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Google’s Explosive March Updates: What I Think

Bruce Clay — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 17:37:33 +0000

On March 5, Google launched its first core algorithm update of 2024, in addition to unveiling updated spam policies and a spam update. Plus, its helpful content system was integrated into its core algorithm update system.

Google told Search Engine Land it would reduce unhelpful content in the search results by up to 40%.

In addition to sites that were negatively impacted by the core update, Google unleashed a slew of manual actions on sites that violated its most current spam policies.

Some sites were completely de-indexed. Many of these sites were likely driven by AI content.

via GIPHY

After an initial analysis of the updates and Google’s documentation, I am going to share what’s going on with a large part of the latest updates. In this article:

The Focus Is Largely on AI Content

What Google Is Now Saying About AI Content

Surviving Google’s Algorithms

FAQ: How can businesses search rankings survive Google’s explosive March core and spam updates?

The Focus Is Largely on AI Content

Are you using AI content for your website? Now is a good time to evaluate your methods (if Google hasn’t already done that for you in its latest core update.)

If you sailed through this last update, does that mean you are immune? Probably not. Google’s algorithms continue to evolve, and Google’s main goal is to take out the trash.

With the rise in popularity of AI content in recent times, Google knew it had a looming problem on its hands.

I discussed at Search Engine Land a while back that AI content could create a world where the quality of an answer in the search results would be average at best — only as good as the AI would allow.

If you consider that many AI content tools are connected to the web, the AI is reading its own generated content to come up with ideas for more generated content.

Google has faced quality problems like this before. Over the years, Google has combated many different tactics that degrade its search results.

This is just another example of something that has become “spam” – AI content. But there are still ways to do it right.

What Google Is Now Saying About AI Content

So what did Google have to say about AI content in its recent announcements?

Here, Google talks about how it is addressing the “abusive behavior” of using AI content:

To better address these techniques, we’re strengthening our policy to focus on this abusive behavior — producing content at scale to boost search ranking — whether automation, humans or a combination are involved.

There’s a lot to unpack in that one statement. Let’s break it down.

Producing Content to Rank: Is It Spam?

Google says it is targeting content at a scale that’s intended to boost search rankings.

But isn’t all content created for SEO intended to rank?

Google has an opinion, but doesn’t go into too much detail:

There are some things you could do that are specifically meant to help search engines better discover and understand your content. Collectively, this is called “search engine optimization” or SEO, for short. Google’s own SEO guide covers best practices to consider. SEO can be a helpful activity when it is applied to people-first content, rather than search engine-first content.

It sounds like what Google is saying is that SEO is an afterthought.

Google seems to downplay SEO so that people follow its guidelines for creating helpful content first, then tack on SEO to make it perform better.

Sounds logical.

Except we all know that SEO isn’t just an add-on and that we first start with keyword research and trending topics to capitalize on the success of content before creating new content.

So, again, the question is: Aren’t we already producing content to boost search rankings?

Here’s what I think: Automated mass production of content with no regard for adding value is the problem.

Human-Edited AI Content: Is It Spam?

Google says it’s targeting websites with content that is totally automated, written by humans or a combination.

So AI content can be bad even when there is a human touch to it. That means if you are using AI tools, tread carefully.

AI tools are not inherently bad but abusing them is.

Here, Google talks more about the idea of “scaled content abuse”:

Examples of scaled content abuse include, but are not limited to:

Using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users

Scraping feeds, search results, or other content to generate many pages (including through automated transformations like synonymizing, translating, or other obfuscation techniques), where little value is provided to users

Stitching or combining content from different web pages without adding value

Creating multiple sites with the intent of hiding the scaled nature of the content

Creating many pages where the content makes little or no sense to a reader but contains search keywords

The first bullet is key: You can use AI tools all you want, and you can edit AI-generated content all you want, but if you’re not adding something unique – an expert perspective, personal experience, etc., then your content could be a fair target for Google enforcing its spam policies.

The third bullet elaborates: Don’t use AI tools that merely stitch together the information in the search results into a new article without adding some extra value.

It is fine to take keywords, make a list, make a unique outline, and from there devise your own content … just do not plagiarize or create generic content.

Even before the use of AI, content creators would look at the top-ranked pages as research for what they write.

However, even that has potentially caused an existential crisis for Google. Others have written about the downward spiral of the quality of the search results, and Google has been ramping up efforts to surface better content.

In a nutshell, you need to have something original, regardless of how you create the content.

The main point here is to differentiate your content. What is happening with AI content is generic content that doesn’t add anything new to the conversation.

So, What Is Content Spam Now?

Google’s job is to weed out the garbage no matter how the content is created. So it will lean heavily on its algorithms to identify what is quality content.

Google has taken many approaches to this in the past, and it will continue to evolve. In its latest iteration, Google has clarified what spam content is, and had this to say recently about AI content and new spam policies:

Our long-standing spam policy has been that use of automation, including generative AI, is spam if the primary purpose is manipulating ranking in Search results. The updated policy is in the same spirit of our previous policy and based on the same principle. It’s been expanded to account for more sophisticated scaled content creation methods where it isn’t always clear whether low quality content was created purely through automation. [Emphasis added.]

What methods might Google use to further determine quality?

Many things. Perhaps high bounce rates, poor sentiment in reviews, low site trust, a high degree of similarity to other documents, no inbound mentions and lack of website maintenance.

Google also had this to say:

This will allow us to take action on more types of content with little to no value created at scale, like pages that pretend to have answers to popular searches but fail to deliver helpful content.

