The Jagger Update

Google Jagger Update October 2005

by Mike Briggs
of http://www.oyster-web.co.uk

Last updated: 11 Sep 2007

The Google ™ 'Jagger' Algorithm update is taking place in October/November 2005 and looks like it may have implications to many websites out there. Currently the SEO community is discussing this hot topic and rumours are spreading like wild fire within the community.

What is the Google™ Jagger Update?

The 'Jagger' Update is a three tier update of the Google algorithm. Each part of the update is independant of the last but each appears to interact with the previous change to a degree. Each part is being referred to as Jagger1, Jagger2 and Jagger3 respectively. Jagger One appeared to be causing flux in the indices on/around the 17th of October 2005. once this was finished Jagger 2 kicked into play around the same time as the over glorified Page Rank Update on about the 24th of October 2005. It appears as if the third tier of this update started on Hallowe'en. This update appears to eminate from one Google Datacenter, an information repository used to store data related to sites and return these sites for search queries, the IP of this data center appears to be 66.102.9.XXX. The update appears to take seven days to then permeate the entire Google index. This may indicate that the Google Index is a rolling index and it takes around 7 days for changes to the index to reach the outer datacenters from those at the center.

What are the implication for your Website from the Jagger Update?

No webmaster knows enough at the moments to give you a definitive assertion based upon knowledge. Everyone is making assumptions and coming to conclusions that fall between the logical and the flawed. In simple terms the Google upates have traditionally been designed to target websites that are currently 'spamming' and cheating their way to improved search engine rankings. Based upon this knowledge the best way to proceed is a 'wait and see' approach otherwise known as a 'don't panic Mr Mannering' in the Oyster Web Office. Ethical SEO is the only effective way to improve search engine positions. Ethical Search Engine Optimization does not rely on grey area optimization. To improve your positions improve the quality and quantity of the content within your site, improve the Link Popularity of the site - especially within your online market and ensure that your technology is not inhibiting the growth of your site within the Search Engine Indices.

Best Forum Post on the Jagger update!

We recently found the best conspiracy led forum post relating to Jagger today. The inference of this post was that Google™ had purposefully screwed with the index just before christmas to maximise the revenue potential available from PPC advertising as there is a rush to outbid the competition for your terms to increase the sales that you can make from a website. Ok may be slightly bad grapes but does have a ramification. If a Internet Based business relys on PPC and natural search engine positions to maintain a fluid business and part of this business collapses they will attempt to maximise their revenue from the other customer source. This is likely to result in a sudden increase in the bids placed for terms within the Google Adwords PPC system. This is likely to make Search Engine Optimization a more viable route for web based businesses to invest in rather than continuing to be caught in a bidding war indefinitely.

the table below is used an exemplar of the sort of figures that may become more important when deciding upon which SEO company to go with:

No of Keywords Optimised in the SEO Campaign / bid for in PPC	20
Average Visitors required by the Online business to maintain a profitable business every Day	60
Average cost of PPC click for the sites terms	£0.40
Total Cost per Day for Visitors	£24.00
Total Cost Per Year for Visitors in PPC	£8,760
3 Years Cost For Visitors in PPC	£26 280
12 Month Bespoke Search Engine Optimisation Campaign From Oyster Web	£6,500 - £25,000 (Price dependant upon market and achievability)

As you can see from the figures above simply by achieving 100 visitors a day for your site and based upon PPC Clickthrough rates on low priced terms Search Engine Optimization will work out far more cost effective for your online business

If you would like to discuss a complete Internet Marketing Strategy, Search Engine Optimisation or Promotion for your business simply contact us on 0871 900 8407

Related resources

Internet Consultancy - A web design service from Oyster Web to help you with your Internet strategy.

Search Engine Optimization - Search Engine Optimization are part of our Internet marketing services that help create a successful web presence.