It’s no secret that Google is constantly improving their search algorithms to ensure the most relevant and reliable are shown for the user. According to Search Engine Land, in 2020, Google ran more than 600,000 experiments throughout the year to try and improve their search engine. 12 times a day. This goes completely under the radar.
However whilst the vast majority of these thousands of updates go unnoticed, once in a while there is a major update which stirs the SEO pot.
In this article you’ll be able to find out what the most recent Google algorithms are and how it affects the Google rankings.
So, What are the Google Algorithms?
Have a think about the time you were bored, and decided to search for ‘funny animal videos’ into the Google search bar. Millions of results pop up, but the top results always seem to be the best ones & most relevant for you.
So how did it decide which order to show the results in? This is where the algorithms come in.
Google hasn’t publicly stated how they code their algorithms, as all other search engines would steal the efficient formula, but there are a few elements that we know would be part of it:
- Keywords in the title, tags and meta description
- The performance of the site on mobile
- The amount of organic links to the page
How does Google decide what is most important?
Think of it like this, each element that the algorithm will be looking for has a number from 1-10, the more important will have a higher numerical value than the less important. The algorithm will go through the desired pages and add up the numbers – the pages with the most sought after traits will sit at the top of the search results.
Google has mastered the key for keeping the fluidity of results extremely fast. You may see your website rise to as high as third in the google rankings but drop to tenth only minutes or even seconds later due to the other content creators & website builders trying to find ways to manipulate the algorithm.
This means that ultimately, the businesses that carry out SEO on their sites are likely to be sitting on their throne in the search results.
If you want to learn more about SEO, click here to read our blog! *would need to link to SEO blog if it goes live, or remove this line*
What are the latest Google Algorithm updates?
Product Reviews Update
In March 2022, Google completed the third in their series of updates that relate to product review quality, and how that affects the search ranking. The first of the updates was in April 2021, but as we know, Google is always looking to improve their algorithms.
Currently, only English language products reviews are affected. Other languages, I am sure, will be added soon.
So, you might be asking, what is involved in this new update?
Google was generous enough to let us know what in their eyes makes a ‘high quality review’. The more of these that you have on your website, the more you will be rewarded in the rankings. Their recommendations for a good review include:
- Explain what sets the product apart from its competitors
- Explain how the product performs in multiple environments e.g. if it is one-dimensional, is it a good product?
- Contain images, video or audio where appropriate
Their reasoning being that the changes are ‘designed to help ensure that product reviews come from people who demonstrate that knowledge’. Nearly 70% of consumers look at product reviews before purchasing, this is why Google is focusing on this.
This stops businesses from overloading the product reviews with fake, short reviews written by themselves or friends using fake accounts to try and bump up the google search.
I think the message we are getting from Google from these updates is quality trumps quantity.
Core Update
While nothing has been confirmed by Google, there has been plenty of talk surrounding whether or not Google is starting a core update.
What has caused people to begin this debate?
Semrush are always keeping tabs on changes to search results, and on 9th May 2022 they reported a 9.1/10 rating in their Semrush Sensor. This meant there was an incredibly high amount of volatility across search rankings for websites. Therefore, if you were searching on this day, you may have seen websites that would normally be on the 4th page of results leapfrog into the 1st page.
Data from Semrush
There have been a few trends that have been noticed from the May 2022 unofficial update.
- In previous years, people have closely related word count to a high Google ranking. This appears to be changing, following the apparent new Google rule of quality over quantity as websites with word counts lower than average are showing up higher up in the search.
- Partial match domains continue to perform well.
- Websites that appear to have low Domain Authority are appearing higher up in the rankings, which is unusual.
It is always best to keep an eye on these updates for your company, as you can change/adapt your approach to marketing to allow you to reach more of your intended audience and I hope this blog will help you achieve this.
For further insights and guidance, we invite you to explore our blog at 07hm.co.uk/blog. Here, you’ll find a wealth of information tailored to the needs and challenges of SMEs navigating the digital landscape. Additionally, if you have specific questions or need personalised advice, don’t hesitate to reach out to us via email at info@07hm.co.uk or telephone on 01702 410663.
