Google’s algorithms are a sophisticated method used for retrieving data from its search database and providing the best possible results for a question instantly. Using a combination of algorithms and numerous ranking signals, the search engine delivers web pages ranked by relevance on its search engine results pages (SERPs).
Google’s only made a couple of changes to its algorithms in its early years. Now, every year Google does thousands of changes.
What’s the latest release of Google’s algorithm update is a question that SEOs are searching most nowadays. The main reason why “Google Algorithm Update” is such a trending term is due to the confusion that comes after each update rolls out. Google carries out hundreds of key algorithms every year and the giant search engine releases others that have far-reaching effects on the SERP.
Every time Google updates its algorithm, it moves a step forward in making the user experience of searching easier and more relevant. As SEO professionals, however, we get tangled with customer questions about why the update caused fluctuations in rankings. So we have pinned recent google algorithm updates & explanation for the same.
May 4, 2020- Google Confirms Algorithm Core Update
Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan has announced via Twitter that a broad core algorithm update would be released by Google. Approximately 90 minutes later he announced the update was ongoing and would take 1-2 weeks to roll out completely.
Broad core upgrades are intended to produce widely visible effects through search results across all countries in all languages. Users will eventually see decreases or increases in search rankings as a core update rolls out. Changes in search rankings are usually a measure of content relevance. And the reverse is real, too.
Google’s guidance for this update remains exactly the same as all past core updates.
Historically, Google has always said that if rankings drop after a core update, there’s nothing to fix. Rather, website owners are regularly encouraged to make their content the best it can be. We interpret this as meaning: strive to make each piece of content the most holistic resource on the web for the specific query of a user. Google’s advice on how to deal with the impact of a core update has many other interpretations.
If the May 2020 Core Update ends up being as powerful as it possesses the potential to be, it could be good for SEOs. It’s no secret that businesses are laying off staff in the midst of an economic downturn and customers are pausing for services. Services offered by SEOs are extremely useful at any time an update of the algorithm takes place. The more volatile the update will become, the more valuable those services will become. That means SEOs may soon find themselves in a position where demand for their work is rising significantly. It will be interesting to see how many businesses suddenly have room in their SEO budget when the May 2020 Core Update is fully rolling out.
January 22, 2020- Featured Snippets Won’t Appear Twice On 1st Page
Danny Sullivan of Google stated via Twitter that web pages in a featured snippet role would no longer be replicated in daily organic listings on Page 1. This change has affected 100 percent of all worldwide search listings.
Google has taken a significant overhaul for the first search results page. Web pages in the snippet role used in daily organic listings will no longer be replicated. Google is pruning extra URLs that contain a featured snippet from search results. Google provided two spots in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) when the URL was listed with a featured text.
But that is not the case anymore. This method of eliminating duplicate URLs from SERPs containing featured snippets is called deduplication. Google can no longer display duplicate URLs for pages linked to the featured snippets.
Google’s Search Liaison took Twitter to offer seven insights into the new strategy.
- Duplicate URL update used in Snippets is called deduplication
- Deduplication is universal
- The move does not affect snippets featured in the video
- Deduplication does not affect a variant of the featured snippets resembling a panel of knowledge. But it will have an effect this week later.
- Deduplication has no effect on:
- Top Stories
- Exhilarating findings
- Duplicated URL moving to page two of the SERPs appears to be a deduplication bug and is not by design or feature. URLs provided
- Snippets which are also placed on page two of the results pages of the search engine (SERPs) that have this list removed.
- There will be no change to performance reports in the Google Search Console (GSC).
Previously, if they achieved a featured snippet position, it was not uncommon for the web pages to appear twice on the first page of search results. Many web pages even appeared in the search results from the first and second positions.
28 percent of duplicate listings appeared in the second search results position prior to Google’s recent update. Now that Google has deduplicated the first search results page, SEOs and website owners want to know if organic traffic will decline as a result.
January 13, 2020- Broad Core Update Rolled Out Imminently
Google’s Danny Sullivan has revealed in a tweet that it is about to release a broad core algorithm update. Google again received the same feedback as all other recent changes to its broad core algorithms.
As a broad core update, the core update from January 2020 will impact all search results on a global scale. It is not an update that addresses anything unique that webmasters, like the “Speed Update” should build on.
The guidance provided by Google concerning this update remains the same as previous core updates. It is to be anticipated that there will be widespread visible results, which could include declines or increases in search rankings, so paying attention to the rankings in the coming days and weeks is important.
December 9, 2019- Rolling BERT Algorithm Worldwide With 72 Languages
Google revealed via Twitter that it is now rolling out its BERT algorithm worldwide. BERT will allow Google to better understand search queries. Google Search Liaison noted that BERT is rolling out 72 languages.
BERT is meant to improve the understanding Google has of search queries. So if Google understands the query better that means that Google can direct organic search traffic to the most appropriate web pages.
Google previously reported that 10 percent of search queries for the English language launch in the United States were influenced by BERT. BERT will likely affect similar amounts of global search queries.
October 25, 2020- Google Applies New BERT Model
Google announced the BERT Update, calling Google to search the biggest change in the last 5 years. Google is using BERT models to grasp the search requests better. Google said this change has affected both search rankings and featured snippets, and BERT (which stands for Transformers’ Bidirectional Encoder Representations) will be used on 10 percent of the U.S. Searches into English.
September 24, 2019- Broad Core Algorithm Update
Google’s Danny Sullivan announced through a tweet that a comprehensive core algorithm update would be released within a couple of hours and it would take a couple of days to complete it. Google’s feedback was the same as with the other recent changes to the core algorithms.
June 2, 2019- Broad Core Algorithm Update
On June 2, Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan tweeted that a new, broad core algorithm update will be published by Google on June 3. Google announced the update was live the next day and will be rolling out in the coming days to its numerous data centers. As with every big core algorithm update, Google assures us that there is nothing unique to address because a core change requires a wide variety of variables.
March 12, 2019- Global Broad Core Update Algorithm
Google’s Search Liaison Danny Sullivan has reported a global broad core algorithm update via Twitter. SEJ confirmed this update is especially important and one of the biggest updates Google has made in years.
February 13, 2019- Valentine’s Day Update
Algorithm trackers and chatter from industry indicated some sort of unconfirmed update occurred on and before this date. Nonetheless, unlike other reports, rating changes were stated to be mostly positive.
