Google has already launched a new ranking update that will punish spam queries while another update that targets bad mobile websites is in the pipeline. If your website features adversely in either of the two updates, you can be sure of being punished with lower search rankings in the near future.
According to Google Engineer Matt Cutts, the update targeting spam queries has already been initiated while the new mobile website ranking update will be launched in the near future. The spam query ranking update will affect queries that include “payday loans” typed on google.co.uk as well as queries related to pornography, and will impact English queries to the range of 0.3 to 0.5 percent.
The ranking update is actually work in progress as per Matt Cutts and is a multi-faceted rollout that will take place in the coming 1 to 2 months. Google has also warned bad mobile sites that try to re-direct users to unrelated pages of serious action in the near future. Such faulty redirects that are intentionally misconfigured for mobile users by displaying smartphone-specific errors while allowing desktop users to view content will also be punished according to Google.
Google has advised mobile website webmasters and owners to test out their sites on all possible mobile devices using different operating systems as well as emulators to avoid being penalized. If you are one such mobile web owner or webmaster then in addition, you also need to pay heed to site speed since Google has included this aspect in its search ranking algorithm since a long time.
You need to re-analyze your optimization techniques as well as steer away from spam queries and faulty redirects since Google will definitely punish your rankings in a harsh manner with its new ranking updates.