SEL spoke to Google, and a Google rep clarified:

What are examples of pages that pretend to have answers but fail to deliver? Tucker [a Google rep] explained that those are the pages that start off by stating it will answer your question, lead you on with low-quality content, and never end up giving you the answer to your questions:

“Our long-standing spam policy has been that use of automation, including generative AI, is spam if the primary purpose is manipulating ranking in Search results. The updated policy is in the same spirit of our previous policy and based on the same principle. It’s been expanded to account for more sophisticated scaled content creation methods where it isn’t always clear whether low quality content was created purely through automation.”

“Our new policy is meant to help people focus more clearly on the idea that producing content at scale is abusive if done for the purpose of manipulating search rankings and that this applies whether automation or humans are involved.”

Surviving Google’s Algorithms

We are in the midst of another shift in SEO, where we continue to define quality.

There is no room for flying low under the AI radar or it’s a certain crash. It’s vitally important that organizations remain white-hat current on changes related to SEO requirements to remain visible and relevant within search results.

Assess and Pivot

For the near future, protection is job No. 1. Navigating changes in search algorithms requires businesses to periodically reevaluate their SEO tactics.

We recommend comprehensive SEO audits to surface any current or potential threats.

Adjusting to algorithm updates, adapting to rules as they change, and abandoning manipulative tactics even if they once worked are all key parts of maintaining high rankings in search engines.

Adopt Best Practices

Adopting best practices is indispensable to top rankings. Just because it is an SEO practice in your industry, doesn’t mean it is good.

Yes, that’s a bit obvious but if everyone did it then there would not be chaos over these updates.

The zone of acceptance is like a water balloon – shifting shape as the rules change. Adhering to core principles can make you almost immune to algorithm updates.

Create Quality Content

Quality content remains key in building a lasting online presence.

By producing user-centric content that offers something unique and of value, you can build trust, authority and credibility within your niche, not only helping with algorithm changes but also strengthening your overall online presence.

Spend time thinking about and creating helpful, people-first content.

Relevant topics are key for maintaining audience engagement and producing high-quality content that resonates with audiences.

By understanding your target audience’s needs and conducting extensive research using SEO tools, you can quickly locate trending or pertinent subjects that resonate with them.

But just be sure you are adding something unique to the conversation, and it’s not a “copy/paste/reword” approach.

See my AI content beginner’s guide if you want to continue leveraging AI’s benefits in your content creation.

Track Progress

Taking a set-it-and-forget-it approach to publishing content will harm you in the end.

As Google releases core updates, you need to understand how your site is faring after the dust settles.

You must use analytics tools to see what is working. Monitor progress, identify issues and pivot as needed.

Have you been impacted by Google’s March updates? Our SEO experts can help you get your SEO program back on track. Reach out to us today.

FAQ: How can businesses search rankings survive Google’s explosive March core and spam updates?

Google’s constant algorithm updates can wreak havoc on a business’s search rankings. But there are strategic tactics you can implement to ensure your website survives the explosive March core and spam updates (and any future update). Let’s go over them:

Understand Google’s updates: Familiarize yourself with the specific changes introduced in the March core and spam updates. Stay updated on the latest algorithm adjustments to align your SEO strategy accordingly.

Enhance website content: Craft high-quality, engaging content that caters to your target audience’s needs. Provide valuable information, incorporate relevant keywords (including variants and stemmed versions) and consider search intent to rank higher.

Focus on site speed: Google prioritizes fast-loading pages, as user experience is paramount. Optimize your website speed by compressing images, minifying code and leveraging caching techniques.

Improve mobile experience: With mobile devices dominating search, ensure your website is mobile-friendly and responsive. Design intuitive navigation, optimize images and make sure your content is easily readable on smaller screens.

Build authoritative backlinks: High-quality backlinks from reputable websites signal trustworthiness to Google. Implement a robust link-building strategy, focusing on acquiring links from relevant and influential sources.

Optimize on-page elements: Pay attention to on-page elements like meta tags, title tags, headers and URLs. Include primary and related keywords naturally, providing search engines with clear signals about your content.

Leverage social media: Engage with your audience on relevant social media platforms. Sharing and promoting your content can increase visibility, reach and potentially attract natural backlinks.

Monitor and analyze performance: Utilize web analytics tools to track your website’s performance and make data-driven decisions. Regularly monitor keyword rankings, organic traffic and user behavior to identify areas for improvement.

Businesses need to be proactive and adaptable to survive Google updates. Implementing these tips will help safeguard your search rankings and maintain visibility.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

Stay up-to-date with Google’s algorithm updates, including the March core and spam updates.
Analyze your website’s content and improve its quality, relevance and optimization for targeted keywords.
Conduct keyword research to identify primary and related keywords to incorporate throughout your website.
Evaluate your website’s speed and optimize it by compressing images, reducing server response time and leveraging caching techniques.
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and responsive, providing a seamless experience across all devices.
Implement a comprehensive link-building strategy to acquire high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites.
Optimize on-page elements such as meta tags, title tags, headers and URLs, incorporating target keywords effectively.
Engage with your audience on social media platforms, sharing and promoting your content to increase visibility and attract natural backlinks.
Monitor your website’s performance using web analytics tools, tracking keyword rankings, organic traffic and user behavior.
Analyze the data to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments to your SEO strategy.
Continuously monitor and stay updated on the latest trends and best practices in SEO.
Regularly audit your website for technical SEO issues, such as broken links, duplicate content, or improper redirects, and resolve them promptly.
Stay proactive in optimizing your website’s loading speed by regularly monitoring and optimizing page elements.
Constantly evaluate and adjust your content strategy to match search intent and deliver valuable information to your target audience.
Stay engaged in your industry by participating in relevant forums, guest blogging, or collaborating with influencers to increase your online presence.
Consider hiring a reputable SEO agency or consultant for professional guidance and support.

