This former Google quality analyst explains the difference between Google's algorithms, manual actions, quality and penalties.

Unlike with manual penalties, Google does not disclose when a website is affected by algorithms, or how. That is not to say that the impact of an algorithm cannot be influenced desirably.

In the Google Hangout this past Friday on Google+ with John Mueller, John discussed how manual actions and algorithmic penalties are different. In short, if your site was hit by a manual action ...

I can say, Google has not told us about any update but there has been a heck of a lot of penalties, manual actions and widespread targets on the manual side that happened over the past couple weeks.

The breadth and scope of the manual actions reported by the search marketing community validate Google’s announcement that the update contains a major change to their ranking systems and algorithms.

This overlap between regimens does not count as a step, unless the transitional period proceeded beyond what is considered reasonable in the algorithm manual.

Dominic Trigg is Managing Director Europe at Rocket Fuel. Here Trigg discusses the evolution of real-time bidding and why it is slowly changing the fundamentals of the media buying world. The online ...