In today’s digital age, Google has become an integral part of our lives. Whether we are searching for information, products or services, Google is our go-to search engine. Have you ever wondered how Google manages to provide us with the most relevant and accurate search results? Google uses its sophisticated and ever-evolving algorithms to deliver refined and enhanced user experience.
Google algorithms are an intricate set of instructions that are designed to analyse and evaluate various factors of a website, such as its content quality, relevance, user experience and authority.
The importance of understanding Google Algorithms cannot be overplayed. The efficiency of Google’s algorithms directly impacts website visibility, traffic and ultimately the outcome of online businesses. It also helps filter out low-quality or irrelevant websites, ensuring that users find accurate and authoritative ones at the top of the SERPs.
Check out the December 2017, Google Algorithm updates.
Some major Google Algorithms update in 2023 include,
The March 2023 core update started rolling out on March 15th and was completed on March 28th. It was a “Broad Core Update” that targets all types of content within all regions and languages. The main objective was to improve the quality of search results by prioritising websites that deliver the best user experience.
One of the notable impacts with the update is importance of page speed. Websites that have increased speed are ranked higher in search results, whereas slower-loading websites witnessed a drop in rankings. Websites that employed E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritative, Trustworthiness) principles has better rankings compared to other websites.
The August 2023 core update was completed on 7th September, 13 days after the rollout began on 22nd August. The main objective was the same as the March update to enhance the quality of search results and provide the most accurate and relevant information.
The overall volatility of this update was relatively muted than expected but it did have a significant impact on search engine rankings and website visibility.
The rollout began on 14th September and completed after 13 days. It was “Helpful Content Update” that highlights the need for valuable, informative and high-quality content benefitting the users. It is designed to enhance the search results quality by rewarding the websites that provide high-quality, helpful content.
This update shifts guidance on AI generated content since it was not preferred before September 2023, now high-quality AI generated content can be potentially ranked along with content written by humans. It has a negative impact on websites that host third-party content.
The main goal of the update is to improve the overall quality of search results by making changes in regard to ranking factors. This update was rolled out on 5th of October and completed on 19th October. It was also aimed to reduce spam in search results
This update had a lesser overall impact when compared to the previous core update. It focuses on the primary ranking system of Google’s search engine algorithm while also downgrading the low-quality websites.
October 2023 spam update:
Along with the core update, Google’s new spam update was rolled out on October 4th and ended on October 20th. It was released to improve its AI-powered spam detection system that targets thin, copies, misleading content.
Started rolling out on 2nd of November, it was the fourth core update by Google. It focused on improving search quality like any other core update and to reduce spam in search results. Another significant aim was to ensure that the users experience most relevant and high-quality results.
With the completion of this update, a significant impact was fluctuations in search rankings. Some websites faced rapid boost in their search visibility while for some websites faced decline.
Analyse changes: Identify changes in website’s traffic, rankings and user behaviour by using tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console and other SEO analytics tools.
Prioritise high-quality content: Ensuring that the content is authentic, valuable and relevant with credible sources.
Optimize User Experience: Check your website for any technical issues like broken links, performance or stability issues, mobile experience issues, speed of the site, etc. Addressing these issues can positively impact on the site’s rankings
Keyword relevance: Try to avoid keyword stuffing and maintain natural keywords integration. This helps in improving your website rankings
In conclusion, Google algorithms act as a backbone, shaping how users access and consume information. All the updates reflect Google’s goals to refine search experience by acknowledging user expectations. While these updates bring positive shifts, they also come with challenges for website owners which ultimately contributes to an overall hassle-free and accurate user experience.