Remember, surviving Google’s updates requires continuous effort and adaptation. Follow these steps to ensure your search rankings remain strong amidst algorithm changes.

The post Google’s Explosive March Updates: What I Think appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

What Are Google’s Top Ranking Factors?

Bruce Clay — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 18:20:36 +0000

Back in 2016, a Google engineer famously said that Google’s top three ranking factors were content, links and RankBrain. However, this was later disputed by more than one Googler.

Sure, those three factors are likely a huge part of how Google determines rankings, but that’s not an exhaustive list.

It is wrong to think that the algorithm is made up only of these three factors and that each of them carries one-third weight for each query. That’s because the factors in Google’s algorithm change from query to query.

That said, I’ll spend the rest of this article shedding more light on what I believe are the top factors in how your website ranks.

Content
Technical factors
Links
RankBrain
FAQ: How can I increase the ranking of my website with Google using its top ranking factors?

Content

If I were to choose the No. 1 spot among the top ranking factors, it would be content. Content is the fabric of the web. Without content, Google’s search results simply wouldn’t exist.

Now, any website can have content, but quality content is how you rank. That’s because the content you create is important to the efficacy of Google’s search results.

Google wants its users to have a good experience. To do that, the websites featured in its search results must offer good answers to their users’ queries.

To ensure that Google is featuring the best content in its search results, it has created things like:

Its “Search Essentials,” which teaches website publishers the rules of the game.
Its search algorithm, which is constantly being updated to find the best websites for page one of the search results.
Its “Search Quality Rater Guidelines,” which is a manual for assessing the quality of websites.

For more, see:

Technical Factors

If your site is not crawlable and/or doesn’t perform well, it will likely not do well in the search results.

One of the most important things you can do is make sure your site is optimized from the ground up so that search engines can access, crawl and understand it with ease. And it must provide visitors with a good user experience.

Case in point: Google’s Gary Illyes once said:

“I really wish SEOs went back to the basics (i.e. MAKE THAT DAMN SITE CRAWLABLE) instead of focusing on silly updates and made-up terms by the rank trackers and that they talked more with the developers of the website once done with the first part of this sentence.”

In Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, it states that unmaintained sites are low quality:

… unmaintained/abandoned “old” websites or unmaintained and inaccurate/misleading content is a reason for a low Page Quality rating.

In 2021, Google rolled out its page experience update, outlining various technical factors that should be followed to ensure a good user experience. If you want to be rewarded with better ranking, optimize your site to address these signals.

For more, see:

Links

If content is the fabric of the web, links are the strings that tie it together. Ever since PageRank, links have been a significant way search engines determine rankings. Why? Links have always served as a “vote” from one website for another.

Even though Google says links have less impact now than they used to, they are still important.

However, not all links are created equal. Google doesn’t give every link to your site an equal vote. In fact, some links can even result in a negative impact on your website’s ability to rank.

Today, links are no longer a numbers game. Even though Backlinko research shows that the No. 1 result in Google has an average of 3.8 times more backlinks than positions No. 2 to 10, we have seen sites with fewer but higher quality links outrank sites with more.

To get links right, you want to focus on link earning rather than link building and the quality and relevance of links versus the quantity. Link earning first starts with creating excellent content and a trusted site so that it naturally earns the links it deserves.

In 2020, Google’s John Mueller said links were “definitely not the most important SEO factor.” What does that mean? Google wants people to focus on making a great site first and not worry too much about building tons of links.

For more, see:

RankBrain

RankBrain is probably one of the most misunderstood ranking factors. RankBrain is a machine learning component of Google’s algorithm. It uses multiple data points at the time of a search to help the search engine better interpret the intent of search queries and serve the most relevant search results.

With RankBrain, Google can go beyond factors like the quality of the content or the links to a webpage to help identify the very best answer to a search.

So to survive RankBrain, you have a lot of work to do to ensure that you are creating the type of content that satisfies the query / your keywords. If you don’t, you risk the chance of RankBrain deciding that your content is not relevant to a search and you can lose rankings.

For more, see:

There are countless factors that go into ranking a webpage, video, or image. And those factors change based on the search query. Understanding the top factors, though, is an important first step in knowing how search works.

Unlock your website’s potential with our expert SEO strategies tailored to Google’s dynamic ranking factors—let’s boost your visibility and climb the search results together. Talk to us.

FAQ: How can I increase the ranking of my website with Google using its top ranking factors?

Today’s digital world necessitates having an effective online presence for any business to remain viable; and Google’s top ranking factors play a pivotal role when it comes to your website’s SERP ranking. So, how can these elements help boost website performance and how can businesses utilize these factors to their benefit? In order to understand more on this subject and gain some valuable insights.

