How Does An Algorithm Update Impact Seo?
Even though small changes happen all the time, core changes can really impact SEO results – and the performance of web pages. Unfortunately, that means that all of the energy and resources you’ve put into your website until now could be for nothing if you don’t understand and tailor to the latest algorithm updates.
Core updates can change the ranking signals that Google uses in their search algorithm. For example, an update could eliminate the otherwise positive impact of a ranking signal targeted by your website. Occasionally core updates even penalize websites. For example, the Panda update imposed an automatic and algorithmic penalty on websites with thin content. Some updates even totally restructure the SERP’s layout, since they can add, remove and modify alternative listings in Google’s SERPs.
If you notice a change in your web page’s search engine ranking, placement, or traffic, it could be that a recent google algorithm update is to blame. That’s why it’s important to keep your eyes open for news of any updates, and take the time to read about and understand them so that you can take additional measures.
Google is always evolving its algorithm to ensure it is surfacing the most accurate, relevant, and secure pages for its users. And each year, it seems to introduce more and more updates per year.
Knowing what sort of updates have taken place will help you to stay in line with SEO best practices, improve your rankings, and also understand any reasons behind performance shifts.
1. Passage ranking update (February 2021)
With the passage ranking update, Google can now use artificial intelligence to index not only web pages, but individual passages (paragraphs, sentences) from those pages. This means that specific passages can show up as the featured snippet. The aim is to quickly answer very specific queries, instead of making the user comb through the relevant web page to find it.
Using the example below, Google explains that it can now understand that the passage from the page (B) better answers the query than the result on the (A). “In this case, our systems were able to highlight a featured snippet, but this improvement applies to how we rank web pages overall.”
The takeaway here is not to optimize your posts for passage ranking, but rather to:
· Target long-tail keywords.
· Provide in-depth, high-quality content on the topic.
· Structure your webpage content correctly to make indexing easier for Googlebot.
· November 2021 Google updates and dates of significant SERP turbulence:
November Core Update, November 17th 2021: Google has just announced a broad core algorithm update has started to roll out. It will take around two weeks to be completed. Their advice for recovery is in Google’s blog post on core updates.
Spam Update, November 3-8th 2021: Google started rolling out an update to their spam fighting systems on November 3rd which finished rolling out 8 days later. In their announcement Google directed users to their basic