummets. You check your blog posts and realize that most of your content is thin and doesn’t provide real value beyond a list of affiliate products. The ads on your pages are overwhelming, and your content is mostly designed to get users to click on affiliate links rather than help them choose the best tech gadget for their needs.
After Fred, your site’s rankings drop because Google now sees it as a site focused more on monetization than delivering meaningful content to users. To recover, you start revising your blog posts, improving content quality, removing excessive ads, and making sure your reviews are comprehensive, honest, and helpful to your readers. Over time, you regain lost traffic as your content becomes more aligned with Google’s focus on user experience and value.
The Google Fred update targeted websites with low-quality content, excessive ads, and aggressive monetization tactics. If your site focuses too much on making money and not enough on providing value to users, it may be penalized. To recover, focus on creating high-quality, user-centric content and improving the overall user experience.