Most algorithm updates, whether on Google, Yahoo!, MSN or any other search engine, are characterised by sudden, drastic and often frequent changes on the search results pages for any search query. During the Jagger update, the folks at Google were kind enough to warn us a few days into the update that we were witnessing an update! What has happened as a result of the Google Jagger update? Underneath the superficial changes in search results, the Jagger update has had a serious effect on the way companies use search engine optimisation to influence ranks. Numerous search engine optimisation experts have theorized on these effects

How does Google now value reciprocal links? There are two aspects to consider for reciprocal links. First, Google considers artificial link building with the aim of influencing rank to be a form of spam, and so if it detects unnatural linking patterns, such as links obtained from link farms or link exchanges between irrelevant sites, it will penalize both the sites for this. Second, inbound links are increasingly weighed in importance according to the relevance of the page and the site where the link originates from to the page it is linking to. So, a link from a gambling site to a site about corrective surgery will be considered almost useless. The only type of reciprocal link building that is encouraged is between related companies in an industry e.g. between theatres and ticket agents or between two ticket agents.