Introduction: Why Understanding Google Algorithms is Critical to Avoid Penalties
The world of Google algorithms is not just a set of fixed rules; these algorithms constantly evolve alongside user behavior, content types, and SEO changes. If your website doesn’t precisely follow these standards, even a small mistake can cause
direct penalties or severe ranking drops.
In this article, we’ll examine all major algorithms from the perspective of how they penalize and provide a real, practical scenario for each to help you understand exactly which behaviors are dangerous and how to avoid them.
Panda Algorithm — Enemy of Duplicate and Low-Quality Content
The Panda algorithm directly deals with content quality. This algorithm targets shallow content, copied material, irrelevant content, and excessive advertising.
If your website publishes content that offers no real value to users, Panda can cause:
- Sudden ranking drops
- Traffic loss up to 70%
- De-indexing of certain pages
Real Penalty Scenario by Panda
A digital education website in 2023 was publishing 5 posts daily, but most of this content was superficial rewrites without credible sources.
After the August update, Google Panda detected that the content was repetitive and lacked sufficient depth. Results:
● Ranking drop from page 1 to page 4
● Removal of 180 posts from results
● 65% decrease in organic traffic
This site managed to recover some of its traffic after complete article rewrites and removal of duplicate posts.
Hummingbird Algorithm — Understanding Search Intent
Hummingbird is an algorithm designed to understand the meaning of searches, not just keywords. This algorithm doesn’t penalize directly; however, if your content can’t answer the user’s
Search Intent, Google simply removes you from results.
When Does It Cause Ranking Drops?
- When page content doesn’t align with search intent
- When it doesn’t clearly answer user questions
- When content contains keyword stuffing
Real Ranking Drop Scenario by Hummingbird
A printing services website had an article titled “Urgent Banner Printing” but the page content was about “Types of Printers.”
Hummingbird detected that the page didn’t answer “user needs” and the page was completely removed from the keyword “urgent printing.”
BERT Algorithm — Human Language Analysis
BERT focuses on understanding human sentences. This algorithm is particularly sensitive to machine-generated text, literal translations, and unclear descriptions.
If Google detects your text isn’t “natural,” without direct penalty, it simply removes your ranking.
Real Page Removal Scenario by BERT
A health website produced 30 articles that appeared “fluent,” but the sentence structure was completely machine-translated.
BERT detected the text wasn’t human-written and of the 30 articles, 24 weren’t even seen in the top 100 results.
Helpful Content Update Algorithm
This algorithm strongly targets websites that write for Google rather than users.
HCU can affect entire websites site-wide, not just individual articles.
Under What Conditions Does It Cause Penalties?
- Videos, articles, or descriptions written solely for SEO
- Content lacking real human experience
- Information gathered from other sites without exclusive analysis
Real Penalty Scenario by HCU
A tourism website had produced 120 articles, mostly copied from other sites or written with automatic rewriting.
After the Helpful Content update, traffic dropped 80% and 94 articles were removed from results.
After adding personal experience, real photos and analytical text, some rankings were recovered.
Part 1 Summary
In this section, we reviewed algorithms related to content quality. In the next part, we’ll explore algorithms related to
link building, user experience, speed, security and Google’s anti-spam system.
Penguin Algorithm — Hunter of Unnatural Links
The Penguin algorithm is responsible for detecting artificial link building, link purchases, PBNs, and unnatural anchor texts.
Since 2016, this algorithm has become real-time and even one suspicious link can affect rankings.
When Does It Cause Penalties?
- Purchasing links from unrelated sites
- Excessive repetition of identical anchor text
- Public or traceable PBNs
- Explosive link building in short periods
Real Penalty Scenario by Penguin
An auto parts sales website purchased 320 links over 45 days, all with the anchor text “buy brake pads.”
Penguin detected the unnatural pattern and penalized the site.
Results:
• Drop from rank 2 to 40
• Removal of 75% of pages from results
• Need for Disavow and link rebuilding
SpamBrain Algorithm — Google’s AI Anti-Spam
SpamBrain uses artificial intelligence to detect unnatural link building, machine-generated content, and link exchanges.
When Does It Cause Penalties?
- PBN links
- Link building in comments and profiles
- Mass-produced AI content without human editing
- Link exchanges between sites
Real Penalty Scenario by SpamBrain
A real estate website purchased 250 links and created 140 reciprocal links over 60 days.
SpamBrain detected the violation and issued a Manual Action.
RankBrain Algorithm — User Behavior Analysis
If users quickly exit your site, Google detects that content doesn’t answer search intent.
When Does It Cause Ranking Drops?
- Bounce rate above 60%
- Very low dwell time
- CTR lower than average
Real Scenario
In an educational article, due to a lengthy introduction, 60% of users exited within 10 seconds.
The main keyword ranking dropped from 3 to 18.
Core Web Vitals — Speed, UX and Page Stability
If site speed is low or page elements shift, your ranking will drop.
Reasons for Drops
- LCP higher than 2.5
- CLS higher than 0.2
- Non-responsive site
Real Scenario
An online store had high LCP due to heavy banners and excessive scripts, and after the update, 5 main keywords dropped.
Mobile-First Index — Mobile Version Evaluation
Google considers the mobile version as the main ranking criterion.
Real Scenario
A medical website with a weak mobile version dropped approximately 40% after the update, even though the desktop version was excellent.
Medic / YMYL Algorithm — Sensitive Content
Health, financial, and legal domains require sources, credibility, and expert authors.
Real Scenario
A medical website without credible sources lost 75% of traffic and several articles were de-indexed.
Powerful Checklist to Prevent Algorithm Penalties
Anti-Penguin Checklist
- Anchor text diversity
- Natural link building
- Monthly disavow
- Avoid public PBNs
Anti-Panda Checklist
- Remove thin content
- Add human experience
- No copying or superficial rewriting
Anti-HCU Checklist
- Write content from personal experience perspective
- Add real images
- Include expert opinions and analysis
Roadmap to Recovery from Google Penalties
- Identify the problem with Search Console and Ahrefs
- Clean up dangerous links
- Complete rewrite of duplicate content
- Strengthen E-E-A-T
- Improve UX and fix CWV
5 Common Mistakes by Iranian SEO Practitioners
- Purchasing bulk link packages
- Using machine rewrite tools
- Producing 20 articles in one day
- Neglecting mobile version
- Ignoring CTR