Fred is the informal name used by the SEO community for a series of Google algorithm updates that began in March 2017. The name was coined somewhat humorously by Google's Gary Illyes, who joked that all unconfirmed updates would simply be called "Fred." Despite the tongue-in-cheek naming, the Fred updates had a real and significant impact on many websites, with some sites reporting traffic drops of 50-90% almost overnight.
What Fred Targeted
Fred targeted websites that violated Google's Webmaster Guidelines by prioritizing revenue generation over providing genuine value to users. The specific characteristics of websites hit by Fred included: extremely high ad density (pages where ads dominated the visible content), thin or low-quality content used primarily as a vehicle for displaying ads, affiliate-heavy content that existed mainly to earn commission without adding editorial value, and sites with content that appeared created for search engines rather than actual human readers. These sites typically had high bounce rates and low user engagement metrics that signaled poor user experience.
Who Was Affected
The types of sites most severely hit by Fred updates included:
- Content farms producing high volumes of thin, SEO-optimized articles with heavy ad placements
- Affiliate websites with minimal original content beyond product links
- Sites using ad networks where ads consumed more page real estate than content
- Niche websites publishing generic, unhelpful information primarily to attract search traffic
Why It Matters for SEO
Fred was an early signal of Google's increasing focus on content quality and user intent as core ranking factors. The updates demonstrated that Google was developing more sophisticated means of identifying sites that existed to exploit search traffic rather than serve users. The lessons of Fred — that content must provide genuine value and that ad-heavy, user-hostile designs are penalized — remain directly applicable to modern SEO practice and Google's current quality-focused algorithms.