October 2013 Google Webmaster Report

I am a bit late on the monthly Google Webmaster Report recap that I provide every month - but I am going to blame a very busy early of the month.

We had the release of the Google Penguin 2.1 algorithm, we also were told Google let fly the Hummingbird search algorithm about a month ago. During that time we saw spikes and changes in the search results that Google did not confirm. Google also smashed another link network and stole virtually all our keyword data from us.

The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread is talking about most of these topics. It has been a busy month.

Here is a recap of the most important Google webmaster related topics from the past month or so. For last month's recap, see the September report.

Google Penguin 2.1:

• Google Unleashes Penguin 2.1
• Google Penguin 2.1 Was A Big Hit

Google Hummingbird:

• Hummingbird: Google Rewrites Search Algorithm
• Did Google's Hummingbird Algorithm Hurt Your Site's Rankings?

Google Misc Updates:

• Google Search Update Over The Weekend?
• Google Update Reports Again: September 12th
• Reports Of Another Google Update : September 4th

Other Big Google Changes:

• Google Crushes Ghost Rank 2.0, A Russian Link Network
• Google Now Provided 100% Of All Organic Search Queries
• Google's Matt Cutts: No PageRank Update Before 2014

Misc Google Changes:

• Reporting Delay In Google Webmaster Tools Search Queries
• Authorship Now On Google Image Search. Confused?
• Google Incentivizes Google+ Hashtag Spam

Google SEO Topics:

• Google On Original Content Related To Product Descriptions
• Google: Server Location Mostly Irrelevant For SEO
• Google Video Tutorial On Implementation Of Multipile Languages Variations
• Google's John Mueller: "We Don't Use Authorship For Ranking"
• Google: Higher Quality Content Not Necessarily More Useful Content
• Google On Original Content Related To Product Descriptions
• Study: Google+ Has No Direct Ranking Benefit, Like Google's Cutts Said
• Google: Don't Pay The Link Mobster For Link Removals, Just Disavow Them
• Google: Headscarfs Do Not Prevent Authorship Display
• Google's Cutts: Hit By Panda? Then Write Better Content!
• Google's Matt Cutts: The Nofollow Can Only Hurt You When...
• Google: The Link Disavow Tool Can Harm Your Site's Performance

Google User Interface:

• Google White Bar & App Launcher Official, As Expected...
• Google's Card Interface Now Live
• Google Now Integrated With Knowledge Graph
• Filters Added To Google Knowledge Graph
• Google's New Knowledge Graph Carousel For Musicians
• Google Adds Rugby Results To Sports Answers
• Google Offering Links To Yell, Yelp, 118.com & Other Local Search Providers

Google Birthday:

• Google Turns 15 Years Old

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld