What are Google Algorithm Updates?
Google makes updates to the search engine algorithm, affecting how websites rank in search results. These updates are made specifically to improve the overall search experience by rewarding high-quality, relevant content with more prominent or feature rich search positions and penalizing websites that use manipulative optimisation tactics (Black Hat SEO) or provide poor user experiences.
Key notes about Google algorithm updates
Frequency - Google makes thousands of small changes to its algorithms every year, but a few major updates, known as "core updates," happen every few months. These core updates can have a significant impact on website rankings.
Focus - Updates can target various aspects of search, like:
- Content quality - Rewarding informative, helpful, and original content that meets user needs.
- User experience - Promoting websites that load quickly, are mobile-friendly, and offer a good user experience.
- Technical factors - Ensuring websites meet technical requirements like proper site structure and mobile responsiveness.
- Spam and manipulation - Identifying and penalizing websites using tactics like keyword stuffing, link buying, or cloaking.
Impact: The impact of an update can vary depending on your website and its adherence to Google's guidelines. Websites that prioritize quality content and user experience tend to be less affected by algorithm changes.
General Advice
Focus on quality. Instead of obsessing over every update, the best approach is to focus on creating high-quality content, improving your website's user experience, and following Google's guidelines. This will help your website remain competitive in the long run, regardless of algorithm changes.
Recent Updates
2024 Google Algorithm Updates
November 11th: Core Update
This ran for a couple of weeks and was reported to focus on quality of content, user experience and EEAT Experience Authority and Trust. All of which is pretty standard. I noticed a drop off in some AI generated content that was not customised or personalised as much as other pieces of content that held or gained positions.
August 15th: Core Update
Running up until the middle of September and shaking up content promoting high quality over SEO or over-optimised content.
July 31st: Explicit Fake Content Update
Mostly targeting Deepfake AI or artificially generated images or videos without consent.
June 20th: Spam Update
Will take a week or so, keep an eye on positions.
May 14th: AI Overviews
A search results feature providing answers and links to useful pages. Read more https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ai-overviews-seo/516408/
May 6th: Site Reputation Abuse
Hosting 3rd party content with no 1st party mediation - Advertorials, reviews and guest blog posts may be effected by this
March 5th: Core Update - Running over the next month
Keep an eye on your SERPs and organic traffic. A core update is basicall Google doing a quality assurance exercise. Good content shouldn't be effective but if you do get hit then improving your content is a good start.
March 5th: Spam Update - Running over the next 2 weeks
This is an update to SpamBrain which is Google AI spam crusher down ranking spammy sites and pages. If you notice a drop in traffic for certain pages have a quick check of the Google Spam Policies
It's mainly black/grey hat stuff that will get you penalised like, hidden text, cloaking, weird redirects and keyword stuffing.
There was a Core Update on the 2nd November 2023 and a Reviews update on the 8th November 2023.
Here's a breakdown of what the November 2023 Reviews Update means for webmasters:
Key Changes
- Refinement of Review Evaluation: Google is further refining how it assesses the quality, relevance, and authenticity of review content.
- Emphasis on Author Expertise and Experience: Reviews written by authors with demonstrated expertise and knowledge in the relevant field may be given more weight.
- Focus on Comprehensiveness and Detail: Reviews that provide in-depth analysis, detailed insights, and personal experiences may be favoured.
- Prioritising Originality and Unique Perspectives: Google may place more emphasis on reviews that offer fresh perspectives and unique opinions, rather than rehashing common talking points.
- Potential Impact on Rankings: Websites that feature high-quality, informative, and trustworthy reviews may see a boost in search rankings, while those with low-quality or questionable reviews may experience a decline.
Recommendations for Webmasters:
- Review Quality: Implement a quality assurance QA process to ensure published reviews are genuine, informative, and helpful to users.
- Encourage Detailed Feedback: Prompt reviewers to provide comprehensive and detailed feedback, going beyond simple star ratings or brief comments.
- Curtail Bias and Manipulation: Take steps to prevent biased or manipulated reviews, such as those incentivised by discounts or rewards.
- Highlight Author Expertise: Make the expertise and experience of review authors more visible, potentially through author bios or credentials with social media links.
- Easy Review Submission: Make submitting reviews frictionless, helping to generate a steady flow of fresh and diverse comments.
Additional Insights:
- Continuous Evaluation: Google indicated that review content will be regularly evaluated going forward, without standalone updates being announced. This highlights the importance of ongoing quality assurance for review-based content.
- Adaptation to New System: Webmasters should focus on meeting Google's quality guidelines to adapt to the new system.
- Impact on Different Content Types: The update primarily affects articles, blog posts, and other standalone content focused on opinions and analysis. It does not directly assess third-party reviews left on product or service pages.
- Site-Wide or Page-Level Evaluation: For websites primarily focused on reviews, all content will be evaluated. For sites where reviews are a secondary focus, assessments will happen at the page level.
By prioritizing high-quality, authentic, and informative reviews, webmasters can create a better experience for users and potentially improve their search rankings in the long run.
2023 Google Algorithm Updates
- November 2023 Reviews Update:
Impact: Refined review evaluation, emphasizing author expertise, comprehensiveness, and originality. Sites with high-quality reviews may see ranking increases, while those with low-quality ones may see declines.
- November 2023 Core Update:
Impact: Broad update affecting overall content assessment. Some previously under-rewarded pages may rank higher, while others may decline. Focus on quality content and E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
- October 2023 Spam Update:
Impact: Improved spam detection in multiple languages and targeting specific types like cloaking, hacked content, and auto-generated content. Reduced spam visibility in search results.
- October 2023 Core Update:
Impact: Another broad update affecting overall content assessment. No specific guidance from Google, but similar recommendations as the November update apply.
- September 2023 Helpful Content System Update:
Impact: Improved classifier to better identify unhelpful content like clickbait, misleading headlines, and content lacking depth or originality. Sites with high-quality, helpful content may benefit.
- July 2023 Passage Ranking Update:
Impact: Improved ability to rank relevant passages within webpages, not just entire pages. Content creators should optimize content for specific user queries within their pages.
- May 2023 Core Update:
Impact: Similar to previous core updates, affecting overall content assessment and rewarding high-quality, informative content. Focus on E-E-A-T and user experience.
- March 2023 Core Update:
Impact: Another broad update affecting overall content assessment. No specific guidance from Google, but focus on quality content creation and user experience is key.
- February 2023 Product Reviews Update:
Impact: Improved evaluation of product reviews, emphasizing expertise, depth, and authenticity. Sites with high-quality product reviews may see ranking benefits.
Note: These are just the major confirmed updates. Google makes numerous smaller adjustments throughout the year. Always focus on creating high-quality content, prioritizing user experience, and following Google's guidelines to stay competitive regardless of algorithm changes.
Google Algorithm Updates in 2022
- December 2022 Link Spam Update:
Impact: Leverages "SpamBrain" to identify and penalize unnatural links, improving link quality and website trust. Sites with manipulative link building practices may see ranking declines.
- December 2022 Helpful Content Update:
Impact: Further refines identification of content written for search engines instead of users, demoting unhelpful and low-quality content. Sites with high-quality, helpful content may see ranking increases.
- September 2022 Broad Core Update:
Impact: Second core update of the year, affecting all languages and content. Emphasis on user experience and helpful content. Sites with low-quality content or poor user experience may see ranking declines.
- September 2022 Product Reviews Update:
Impact: Improved evaluation of product reviews, prioritising helpfulness, detail, and actual product testing. Sites with high-quality product reviews may see ranking benefits.
- August 2022 Helpful Content Update:
Impact: First introduction of the Helpful Content Update, targeting websites with significant amounts of unhelpful content written for search engines. Sites focused on user-friendly, informative content may see ranking improvements.
- July 2022 Product Reviews Update:
Impact: Similar to the September update, emphasising author expertise and in-depth analysis in product reviews. Sites with high-quality product reviews may see ranking benefits.
- May 2022 Broad Core Update:
Impact: First core update of the year, significantly changing content assessment. Sites with high-quality, informative content and strong E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) may see ranking improvements.
- March 2022 Product Reviews Update:
Impact: Initial update aiming to improve product review quality in search results. Rewarded detailed reviews with actual product testing and user insights. Sites with high-quality product reviews may see ranking benefits.
- February 2022 Page Experience Update for Desktop:
Impact: Emphasised page loading speed, mobile-friendliness, and visual stability for desktop searches. Sites with good page experience may see ranking improvements.
Other Updates: Throughout the year, Google made numerous smaller updates to various aspects of its algorithms, including spam detection, technical factors, and local search.
Classic Google Algorithm Updates
Over the years there has often been a buzz around the next big update, especially as Google was fundamentally counter acting optimisation techniques that saw some substandard websites hit top spots in search results. Webmasters and SEO’s have been kept on their toes, but fair play to Google for keeping SERPs in pretty good order considering how messed up it could be by now.
Here are the classics, happy reminiscing.
Florida (2005) Targeted keyword stuffing and link farms, penalizing websites using manipulative tactics to rank higher.
Big Daddy (2007) Emphasized link quality over quantity, further penalizing link farms and unnatural linking practices.
Jagger (2009) Improved spam detection and penalized thin content (websites with minimal valuable information).
Vince (2010) Focused on geographic relevance, boosting local businesses in local search results.
Caffeine (2010) Improved indexing speed and real-time search results, allowing faster updates and responsiveness to current events.
Panda (2011) Targeted low-quality content like thin pages, duplicate content, and content farms, rewarding well-written, informative content.
Freshness Algorithm (2011) Gave higher ranking to recent and updated content relevant to current events or trending topics.
Page Layout Algorithm (2012) Penalised websites with intrusive ads or layout elements that hindered user experience.
Venice Update (2012) Improved local search results, considering social signals and online reviews alongside traditional ranking factors.
Penguin (2012) Expanded on Panda, further penalising manipulative link building and unnatural backlinks.
EMD (Exact Match Domain) Update (2012) Penalised websites with exact match domain names, encouraging descriptive and brand-relevant domains.
Payday Loan Update (2013) Targeted spammy websites in the payday loan industry, promoting more trustworthy and transparent financial services.
Hummingbird (2013) A major shift towards understanding searcher intent and context, allowing Google to return more relevant results for complex queries.
Pigeon (2014) Further refined local search results, considering distance, location accuracy, and user reviews.
Mobilegeddon (2015) Prioritised mobile-friendly websites in search results, emphasizing the importance of responsive design and mobile usability.
Quality Updates (2015-2017) Ongoing series of updates targeting low-quality content, manipulative tactics, and websites lacking E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
RankBrain (2015) Introduced machine learning technology to understand user intent and rank results based on user engagement and satisfaction, not just keywords.
Fred (2017) Targeted websites using manipulative link buying or selling schemes, emphasizing organic link building for long-term success.
