Keyterms and backlinks are a huge part of SEO, which I will explore in subsequent articles. Google changes its algorithm on average about 800 times per year. Most of those changes are small tweaks, usually designed to stop the latest black hat endeavors. Every year or 18 months (on average) there is a major, named change such as Penguin or Panda or maybe the next one will be called Cute Kittens. Those are the ones that address internet usage changes, such as more emphasis being given to sites that are mobile friendly to reflect the increase in mobile users. They are well publicized in the SEO community with instructions for being algo friendly published several months prior to the implementation of the algorithm.

IF you do your keyterms and links the right way - they will be evergreen and survive any algo change, major or minor. However, if you have followed the flavor of the week advice especially regarding backlinks, you will probably see a drop in your rankings.