We’re nearing the end of 2024. And Google has been making significant updates to its algorithm since the year began.
But what about changes that took place over the past few years?
Let’s recap all the major Google updates from 2021 to now.
2024 Google Algorithm Updates
2024 has been a major year for Google’s search algorithm. The search engine giant has been focusing on improving content quality, cracking down on spam and fake content, and more. Let’s take a look.
August 15, 2024 – Core Update 2024
Google’s most recent update aimed to improve the quality of search results. It set out to do this by ranking content that’s helpful over content that aimed to solely perform well in search.
Since this was a huge core algorithm update, many SEOs and site owners saw drops in rankings. Google instructed website owners and SEO professionals to continue to create quality, original content.
To minimize the impact of core Google updates, it’s important to focus on meeting user needs instead of trying to focus primarily on ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
July 31, 2024 – Explicit Fake Content Update
With Azi on the rise, there’s been a lot of fake, misleading content floating around. Google wanted to fix this with an algorithm update that specifically targeted explicit artificially generated images.
We know this type of misleading content as deepfakes.
Key components of the update included:
- Google made it easier to remove non-consensual explicit fake content from search results.
- When a user submits a removal request, Google will filter similar explicit results across related searches for the affected user.
- Google implemented a new scanning system to identify and remove duplicate images after users remove the original image from search results.
- Google adjusted the search algorithm to reduce the visibility of explicit fake content in many searches.
- Websites with pages that Google has removed due to fake imagery could lose search rankings.
Thanks to these changes, Google states that there’s been a 70% decrease in explicit image results for targeted searches.
June 20, 2024 – Spam Update
Google’s automated systems for detecting spam are always running. But it occasionally makes improvements to their performance, which the search engine calls spam updates.
The Spam Update in June 2024 targeted websites that violated Google’s spam policies. The update took about a week to complete.
Websites that violate Google’s spam rules might:
- Buy or sell links to manipulate rankings (i.e., link farming and black hat SEO)
- Automatically generate content solely to improve search rankings
- Trick users with hidden redirects or other deceptive techniques
- Create thin, duplicated, or poor-quality content
This update was a follow up from Google’s last spam update in March. But despite the algorithm change, some AI content still had good search rankings.
These sites rapidly produced content, generated images using AI, and used a loophole that awarded new content with an initial boost in rankings.
May 14, 2024 – AI Overviews
Google introduced AI overviews for U.S. search queries to improve the user experience and streamline how people consume and gather information.
Upgrades included:
- Reasoning that requires multiple steps for more complex queries
- AI overviews that simplify search results or provide more detail
- Customizable languages and level of detail
- AI-organized SERPs
- Visual search
Google’s Gemini model powers the new AI overviews. This will allow users to ask more complex questions that they may have trouble finding answers to in regular searches.
For example, users can ask, “How do different diets like keto and Mediterranean affect heart health over time?” And then, they’ll get a complete, detailed response from the overview.
Screenshot provided by the author
Google also now uses AI to organize SERPs using headlines. Right now, it’s available for dining and recipes. But soon, people will be able to use the feature for shopping, hotels, books, movies, music, and more.
Visual search is another capability from Google’s May update. People can simply record a video to ask a question instead of having to manually type it in.
The update also includes planning assistance. For example, users can ask for a customized meal plan. Or, if they’re looking for vacation ideas, they can ask Google for travel recommendations.
As you can see, the May 2024 update came with lots of changes, but the biggest one was the new AI overview. These overviews take up a lot of screen space. Plus, they’re at the top of search results.
As a result, many businesses and site owners who rely on Google Search traffic worried that AI overviews would overshadow their content and reduce clickthrough rates (CTRs).
These concerns are definitely valid since, according to data gathered by Ziptie, AI overviews cover over 81% of search queries across most industries.
On top of that, Google’s AI reviews use only 47% of the top web search results as sources. So, less than half of the top links help create the AI summaries.
What does this mean? Businesses and content creators may need to consider optimizing their sites for AI overviews to maintain their rankings in the SERPs.
Doing this can increase the chances of Google including your site in AI overviews. Here are some strategies that may help:
- Post your content on forums like Quora or Reddit. Google’s AI overviews often cite information from these sources.
- Analyze search volume for queries that show AI overviews. This can help you identify topics or potential content gaps you can capitalize on.
