I attended a Networking event for local businesswomen this week.
I was asked by one of the group “As a Google Agency, does Google send you a list of all the changes & Updates they make?”
The answer is No. (I wish!)
How do you stay on top of Google Updates?
Part of my weekly work is to read and look at various sources, to stay on top of what I call Google “moving the Goalposts”.
As Paul Teitelman succinctly put it:
“If you’re the type who enjoys being kept on your toes and off balance, SEO just might be the field for you! In the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization (SEO), change is often the one constant you can count on.”
In 2023, Google made several significant updates to its search algorithms, with at least nine confirmed major algorithm updates.
Algorithm updates are typically broken down into 3 categories
This includes Google’s annual Core Updates, typically rolled out in Spring and Autumn of each year, Review Updates and Spam Updates.
These updates included several core updates, product review updates, and the introduction of a new AI-powered search engine, the Search Generative Experience.
Google had a whopping four core updates in 2023, compared to only two in 2022. We had core updates in March, August, October and November.
The updates also focused on enhancing the quality of product reviews, refining the review system, and continuing efforts to reduce spam content.
The frequency and scale of these updates highlight Google’s ongoing efforts to improve search result relevance and user experience, making it crucial for website owners to stay informed and adapt to these changes.
How are Website OWNERS going to know about Google Updates?
‘Houston, we have a Problem’
Most website owners I know & work with, are flat out just running the daily demands of their business.
How the heck do they have time to read up on everything Google?
They don’t!
And what they don’t know can (& will) hurt their site rankings and marketing efforts on the Search Engines like Google.
This is where a good Marketing & SEO Agency can make or break their efforts.
To be fair, Google does post some documentation on its ‘Search Central’
But it is not exactly ‘light reading’ …..and requires a level of experience to decipher. That is where we can help.
Google just announced its August 2024 Core update and released a post on X that said
“Today we released the August 2024 core update. It continues our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.”
Great. We all like the sound of that, right?
BUT.. what does that mean you need to actually DO to make sure your website complies?
Need a Google Updates Online Marketing Expert? Book that FREE Call Now!
Update FYI
Search Engine Journal just rolled this out
” Google recently rolled out two changes that affected website rankings: the August 2024 core update and a fix for a separate ranking problem. These happened around the same time, making it tricky for SEO experts to figure out which change caused what effect on their sites’ search rankings.
John Mueller, Senior Search Analyst at Google, commented on LinkedIn to help clarify things:
“You’d really need to wait until the core update finishes rolling out to make any call about its effect. That’s not to say you should wait with working on your website, it’s just if you want to compare before vs after, waiting for it to be finished is important.
From looking at social posts from SEOs tracking these things, there are often fluctuations during the rollout, I don’t think it’s worth trying to separate out the effects from the ranking issue.”