At first, it’s essential to recognize that Google uses a sophisticated algorithm to rank websites. Although this algorithm incorporates numerous factors, here are a few primary ones which you should focus on:

Content Quality: Producing high-quality, engaging and relevant content is of utmost importance for Google to recognize websites as providers of valuable information to their visitors, so invest time into producing engaging articles, blog posts, videos and other forms of media content creation such as books.
Backlinks: An authoritative backlink network can make all the difference for improving website rankings. Partner with prominent industry websites when possible and prioritize quality over quantity when it comes to backlinks.
Mobile Responsiveness: Being mobile-first makes having a mobile-responsive website essential. Google prioritizes websites which deliver seamless user experiences on all devices; to maximize this benefit for mobile visitors optimize both design and functionality to provide optimal experience across devices.
Page Loading Speed: Slow websites can lead to poor user experiences and reduce Google ranking, so make sure yours loads quickly by optimizing images, minifying code and employing caching strategies.
User Experience: Google prioritizes websites that focus on user experience. Focusing on elements like easy navigation, intuitive design and clear calls-to-action will not only increase rankings but will also foster engagement and conversions.

Moving forward to enhance your website’s ranking:

Leverage Keywords Precisely: Conduct keyword research to identify relevant search terms, then incorporate these naturally into the content, meta tags and headings on your website.
Optimize meta tags: Create attractive titles and descriptions that accurately capture your webpage content while encouraging viewers to visit it.
Take Advantage of Header Tags: Header tags can help structure and simplify your content for users as well as search engines alike, making it more readable for both audiences.
Include alt text with images: Alt text can help search engines understand your images more readily, making your website both accessible and search-engine-friendly.
Regularly update content: Stagnant websites tend not to rank well; to stay ahead, ensure yours remains fresh by regularly publishing articles, blog posts or product updates.
Leverage Social Media: Utilize social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook to increase exposure, drive visitors directly to your website, and potentially secure backlinks from outside sources.
Monitor and Assess Website Performance: Utilizing tools like Google Analytics can be useful in monitoring website performance, user activity and traffic sources — providing valuable data that reveals areas requiring improvement and potential problem areas.
Engage Your Audience: Responding to user comments, queries and feedback is vital in building relationships and maintaining your website’s visibility and reputation. Engaging and building relationships will pay dividends!
Increase Website Security: Search engines prefer secure websites; utilize SSL encryption technology and regularly upgrade software updates in order to protect it against malware attacks.
Optimize for local search: If your business has physical presence, pay special attention to local SEO factors like Google My Business listings, customer reviews and local keywords when optimizing for local search.
Generate an XML Sitemap: Generating an XML sitemap helps search engines understand and index your website more effectively.
Stay Abreast of Your Competitors: Keep tabs on what strategies, keywords and tactics your competitors employ in order to increase the ranking of their website.
Create an effective internal linking structure: Internal links enable search engines to navigate your website more effectively while also helping establish its hierarchy, dispersing authority more evenly among pages and improving user navigation.
Strive for positive user experience: Prioritize providing visitors with an engaging user experience on your website by prioritizing fast loading pages, intuitive interfaces and fast access to pertinent data.
Stay current: With search engine algorithms ever evolving, staying informed on latest trends, updates and best practices is key for maintaining and improving the ranking of your website.

Utilizing Google’s top ranking factors is the cornerstone of improving website rankings. Apply these expert strategies, deliver valuable content with exceptional user experiences and watch as your rankings soar higher and higher on search engine result pages.

The post What Are Google’s Top Ranking Factors? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

An Up-to-Date History of Google Algorithm Updates

Bruce Clay — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 18:00:42 +0000

Algorithm update: A change in the search engine’s ranking formulas that may or may not cause noticeable seismic shifts in which webpages appear at the top of search results, but which is meant to improve the quality of results overall.

An SEO Perspective on Algo Fluctuations

The only thing that’s constant in search engine optimization is change. In one year (2020), for example, Google reported running 600,000+ experiments that resulted in more than 4,500 improvements to Search. That’s a lot of volatility, folks.

Here is our running list of the notable confirmed and major unconfirmed algorithm updates of all time. Below the list, we also explain how to watch for algorithm updates and what to do if you think your site has been impacted.

Main TOC:

Algorithm updates by year
Panda updates in detail
Penguin updates in detail
How to watch for algorithm changes
What to do after an update
Why you don’t need to beat the algorithm
FAQ: What steps should I take if my site’s ranking is impacted after an update?

The following are the major updates, in our view, of all time — the ones that have shaped the face of search and SEO. These links will take you to the most important Google updates in our opinion:

Page Experience Update – June to September 2021
BERT – October 2019
June 2019 Core Update & Site Diversity Update
March 2019 Core Update
Medic – August 2018
Fred – March 2017
Possum – September 2016
RankBrain – October 2015
Mobile-Friendly Update – April 2015
Pigeon – July 2014
Hummingbird – August 2013
Penguin – April 2012
Panda – February 2011

If you want to jump to a particular year, be my guest:
2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | Pre-2009

Google Algorithm Updates by Year

2023 ALGORITHM UPDATES

November 2023 – Core Update

In a rare development, Google announced its second major core update in as many months on November 2. The rollout is still ongoing and expected to be completed within the next few weeks.

October 2023 – Core Update

Google completed the third core update of the year on October 19.

October 2023 – Spam Update

The spam update began October 4 and ended October 19. This update addressed the increase in spam being reported by users when searching in their native languages.

September 2023 – Helpful Content System Update

The helpful content system update finished rollout on September 28. Google updated its guidance on AI-generated content, shifting its attitude to be consistent with generating helpful content. Google also revised guidelines on hosting third-party content. It now recommends blocking this content from being indexed if it is unrelated to the website’s main purpose. Learn more about the helpful content system here.

August 2023 – Core Update

The second core update of 2023 began on August 22 and completed September 7. See how it compared to previous updates.