- Use technical SEO to help page crawlers better understand your content. When crawlers can accurately categorize your content and understand what it’s about, you can increase the chances of showing up in AI overviews.
- Create topic overview pages for all stages of the customer journey. Google’s AI overview is capable of multi-step reasoning. So, it’s a good idea to create topic overview pages with detailed content that guides users through their entire journey. This can help your pages rank higher as trusted sources for Google’s AI.
May 6, 2024 – Site Reputation Abuse
Google’s Site Reputation Abuse Update rolled out on Monday, May 6, 2024.
The policy will start penalizing content that hosts third-party content like coupons or reviews without closely overseeing that content. The idea is to prevent sites from using this third-party content to manipulate their search rankings unfairly.
Google issued a manual action. This means that a Google employee reviewed a website and determined that it has violated one of Google’s policies.
Depending on how severe a violation is, Google might completely remove a website from its search results or simply reduce rankings.
This update impacted major brands. For example, some brands noticed their coupon-related pages dropped in search rankings.
March 5, 2024 – March Core
Google’s March Core Update was the first major Google update of 2024. It began on March 5 and finished on April 19.
The main purpose of the update was to address low-quality content and introduce new policies on spam to combat manipulative SEO tactics.
The updated ranking system would penalize webpages that…
- aimed to create content primarily to rank in search rather than for people;
- didn’t offer a good user experience;
- featured unoriginal content;
- and weren’t helpful.
Google estimated that these changes, plus past efforts, would reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in SERPs by 40%
The below image shows the high volatility that occurred after the update:
Other key components of the update:
- Google updated its spam policies to help remove low-quality content from search results.
- Google became more strict about using automation to generate large volumes of content and manipulate search rankings.
- Google addressed site reputation abuse, which is when low-quality, third-party content appears on trusted sites to capitalize on the hosting site’s strong reputation.
- Google targeted expired domain abuse. This aims to crack down on people buying and repurposing expired domains to help low-quality content rank.
- To reduce manipulative link building practices. Google reduced the weight links hold in determining a website’s rankings.
- Google began giving more weight to quality, credibility, and substantive content.
2023 Google Algorithm Updates
What changes did Google make in 2023? Google released a series of updates that aimed to improve the search experience and reward high-quality original content.
November 8, 2023 – Reviews Update
Google Search’s Reviews System Update took place on November 8, 2023. By the 7th of December, the update was complete.
The ultimate goal of this Google update was to refine the algorithms that power the Reviews System. Google’s Reviews System is part of a group of algorithms that rank search results for review-related content.
This is part of an effort to better reward high-quality reviews. What are high-quality reviews? These should be reviews by experts or enthusiasts who know the industry and topic well, provide in-depth analysis, and conduct original research.
After the update, many people in Facebook SEO groups reported ranking drops. As per Google’s guidelines, to continue ranking in the SERPs, it’s important to:
- Evaluate the product or service you’re reviewing from a user’s perspective.
- Use evidence such as visuals, audio, or your experience with that you’re reviewing to support your expertise.
- Explain the factors that set your product or service apart from competitors.
- Use your own original research to explain the benefits and drawbacks of the product or service.
Here’s a snapshot of rank volatility that resulted after the update:
November 2, 2023 – Core Update
The fourth and final core update of the year began on November 2nd, right after the October Core Update.
Core updates usually happen every one to two months. So, it’s pretty rare for Google updates to come right after each other.
The November 2023 Core Update prioritized high-quality, informative, and authoritative content. Lots of sites saw ranking volatility and many SEO complained about the rollout.
It coincided with the November 8th update. So, both updates were happening at the same time. The core update didn’t finish until the 28th of November.
October 5, 2023 – Core Update
The October Core Update started on October 5th and ended on the 19th.
Here’s a look at how to rank volatility after the October 2023 update compared to the core update in August.
It improved search rankings by:
- Prioritizing user experience, content quality, and E-E-A-T signals
- Reducing spammy content in search results
- Demoting low-quality websites
October 4, 2023 – Spam Update
Starting on October 4th, Google’s Spam Update coincided with the October core algorithm update.
Google targeted websites and pages that use cloaking, content scraping, and auto-generated content.
This update came after Google received feedback from users who saw increased spam results.
To fight this spam, Google uses a combination of human review and AI/ML.
What constitutes spam?
