{"id":19347,"date":"2018-06-26T15:06:16","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T12:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/?p=19347"},"modified":"2019-11-13T11:51:14","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T09:51:14","slug":"googles-2018-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/19347\/googles-2018-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Google’s 2018 Updates So Far And How They Already Impact Your Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wish I knew earlier about this Google update!<\/em> is something many site\u00a0owners or marketers say on a daily basis. Moreover, it would be heaven on earth if we also knew how all those Google algorithm changes, be they official or unnamed updates, should be dealt with.<\/p>\n

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Most times, we get to see how rankings fluctuate, traffic drops, and still, we don’t know what to do. What’s more, we always think it’s us who made a mistake and, therefore, got downgraded. This blog post will both prove you’re wrong and agree with you. Plus, we’ll teach you what every change Google made so far in 2018 is doing to your site and how you can improve your marketing and SEO moves.<\/p>\n

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\"2018_Google_Updates_&_How_They_Impact_Your_Website\"<\/p>\n

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  1. Early 2018 Google Updates<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Offering a Very Slow Experience Will Get Websites a Downgrade in Rankings<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. A Search Console Year-Plus of Data Adding<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. A Google-Backed Twitter Account Meant Solely for Search News<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Switching from HTTP to HTTPS Gets Mandatory<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. \u201cPeople Also Search For\u201d Box<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  7. Chrome Tidies Up Messy URLs When Shared<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  8. Search Console Crawl Limits Changed<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  9. Mobile-First Indexing<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  10. Multifaceted Featured Snippets<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  11. The Relevancy Update<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  12. Google\u2019s Mobile Friendly & Rich Results Tools Now Read\u00a0JavaScript Sites<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  13. \u201cMentioned on Wikipedia\u201d Carousel in Search Results<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  14. New AdWords Features<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
  15. Conclusion<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    After a year like 2017 with significant algorithm changes and updates, Google doesn’t seem to want to settle down. Danny Sullivan<\/a><\/strong>, the officially-appointed ombudsman from Google, made it clear that they do various minor updates daily plus some more serious ones during the year:\u00a0We do some type of focused update nearly daily. A broad core algorithm update happens several times per year<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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    https:\/\/twitter.com\/dannysullivan\/status\/973329698695426048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seroundtable.com%2Fgoogle-focused-core-search-updates-25391.html<\/p>\n

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    Guess this is how we could explain the hectic fluctuations in various Google algorithm monitoring tools<\/a><\/strong>. Webmaster and marketers alike often felt overwhelmed by the density and frequency of these ranking fluctuations and tried to interpret their activity, correlating their analysis and findings, and reaching a conclusion or providing an educated guess until Google would have officially confirmed them.<\/p>\n

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    \"google-fluctuations-2018\"

    Screenshot taken from cognitiveseo.com\/signals<\/p><\/div>\n

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    Google likes messing around with people\u2019s website traffic and site owners’ feelings – it sort of gives people mixed feelings regarding Google: both love and hate.<\/p>\n

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    Many updates or changes in the way Google’s algorithm works is given by an interesting\u00a0paradigm skillful webmasters know how to read. And that is the one provided by Barry Schwartz, the update guru of our digital marketing world:<\/p>\n

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    When you have both signals, SEO chatter, and tools start lighting up, it is a good sign something major changed in the core ranking algorithm with Google search.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \"\"<\/td>\nbarry schwartz<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Founder at Search Engine Roundtable @rustybrick<\/a><\/strong> \/ rustybrick.com<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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    1. Early 2018 Google Updates<\/h2>\n

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    The 2018 updates pace is pretty aggressive, one might say, while March seems to have been the busiest month in terms of changes and ranking fluctuations. We’re not talking officially announced updates here, but only the SERPs activity as seen in forums and Google algorithm updates tracking tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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    Talking about Google-confirmed updates, it\u2019s quite seldom for Google to officially confirm updates; it only happens several times a year. As a result, many updates that impacted websites across the world wide web might not be named and talked about as much as those regarded as significant by the Googlers. A fit example would be the March 7 one, widely known as a core algorithm update<\/a><\/strong> meant to reward \u201cthe under-rewarded sites\u201d, as some webmasters would say. It has greatly impacted traffic and rankings while also needing a longer time span than usual.<\/p>\n

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    The specifics of Google\u2019s algorithm will always remain under wraps.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \"sam-gowing-fiftyfiveandfive\"<\/td>\nsam gowing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Writer at Fifty Five and Five @_SamGowing<\/strong><\/a> \/ fiftyfiveandfive.com<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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    However, even when Google does give official statements about one update or another, they are quite evasive when it comes to confirming or guide users through. Maybe that’s why Barry Schwartz often says: “The answer, according to Google, is really nothing\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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    Whenever site owners or fellow marketers want to dig more into what it looks like being an algorithm change, they turn to Barry Schwartz, as the go-to high-quality source regarding monitoring, researching, analyzing, and dissecting Google both confirmed and unconfirmed updates. Even though Barry\u2019s posts often start as being speculative, they’re nonetheless worth checking them out and following him as they usually get confirmed later on either by fellow webmasters or by the Google team itself.<\/p>\n

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    \"march-9-google-confirmed-update\"<\/p>\n

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    Either way, be the update Google-confirmed or unconfirmed, bearing a name or not, impacting websites over a shorter or longer period of time, it’s clear that there are fluctuations and while some sites might see drops in traffic, others might notice gains. As a consequence, both the lucky and the unfortunate sites should neither rub their gain in, nor lose confidence, but stick to building great content that makes searcher want to return to your page.<\/p>\n

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    There\u2019s no \u201cfix\u201d for pages that may perform less well other than to remain focused on building great content. Over time, it may be that your content may rise relative to other pages.<\/p>\n

    — Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) March 12, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n