May 2023 – Topic Authority System

Google announced its topic authority system as a way to “better surface relevant, expert, and knowledgeable content” in news queries. This system is not new — Google has been using it for several years, but they are discussing it now to bring more transparency into how ranking works.

April 2023 – Reviews Update

Google updated the name of this update from “product reviews” to just “reviews.” It now evaluates reviews of services, businesses, media — any topic that is reviewable. Google revised the language in its guidance documentation to apply to reviews of all kinds. This update was completed April 25. Learn more here.

March 2023 – Core Update

Google rolled out this update on March 15. It was the first of 2023 and finished rolling out March 28. This update caused more volatility than previous ones.

February 2023 – Product Reviews Update

Google’s product reviews update promotes review content that is of higher quality than the typical standard review information found online. The goal of this update is to “provide users with content that provides insightful analysis and original research, content written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well,” according to Google. This update added several new languages including English, Spanish, German, French and Italian among others. Google completed the rollout on March 7.

2022 ALGORITHM UPDATES

December 2022 – Link Spam Update

Hot off the heels of the helpful content system update, Google launched a link spam update on December 14. Google is targeting spammy links with SpamBrain, their AI-based spam-prevention system. Learn more about this update here.

December 2022 – Helpful Content System Update

This is the first update to Google’s helpful content system since its launch in August 2022. It began rolling out December 6, adding new signals and updating it worldwide to include all languages.

October 2022 – Spam Update

On October 19, Google quietly rolled out a spam update to improve detection of search spam. The update finished on October 21. Read more about Google’s spam update here.

September 2022 – Product Reviews Update

Google completed its second product reviews update of 2022 on September 26. Like the first update in July, this update rewards review-based content that is helpful and informative to shoppers.

September 2022 – Core Update

Google began rolling out its second core update of the year on September 12. It was completed two weeks later on September 26. This update appeared to have less of an impact than previous core updates.

August 2022 – Helpful Content Update

Google announced the helpful content update on August 18. This new signal rewards content that Google believes is helpful and informative, rather than content that is purely meant to rank well in search engines. The update rolled out August 25 and was completed on September 9.

Check out our video What to know about the Helpful Content Update to get Bruce’s take on the new signal.

June 2022 – Product Reviews Update

The Product Reviews Update was announced on July 27. While it was expected to take several weeks to roll out, it only took six days, fully rolling out on August 2. This update promotes quality review content to help shoppers learn more about products before purchasing. See Google’s help document on how to write high quality product reviews.

May 2022 – Core Update

This algo update acknowledged by Google caused some noticeable ranking fluctuations, more than some other recent core updates. It rolled out starting May 25 and finished June 9, 2022.

February 2022 – Page Experience Update for Desktop

Core Web Vitals and the page experience ranking factor applied to desktop as well as mobile as of this update, which finished rolling out on March 3, 2022.

2021 ALGORITHM UPDATES

June 2021 – Page Experience Update

Rolled out between mid-June and early September 2021, this update had less impact on rankings than Google’s core updates. Yet despite the fact that the update was somewhat downplayed in the SEO community, Google’s John Mueller confirmed it was more than simply a “tie-breaker” when ranking webpages. He also stated that when webmasters downplay the update, it may also mean that they downplay the impact that the ranking factors have on users.

What it did was create a new page experience ranking factor combining at least six signals related to how a webpage performs for mobile users. (Note that though it initially applied to mobile ranking only, Google rolled out the page experience update for desktop as well in February 2022.)

Core Web Vitals are three new performance metrics introduced with this update. Websites that meet certain performance thresholds can gain some competitive advantage and also improve their site’s user experience.

While improving page experience factors is often technical back-end work, top sites continue to improve their scores. So especially if you’re in a competitive industry, I highly recommend you check your site and get started.

For more details, see our comprehensive e-book Google’s Page Experience Update: A Complete Guide and these resources:

What’s the Page Experience Update?
Core Web Vitals Overview
What is LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
What is FID (First Input Delay)
What is CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
Webinar (on demand and in depth): Three Expert Tips to Improve Core Web Vitals

June 2021 – Core Update

In June 2021, Google released a core update and announced another one would be coming the following month in July.

Google told Search Engine Land that the reason the rollout was broken into two phases was that not all of the planned improvements for the June 2021 update were ready. So Google decided to release the parts that were ready and push out the rest the following month.

Many in the industry felt that this was a big update, according to a roundup of data published at Search Engine Land. Subsequently, many felt like the link spam update in July–August 2021 did not have as big of an impact, which is why we aren’t listing it separately here.

Was the June core update related to “your money or your life” webpages? Some thought so.

Google released a blog post that coincided with the June core update, stating that: “core updates are designed to increase the overall relevancy of our search results. In terms of traffic, we send, it’s largely a net exchange. Some content might do less well, but other content gains.”

February 2021 – Passage Ranking

On February 11, Google announced it had launched passage ranking for U.S. queries in English.

Passage ranking helps Google Search better choose and rank the most relevant webpages with passages (like blocks of text) that answer very specific queries.

Whereas before, the search engine may have ranked articles that give general information on the query; now, Google can find and rank articles that answer the query the best, even if it’s only within a block of text on the webpage.

Google said this about passage ranking:

Very specific searches can be the hardest to get right, since sometimes the single sentence that answers your question might be buried deep in a web page. We’ve recently made a breakthrough in ranking and are now able to better understand the relevancy of specific passages. By understanding passages in addition to the relevancy of the overall page, we can find that needle-in-a-haystack information you’re looking for.