- Affiliate pages with shallow content that primarily focus on generating revenue
- Text or links that are invisible to users but visible to search engines
- Mass copying of content from other websites without permission
- Auto-generated content that offers little or no value to users
- Pages with intrusive ads that lead to poor UX
September 14, 2023 – Helpful Content Update
Google’s Helpful Content Update placed a greater focus on prioritizing people-centric content over content that SEOs create for the sole purpose of ranking in the SERPs.
One major change Google made was loosening guidance on AI-generated content. Before, Google’s Helpful Content system prioritized content that humans created.
This showed a change in Google’s attitude toward AI content. This means Google won’t penalize AI content. However, it does penalize poor content in general.
Content should be helpful and valuable, have a human touch, and meet search intent.
Google’s September 2023 Helpful Content Update also made a change that would likely negatively affect websites that host third-party content anywhere on their website.
Websites often host third-party content on their main site or subdomains.
The idea is that the main site’s ranking power boosts the subdomain’s content. Google warned that hosting unrelated third-party content can negatively impact a site’s overall ranking. It recommends blocking this type of content from Google’s index.
August 22, 2023 – Core Update
The second core update of 2023 took 16 days to complete. It improved how Google assessed and promoted high-quality sites and pages.
It also emphasized the importance of E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). Google’s quality raters now prefer content that demonstrates first-hand experience.
For example, if you’re reviewing a product and you provide evidence that you’ve actually used the product, Google might prioritize your site.
Google also made changes to FAQs and HowTo rich results. For example, only FAQs from authoritative health and government sites appear in SERPs. The search engine giant removed HowTo results from desktop searches.
April 12, 2023 – Reviews Update
The April 2023 Reviews Update began a couple of months after the February Product Reviews Update.
The April update was more volatile than the previous update in February.
Google made changes to its Reviews System, which is part of Google’s overall algorithm. It showed a renewed emphasis on the E-E-A-T acronym.
Google added the extra E in December 2022, which stands for Experience. This represents the experience that Google’s Review System is looking for in product/service reviews.
Many site owners report that their page ranking increased after using phrases like “in my experience” or “my hands-on analysis” in their product reviews.
Other signals of product review experience are visual evidence, audio, links to evidence of expertise, and quantitative measurements.
March 15, 2023 – Core Update
Google’s Core Update in March 2023 was significantly more volatile than the previous September 2022 Core Update.
After the update, 8.7% of sites in the top search results had previously ranked lower than 20th, according to Semrush Sensor data.
This suggests that some websites made big improvements or gains in their search visibility.
The major algorithm change affected how Google understands which web pages aren’t helpful or have a poor user experience.
The update might have caused more fluctuations in rankings than a regular core update because Google was updating multiple core systems.
February 21, 2023 – Product Reviews Update
The February 2023 Product Reviews Update was the sixth update of its kind.
Google made changes to its product reviews system to weed out unhelpful, generic content that just summarizes a product’s features and capabilities. It aims to focus on product reviews based on real-world experience and research.
Here’s an overview of the update’s goals:
- Give site owners a better understanding of the product review system and its evaluation factors
- Favor reviews that include visuals, audio, and other evidence that supports the reviewer’s expertise
- Bring new languages to the product reviews update, including English, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, and more.
- Reward websites that publish high-quality product review content
- Focus on reviews that share in-depth research
2022 Google Algorithm Updates
In 2022, Google rolled out updates that rewarded high-quality content and filtered out low-quality, search-engine-focused pages and websites.
December 14, 2022 – Link Spam Update
Google’s December 2022 Link Spam Update introduced SpamBrain.
This is an AI-based spam prevention system that detects sites that buy links. It also targets sites that SEOs use to pass outgoing links.
Google advised site owners that their rankings may change as the update nullifies unnatural links. This meant that it would remove any signals that would pass to the linking domain.
A prime example of a link that could show up as unnatural is an affiliate link. So, if you embed an affiliate link within a body of text, it’s important to qualify that link with a rel=sponsored tag.
You should also tag links in guest posts with rel=nofollow.
December 5, 2022 – Helpful Content Update
Google’s Helpful Content Update in December 2022 was a global update that took 38 days to complete due to all the languages it included.
The update aimed to improve Google’s ability to detect different types of low-quality content that sites create for search engines and not with people as the focus.
On the flip side, it would reward content that focused on helping people find answers to their search queries. Google’s helpful content system also prioritized content that adds unique value to the web.
Google also updated its guidance for content creators, specifically for Google Discover, a feature that shows users content based on their interests. So, essentially, it eliminates the need for them to type in search terms.
The update removed the previous focus on E-A-T and shifted towards creating helpful content. So, Google emphasized that sites should create content that is genuinely helpful to users rather than just meeting E-A-T standards for the sake of meeting them.
October 19, 2022 – Spam Update
The October 2022 Spam Update was global in scope. It mainly focused on link spam. So, the algorithm would penalize those who violate Google’s spam policies.
The update was one of Google’s fastest. It took less than 48 hours to complete.
September 20, 2022 – Product Reviews Update
In September 2022, Google released a Product Reviews Update, which focused on sites that feature product review articles.
The update rewarded high-quality reviews from users who used and tested the products they were reviewing. It only affected product reviews written in English.
This doesn’t apply to customer reviews.
September 12, 2022 – Core Update
The second core update of 2022 affected websites globally. It focused on evaluating content against the E-E-A-T- framework.
The update aimed to:
- Provide greater transparency on how Google indexes and crawls websites
- Make search results more accurate and relevant overall
- Favor sites that provide relevant information on a topic
- Personalize search results
The update was less impactful than previous Google updates and resulted in some rank volatility.
August 25, 2022 – Helpful Content Update
Google’s Helpful Content Update of August 2022 rewarded content that satisfied that user’s intent while adhering to SEO best practices.
Key points about the update include:
- Google prioritized content that directly answered user questions and provided valuable information relevant to their search query.
- Google penalized sites that create content solely for ranking in the SERPs and lack depth and expertise.
- Google considered the E-A-T framework.
What did this mean for content creators? (1) Write for people, not just search engines. (2) Demonstrate expertise. (3) Prioritize quality over quantity.
July 27, 2022 – Product Reviews Update
In its July 2022 Product Reviews Update, Google wanted to advise content creators about writing reviews from a user’s perspective and demonstrate their expertise about the products they’re reviewing.
Google favored reviews that include videos or images.
The bottom line: Google’s algorithm would reward reviews that share in-depth research instead of unhelpful content on a product that users could easily find on a manufacturer’s website.
What’s the key to showing Google you’re an expert or have first-hand experience with a product? Include qualitative measurements, pros and cons, comparisons to other products, and other in-depth information.
Content needs to be as original as possible.
May 22 – 26, 2022 – Core Update
The May Core Update was the first core update in 2022.
Here’s what the update focused on:
- Google improved its ability to understand the internet of a user’s search query.
- The update targeted all types of content and focused on E-A-T.
- Google prioritized more inclusive search signals.
- Google showed FAQ snippers more often.
This update had a rapid and huge impact on webmasters. Volatility was evident within 24 hours of its rollout on May 25.
Google’s advice for recovering from a core update is to improve overall site quality rather than immediate fixes.
March 23, 2022 – Product Reviews Update/Product Algorithm Update
The third of its kind, the March 2023 Product Reviews Update/Product Algorithm Update incorporated more signals and criteria into the ranking algorithm.
This is yet another one of Google’s efforts to rank higher-quality product reviews in the SERPs. This update did two things: (1) Make it easier for the search engine to help users find purchasing advice and (2) Reward creators who genuinely want to help people make the right purchase decision.
Google offered new guidance to improve product reviews: This included adding helpful in-depth details like pros and cons, product performance, or comparing a product to older versions.
Reviews should also come from people who have personally used the product. They should be able to offer real-time examples of what it looks like and how to use it.
Another important factor is offering unique content that goes beyond the manufacturer’s information. This might include visuals, audio, or links to additional resources that reflect the reviewer’s experience.
It also helps to discuss alternative products or highlight what makes the product stand out from competitors.
And if you’re recommending a product as “best” overall among a list of other products, Google says to:
- Explain what makes the product unique.
- Highlight why it’s ideal for the recommended use.
- Provide firsthand proof to back up your claims.
February 22, 2022 – Page Experience Update
Google’s 2022 Page Experience Update started in February and was completed in March.
This update made a user’s experience on a website a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm. It was similar to the algorithm change for mobile search in the summer of 2021.
The difference is that the Page Experience Update targeted desktop search rather than mobile.
Both updates focused on these factors:
- Core web vitals: This new signal that Google’s core ranking systems consider include:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Measures the time it takes for the largest block of visual content on a page to load.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures how much a web page shifts unexpectedly while it’s loading.
- First Input Delay (FID): Measures the time from when a user first interacts with a page and the browser’s response to that interaction.
- HTTPS security: An internet protocol that protects data between a user’s device and the site.
- Absence of intrusive interstitials: Page elements like pop-ups that obstruct the user’s view of on-page content
The result of the update? Sites with poor user experience had a difficult time ranking highly in search results. Plus, Google added a badge to search results for sites with good UX.
Google also announced that sites could use signed exchanges (SXG) on Search. SXG helps Google load parts of a webpage before you click on it, so the page loads faster when you visit it.
2021 Google Algorithm Updates
Google’s updates in 2021 looked to enhance search quality, improve local results, and refine product reviews.
December 1, 2021 – Product Review Update
Google’s Product Review Update of December 2021 began on the first and concluded on the 21st.
It aimed to promote review content that went beyond the information you’d find on the web. For example, using comparison charts can add even more value to review pages.
Google introduced new product review best practices:
- Product review pages should provide evidence that the person reviewing the product has actually used it.
- Use quantitative measurements to show how a product measures up in different categories of performance.
- Go beyond what the manufacturer says and tell how a product’s design affects its usage.
- Explain how a product has improved from previous models.
- Offer multiple buying options in your product reviews.
- Support expertise with evidence like visuals or audio.
- Add links to other useful resources.
November 30, 2021 – Local Search Update
Google’s November 2021 Local Search Update began on November 30th and completed on December 8th.
Following the update, the search engine giant would rebalance each ranking factor, including relevance (how closely a local Business Profile aligns with the searcher’s query), distance (how close the search results are to the location mentioned in the search), and prominence (how well-known the business is).
Google didn’t share what it changed or how much weight each ranking factor held after the update. But some say the update focused more on proximity and distance. This resulted in smaller, closer businesses ranking higher than larger, more established businesses that were further away.
(Screenshot provided by the author)
November 17, 2021 – Broad Core Update
Google’s November 2021 update was the last Broad Core Update of 2022.
It began on November 17th and completed on November 30th. The update was a broad algorithm change that aimed to improve the quality and relevance of search results.
Webmasters noticed increased volatility during this Google update compared to previous ones. The update was 12% more volatile on desktop search results and 23% more volatile on mobile search results.
November 3, 2021 – Google Spam Update
Google released a spam update on November 3, 2021. By the 11th, the update was complete.
It targeted web spam and sites that used black hat SEO methods. Even if a site is a victim of hacking, Google could still penalize it. Why? Because it’s up to the site owner to keep it secure.
So, spam, whether intentional or unintentional, can hurt your rankings.
July 26, 2021 – Google Link Spam Algorithm Update
The third spam update of 2021 took two weeks and focused on sponsored guest and affiliate content.
As part of the update, Google wanted to fight link spam. These links include links from sponsored, guest, and affiliate content. This served as a reminder for content creators to mark up affiliate content with the appropriate rel values:
- Affiliate links: rel=”sponsored”
- Links from sponsored guest posts: rel=”nofollow”
July 1 to July 12, 2021 Core Update
The July 2021 Core Update took two weeks to complete.
This broad core algorithm update’s purpose was to enhance the changes that Google initially intended for the June update but ran out of time.
Here are some changes members of the search engine community noticed after the update:
- Sites with multiple country code top-level domains (CCTLDs) that previously dominated search results lost visibility.
- Even after the spam updates in July, there was an increase in spam in the SERPs.
- There seemed to be an increase in the People Also Ask (PAA) search feature.
- On-page and off-page SEO practices resulted in stable rankings.
Here’s the rank volatility by category comparing the July core update to the one in June:
June 28th, 2021 – Spam Update Part 2
The second part of Google’s July 2021 Spam Update began on June 28th.
Google announced in April 2021 that it had been using AI to fight spam since 2020. According to the announcement, the search engine giant was able to reduce sites with auto-generated and scraped content by more than 80%.
The June spam update’s aim was to remove spam from search results. The types of spam that concern Google include auto-generated content, unoriginal content, scraped content, link schemes, and cloaking.
June 23, 2021 – Spam Update
The update in June 2021 was an algorithm update with the goal of fighting spam. It took a day to complete.
Google didn’t reveal any specific details on what this update was specifically targeting. However, Google does have guidance on what constitutes spam. It defines spam as content that aims to deceive users or manipulate Google’s search systems.
This includes automatically generated content, scraped content, and cloaking.
