algorithm-updates

September 2023 HCU

The September 2023 Google Helpful Content Update – Did Google’s Announcement in April About Page Experience Foreshadow What We’re Seeing With The Current HCU(X)?

Based on what I’m seeing with sites heavily impacted by the HCU, and what Google explained in its April documentation update, the combination of unhelpful content and poor UX can be an extremely problematic combination for site owners. Update: 10/2/23:Included a section about Google’s latest blog post on web.dev which covers how to effectively run … Read more

Google’s April 2023 Reviews Update – Exploring its evolution from PRU to RU, a powerful tremor on 4/19, and how its “Review Radar” found larger publishers

Google launched the first Product Reviews Update in April of 2021 and it’s been fascinating to watch the evolution of the system over time. With each successive update, you can see Google fine-tuning the system, expanding to other languages, and more. And now we have the next step in its evolution, and it was a … Read more

How to compare hourly sessions in Google Analytics 4 to track the impact from major Google algorithm updates (like broad core updates)

I was just asked on Twitter if there was an easy way to compare Google organic traffic hourly like you can in Universal Analytics. That’s a great question, and that’s a super useful report to have as major algorithm updates roll out. You can typically start to see the separation over time as the update … Read more

Google’s September 2022 Broad Core Product Reviews Update (BCPRU) – The complexity and confusion when major algorithm updates overlap

Well, SEOs and site owners had a heck of an end to the summer of 2022. It all started with the Helpful Content Update (HCU), which rolled out on August 25, 2022. The rollout of Google’s new site-wide signal took a little more than two weeks to complete (and it only seemed to impact the … Read more

Google’s Helpful Content Update Introduces A New Site-wide Ranking Signal Targeting “Search engine-first Content”, and It’s Always Running

I was able to speak with Google about the Helpful Content Update, which introduces a new site-wide ranking signal that’s targeting “unhelpful content” (which is content primarily created to rank in search engines versus help users). Keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times, the next few weeks in Google Land are … Read more

Analysis of Google’s March 2022 Product Reviews Update (PRU) – Findings and observations from the affiliate front lines

Almost four months since the last Product Reviews Update (PRU) rolled out, Google released the third in the PRU series on March 23, 2022. PRUs can cause a lot of volatility for sites with reviews content, and the first two were core update-like for some. With each PRU, Google is looking to continue its evolution … Read more

How NewsGuard’s nutritional labels can help publishers avoid manual actions for medical content violations (Google News and Discover)

In July of 2021, Google issued a number of warnings for sites publishing medical content that went against its guidelines (for Google News and Discover). The potential for a manual action was clear and some publishers scrambled to figure out what to do. I mentioned this on Twitter in September: And six months from the … Read more

Google’s Broad Core Updates And The Difference Between Relevancy Adjustments, Intent Shifts, And Overall Site Quality Problems

Based on helping companies with major algorithm updates, I often have site owners reaching out about big drops in traffic (whether that’s from broad core updates, other major algorithm updates like the Product Reviews Update, technical problems, or other disturbances in the SEO force). When those drops happen, site owners are often extremely confused about … Read more

Google’s December 2021 Product Reviews Update – Analysis and Findings Based On An Extended And Volatile Holiday Rollout

Update: May 2022I just published a post covering a number of findings from the March 2022 Product Reviews Update (the latest PRU to roll out). My analysis covers linking to multiple sellers, the use of video content, loopholes in the PRU, intent shifts, dueling machine learning algorithms, and more. —– The past month has really … Read more

Google Broad Core Updates and Image Search: Can core updates impact Image Search rankings in addition to Web Search and Discover?

Update: Google’s Danny Sullivan confirmed that Image Search can be impacted by broad core updates. That matches with what I’m seeing in the data, so it’s great to have that confirmation from Google. ——————– I was asked an interesting question on Twitter about broad core updates from Kenichi Suzuki. He asked if Google’s broad core … Read more

Google’s July 2021 Broad Core Update – Rapid-fire Insights From The Summer of Two Core Algorithm Updates

{Updated: July 23, 2021 with information from Google about broad core updates being unrelated to Core Web Vitals and the Page Experience Signal.} {Updated: August 6, 2021 with information from Google’s John Mueller that the June and July broad core updates were separate and unique.} {Update July 2022: I just published my post covering the … Read more