Google stated that when it is fully rolled out globally, it will impact 7% of search queries.

2020 ALGORITHM UPDATES

December 2020 – Core Update

In early December 2020, Google released a new broad core update. Many industry commentators stated it was a big core update — one of the largest yet — with many sites seeing extreme traffic gains and losses.

As with previous broad core updates, there was no specific ranking factor targeted; rather, broad core updates are an update to how sites are evaluated.

While many webmasters were anticipating this update as a way to recover from losses from the May 2020 update, many were also concerned about the timing of this update, as it occurred during the holiday period.

You can check out an analysis of this core update at Search Engine Land: “Google’s December 2020 core update was big, even bigger than May 2020, say data providers.”

November 2020 – Subtopics Ranking

Some websites may have experienced ranking changes on or around mid-November, and the subtopics ranking change may have been the reason.

Google did not announce this algorithm update (but did discuss it back in October). Google’s Danny Sullivan later confirmed in 2021 that the ranking change went live in November 2020.

It’s worth noting that subtopics ranking is a new feature of the algorithm, as opposed to an update of existing processes.

Google discussed subtopics ranking in October 2020, saying the following:

We’ve applied neural nets to understand subtopics around an interest, which helps deliver a greater diversity of content when you search for something broad. As an example, if you search for “home exercise equipment,” we can now understand relevant subtopics, such as budget equipment, premium picks, or small space ideas, and show a wider range of content for you on the search results page. We’ll start rolling this out by the end of this year.

In other words, the subtopics ranking feature is designed to help Google understand how subtopics relate to a query.

As another example, if someone were to search for “SEO,” Google can now understand relevant subtopics such as agencies, conferences, tools, and Google algorithm updates. With this information, it can then show wider-ranging content in the search engine results pages.

For more, see the Search Engine Land article: “Google launched subtopics ranking in mid-November.”

May 2020 Core Update

Google announced a broad core update via Twitter. This update took approximately two weeks to fully roll out.

Many felt that the May update was significant, even for a core update, with many sites seeing significant losses or gains in traffic. Many algorithm-tracking tools registered extreme volatility.

A core update, according to Google, is a broad algorithm update that does not target specific types of queries or pages. Instead, the update is about improving how the search engine assesses content overall to make results more relevant. We are told to compare a core update to refreshing a list of top 100 movies that you made a few years back. Naturally, new items would appear in your list today, and other titles on your list would shift up or down.

Consequently, Google says that “pages that drop after a core update don’t have anything wrong to fix.” And some pages that were “previously under-rewarded” will rank higher.

Moz gives an analysis of the winners and losers of this core update here.

January 2020 – Featured Snippets Update

Google confirmed that results shown in featured snippets would no longer be repeated on the first page of search results. Previously, a featured snippet could be found in “Position 0” as well as one of the top organic listings on the page.

2019 ALGORITHM UPDATES

October 2019 – BERT

Google announced BERT — its deep learning algorithm also known internally at Google as DeepRank — on October 25, 2019. BERT impacts conversational search queries by helping Google to better understand context, including how words like “for” and “to” change the meaning of a search. Google later confirmed there was nothing specific to optimize for, and that BERT affects nearly every search performed.

September 2019 Core Update

Google announced this broad core algorithm update ahead of time. The industry weighed in after it rolled out, and many hypothesized it targeted link spam.

June 2019 Core Update & Site Diversity Update

Google pre-announced this update, which seemed to focus on correcting the way the algorithm evaluated links. It put more weight on the domain authority and trustworthiness of a site’s incoming links.

In my opinion, the “trustworthiness” component of the E-A-T factors rose in importance. And it overflowed SEO to include a fix for detecting sentiment. Note that this firmly places the issue with a ranking loss on marketing in general … No wonder Google has said that there is nothing sites can do specifically to “fix” their rankings after a core update runs. Mess with user sentiment, link sentiment, and quality, and prepare to die.

The search engine simultaneously released a separate site diversity update. The stated goal was to make search results more diverse. For most queries, users no longer see a domain appear more than twice in the top-ranked results, making it harder for a site to “saturate” a topic organically.

Hazards: Sites with too low a percentage of backlinks from trusted websites may have dropped. Those that used to have many pages ranking for a single query also lost some SERP real estate.

Winners: Pages may have risen that were previously under-rewarded. (Aren’t we all?)

March 2019 Core Update

Google confirmed this update, which seemed to fine-tune broad core algorithm changes of the past. Data showed the majority of the websites that were impacted were also impacted by the March 2018 core update and the August 2018 “Medic” update. To prevent naming confusion, Google tweeted the update’s name the same day it was released.

However, the losers weren’t impacted as much as the winners. Research found that sites whose search traffic increased experienced higher rankings site-wide, with no increase in the number of keywords ranked.

On the flip side, the update hurt many sites that provide a poor user experience (due to excessive pop-ups, poor navigation, over-optimization, and so forth).

And, of course, trust was a significant signal. Sites dealing with YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics took ranking hits if they were participating in untrusted activities.

Hazards: Google’s March 2019 Core Update behaved like an evolution of previous algorithms, negatively affecting sites that were over-optimized.

Winners: Reputable sites ranking for queries related to particularly sensitive topics, like those about health questions, benefited. According to SearchMetrics, “websites with a strong brand profile and a broad topical focus” also advanced. See, trust matters.

2018 ALGORITHM UPDATES

September 2018 – Small Update

Google confirmed there was a small update made, and reiterated that it wasn’t anything major.