June 15, 2021 – Page Experience Update
Google released a Page Experience Update in June 2021. The update meant that Google would start using page experience as part of its ranking systems for mobile searches, although it wouldn’t fully go into effect until the end of August.
Factors that impact your page experience score include:
- Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, and CLS)
- No intrusive interstitials
- Mobile usability
- Security issues
- Ad experience
- HTTPS usage
Together, these factors represent the overall experience a website offers to its visitors. They cover a range of aspects, such as loading speed, visual stability, interactivity, and security.
Google also introduced its Page Experience report and Search Performance report to help site owners understand how their websites perform and improve UX accordingly.
June 10, 2021 – Known Victims Protection
In June of 2021, Google rolled out an algorithm change that targeted content makes unverified or slanderous claims about others.
This came on the heels of New York Times (NYT) articles that shed light on websites that build businesses off preying on victims of slander.
Here’s how it works: These websites often invite people to submit complaints or negative reviews about others to expose cheaters, scammers, or predators.
Once they submit a complaint, the site publishes it and ranks highly in the search results.
After posting the harmful content, the same websites offer a “solution by charging victims large fees to remove the slanderous posts.
Google’s update aimed to protect these victims. It would make it harder for these sites to appear in the SERPs when someone searches for a person’s name.
The search engine also promised to implement a “known victims” policy, which automatically suppresses harmful content for people who have already requested removal.
In a blog post, Vice President of Google Search, Pandu Nayak, highlighted the changes the algorithm would make to protect victims of slander.
June 2, 2021 – Broad Core Algorithm Update
Google released a broad core algorithm update on June 2, 2021.
The update set out to rank websites higher based on factors like content quality and relevance. It also sought to remove clickbait from search results.
SERP volatility ended up in the very high range: 8.8
Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan announced some planned improvements weren’t ready for this update. So, Google would do a second related broad core algorithm update in July.
May 2021 MUM
Google first introduced MUM, short for Multitask Unified Model (MUM), in May 2021.
It replaced BERT, an algorithm update that changed SEO in 2019. MUM’s goals were to correctly interpret user search queries, provide users with a more comprehensive response to searches, and eliminate the need for multiple searches.
Here are the major components of MUM:
- Multimodal: MUM can process information from multiple formats, including images, videos, audio, and text.
- Multilingual: MUM can translate information across 75 languages,
- Multitask: MUM can process multiple tasks at once.
MUM emphasizes E-A-T by allowing users to access information about content sources directly from search results.
The impact on SEO? Site owners must focus more on entities (e.g., people, organizations, places, events, products, concepts) and comprehensive topic coverage rather than just keyword frequency.
Content should also address user needs throughout the customer journey. For example, provide answers to evolving questions as users gain knowledge about a topic.
Consider various media types (videos, images, etc.) in your content strategy, as Google enhances its ability to interpret and rank non-textual content.
Google often highlights video snippets like this at the top of the SERPs.
Screenshot provided by the author
April 8, 2021 – Product Reviews Update
The April 2021 Product Reviews Update was the first of its kind.
The update wanted to promote good quality reviews that offered helpful insights and analysis. These reviews should be more unique and offer more value than “cookie-cutter” reviews you commonly see.
So, Google Search will make the most useful and helpful information more prominent in results.
This meant that reviews with just short summaries of products would have a harder time ranking.
Following these guidelines can help review sites maintain or improve rankings:
- Recommend similar products and explain which ones are best for specific uses
- Provide quantitative comparisons of the product’s performance
- Identify key decision-making factors for the product category
- Discuss the pros and cons of the product
- Highlight what differentiates the product
- Share expert insights on the product
February 10, 2021 – Passage Ranking
Google officially launched Passage Ranking for English-language queries in the U.S.
The new feature allowed Google to rank individual pages from long web pages. This would improve Google’s chances of recognizing content for specific queries, even if it’s part of a larger document.
Websites that struggled with visibility could rank for relevant queries by showcasing specific content segments.
Here’s how passage indexing affects search results:
Google Updates: Looking Ahead
Google updates its algorithm quite often. That’s nothing new.
But it’s always good to look back at some of the older updates to see how much the search platform has evolved.
As Google continues to refine its algorithms, make sure you’re staying informed about current and historical updates so that you’re better equipped to navigate the complexities of SEO in the future.
Stay ahead of Google’s updates with our expert SEO services. Book an intro call with uSERP today.