August 2018 Core Update – Medic

Google announced the release of this broad core algorithm update, coined by the industry as “Medic.” Google’s advice? Be more relevant for searches — and not just page by page, but as a whole site. More advice stated that small tweaks to content may not suffice and that holistic changes to the site may be required.

I believe the Medic update was a significant step focused on trust (part of Google’s “E-A-T” quality factors). In my opinion, trusted sites that were interlinked with untrusted sites were penalized.

Learn more:

SEO siloing for website and content relevance through linking
Complete Guide to E-A-T Fundamentals
English Google Webmaster Central Office-Hours Hangout (starting at 10:10)
English/తెలుగు Webmaster Central Office-Hours Hangout (starting at 32:02)

July 2018 – Speed Update

Fast performance creates a better user experience for searchers clicking on results. After alerting website owners months in advance, Google announced its Speed Update on July 9, 2018. Previously, page load speed factored into only desktop search results. Since this update, slow performance on mobile devices can hurt a site’s optimization.

April 2018 – Broad Core Update

Google confirmed this broad core update. As is the case with all broad core updates, Google indicates that there’s nothing specific to do. However, as indicated in a later confirmation of the March core update (below), it may have been around relevance.

March 2018 – Broad Core Update

Google confirmed this broad core update and reminded webmasters to continue building great content. Later, Google explained that most of its updates are around relevance, not how good or bad a site is.

2017 ALGORITHM UPDATES

December 2017 – Several Updates

Google reacted to the SEO community that dubbed fluctuations in December as “Maccabees.” The search engine said it wasn’t a single update but several minor improvements and that there weren’t any major changes as a result.

March 2017 – Fred

Google confirmed a string of updates with the caveat that they make three updates per day on average. When asked if the updates had a name, Google jokingly said all updates would be called Fred, and the name stuck. These updates seemed to be related to quality, and some impacted were sites using aggressive monetization tactics that provided a bad user experience, and that had poor-quality links. Fred was wide-reaching and focused on quality across a variety of factors, not just a single process.

One specific target was sites using aggressive monetization tactics that provided a bad user experience. Poor-quality links were also targeted by Fred. Link to an untrusted site, and it lowers your trust … and rankings.

Hazards: Sites with thin, affiliate-heavy, or ad-centered content were targeted.

Winners: Many websites featuring quality, high-value content with minimal ads benefited.

January 2017 – Interstitial Updates

Google preannounced that it would make updates in January 2017 that would impact sites with pop-ups on their pages that created a poor user experience. It confirmed this algorithm updates on January 10, 2017.

2016 ALGORITHM UPDATES

September 2016 – Penguin Integrated into Core Algorithm

Google confirmed that its webspam algorithm dubbed “Penguin” was rolled into the core algorithm. That meant that instead of manual refreshes, it would now work in real-time. Penguin would now devalue spam links instead of demoting whole sites. It also became more granular in how it worked.

Rather than demoting a site for having bad inbound links, the new Penguin tried to just do away with link spam.

Now, if a site has inbound links from known spam sites, Google just devalues (ignores) the links.

However, if a site’s backlink profile is too bad, Google may still apply a manual action for unnatural links to your website. Also, John Mueller said earlier this year that a software-induced penalty can still occur if a site has “a bunch of really bad links” (h/t Marie Haynes).

Friendlier Penguin has not proven to be 100% effective. As a result, many businesses still need help cleaning up their link profile to restore lost rankings. Google has said that you should not need to disavow files, yet also welcomes them. To me, that is a very clear signal that we should not rely on the algorithm alone when it comes to backlinks.

Hazards: Sites that had purchased links were targets, as well as those with spammy or irrelevant links, or incoming links with over-optimized anchor text.

Winners: Sites with mostly natural inbound links from relevant webpages got to rise in the SERPs.

See the detailed history of Penguin in the Penguin Algorithm Updates section.

September 1, 2016 – Possum

Possum is an unconfirmed yet widely documented Google algorithm update. This update targeted the local pack. Unlike confirmed updates, the details of the Possum update are a bit less clear. SEOs believe it sought to bring more variety into local SERPs and help increase the visibility of local companies.

With this update, Google seemed to change how it filtered duplicate listings. Before Possum, Google omitted results as duplicates if they shared the same phone number or website. With Possum, Google filtered listings that shared the same address. This created intense competition between neighboring or location-sharing businesses.

Hazards: Businesses with intense competition in their target location could be pushed out of the local results.

Winners: Businesses outside physical city limits had a chance to appear in local listings.

May 2016 – Mobile Update

Google announced ahead of time that it would increase the mobile-friendliness ranking signal in May. Google confirmed the rollout was completed on May 12.

Learn more: Mobile Friendly SEO Ranking Boost Gets Boosted in May

January 2016 – Panda Integrated into Core Algorithm

Google revealed that the Panda algorithm targeting quality was a part of the core algorithm. It was not clear when this happened exactly. Google also confirmed that even though it was part of the core algorithm, it did not operate in real-time.

This significant update is detailed below in the Panda Updates section.

Learn more: Google Explains What It Means To Be Part Of The “Core” Algorithm

2015 ALGORITHM UPDATES

October 2015 – RankBrain

Google revealed to Bloomberg that RankBrain — Google’s artificial intelligence system — was one of its top three ranking signals. Reportedly, 15 percent of queries per day have never been seen by Google before. Initially, RankBrain helped interpret those queries, but it may now be involved in every query. It’s also possible with RankBrain that searchers’ engagement with the search results is a factor in how it determines the relevancy of a result.

According to Google’s Gary Illyes on Reddit,

RankBrain is a PR-sexy machine learning ranking component that uses historical search data to predict what would a user most likely click on for a previously unseen query. It is a really cool piece of engineering that saved our butts countless times whenever traditional algos were like, e.g. “oh look a “not” in the query string! let’s ignore the hell out of it!”, but it’s generally just relying on (sometimes) months old data about what happened on the results page itself, not on the landing page. Dwell time, CTR, … those are generally made up crap. Search is much more simple than people think.

OK, if it changes the target, then it is always right. If you change the results to match a user-intent profile, then in the future, all clicks would match that profile since that is all there is. Are all searches for a particular keyword always informational? RankBrain may think so and push out ecommerce sites from the results. Fortunately, it is often correct.

Hazards: No specific losers, although sites won’t be found relevant that have shallow content, poor UX, or unfocused subject matter.

Winners: Sites creating niche content and focusing on keyword intent have a better chance of ranking.

Learn more:

July 2015 – Panda Update 4.2

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

May 2015 – Quality Update to Core Algorithm

Google confirmed a change to its algorithm (although not right away) on how it processed quality signals. Google stated that the update wasn’t intended to target any particular sites or class of sites, but was an update to the overall ranking algorithm itself.

April 2015 – Mobile-Friendly Update (“Mobilegeddon”)

Google announced ahead of time in February and then confirmed in April its mobile-friendly update was rolling out that would boost the rankings of mobile-friendly pages. This update laid the foundation for Google’s mobile-first search mechanism.
The update underlined mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal and laid the foundation for the way Google’s mobile-first search mechanism works today. It was fun watching ecommerce sites try to fit 700 navigation links into a mobile menu. (Side note: There are better ways to handle mobile navigation.)

Hazards: Sites without a mobile-friendly version of the page, or with poor mobile usability, suffered.

Winners: Responsive sites and pages with an existing mobile-friendly version benefited.

2014 ALGORITHM UPDATES

October 2014 – Penguin Update 3.0

For more information on this update, please see the Penguin section below.

September 2014 – Panda Update 4.1

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

July 2014 – “Pigeon” Local Search Algorithm Update

The update dubbed Pigeon shook up the local organic results in Google Web and Map searches.

Google told Search Engine Land that it had made an update to its local ranking signals to provide better results for users. Dubbed “Pigeon,” these updates improved distance and location ranking parameters (“near me”), and incorporated more of the ranking signals used in Google’s main web search algorithms. Google said it probably wouldn’t detail any more changes to the local search algorithm in the future.

Hazards: Local businesses with poor on- and off-page SEO suffered.

Winners: Local companies with accurate NAP information and other SEO factors in place gained rankings.

Learn more: How Do I Rank Higher in Google Local Search? Bruce Clay’s Checklist for Local SEOs

June 2014 – Payday Loan Algorithm Update (3.0)

Google confirmed that the third iteration of the “Payday Loan” algorithm that targets heavily spammed queries was rolling out.

May 2014 – Payday Loan Algorithm Update (2.0)

Google confirmed the second iteration of the “Payday Loan” algorithm, impacting about 0.2% of English queries.

May 2014 – Panda Update 4.0

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

February 2014 – Page Layout Algorithm Refresh

Google announced a refresh of its page layout algorithm. Its impact was not given.

2013 ALGORITHM UPDATES

October 2013 – Penguin Update 2.1

For more information on this update, please see the Penguin Update section below.

August 2013 – Hummingbird

Hummingbird was announced in September (although it had been live since August). Hummingbird was essentially a complete overhaul of its algorithm (not an added-on update) and was the beginning of semantic search as we know it today.

Google needed a way to better understand the user intent behind a search query. Search terms that were similar but different, for example, often generated less-than-desirable results. Take the word “hammer” as an example. Is the searcher looking for the musician, the museum, or a tool to pound nails with?

Google’s Knowledge Graph was a first step. Released the year before Hummingbird, the Knowledge Graph mapped the relationships between different pieces of information about “entities.” It helped the search engine connect the dots and improve the logic of search results.

Hummingbird used semantic search to provide better results that matched the searcher’s intent. It helped Google understand conversational language, such as long-tail queries formed as questions. It impacted an estimated 90% of searches and introduced things like conversational language queries, voice search, and more.

Hazards: Pages with keyword stuffing or low-quality content couldn’t fool Google anymore.

Winners: Pages with natural-sounding, conversational writing and Q&A-style content benefited.

Learn more: Google Hummingbird & The Keyword: What You Need To Know

July 2013 – Panda Update – Recovery

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

June 2013 – Payday Loan Algorithm Update

Google announced a new algorithm to address the quality of results for heavily spammed queries such as “payday loans,” “viagra” and pornography-related keywords. Sites impacted tended to be those involved in link schemes, webspam, and often illegal activities.

Learn more: What You Need to Know About the Google Payday Loan Algorithm Update

May 2013 – Penguin Update 2.0

For more information on this update, please see the Penguin section below.

March 2013 – Panda Update #25

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

January 2013 – Panda Update #24

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

2012 ALGORITHM UPDATES

December 2012 – Panda Update #23

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

November 21, 2012 – Panda Update #22

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

November 5, 2012 – Panda Update #21

For more information on this update, please see the Panda section below.

October 2012 – Penguin Update 1.2

For more information on this update, please see the Penguin section below.

October 2012 – Page Layout Algorithm Update #2

Google announced an update to its page layout algorithm update and confirmed it impacted about 0.7% of English queries.