Latest News on SEO Trends

1. Google AdWords Update

Google Ads now displays top signals in the Bid Strategy Report so you can better understand how different factors may impact your search campaigns, making Smart Bidding decisions more informed decisions.

Google announced on Sunday, following a weekend filled with ranking changes and fluctuations, that they had released an unnamed core algorithm update which will have significant ramifications on SEO performance. This major shift will impact SEO.

2. Google’s BERT Algorithm

BERT is Google’s latest algorithm update that will affect one in 10 search queries, using an innovative neural network architecture with “transformers” to process words in context rather than one at a time like other models do.

Google BERT allows Google to better comprehend what users mean when typing or speaking their search queries, providing more pertinent results to searchers. This could have an immense positive effect on SEO by providing more personalized results to searchers.

3. Google’s Featured Snippets Update

Google recently implemented an update to how Featured Snippets appear in search results, altering SEOs’ strategies for optimising sites for these results. This change affects SEOs’ strategies when optimizing for these Snippets.

Historically, pages listed as Featured Snippets would also appear in standard search results for that query – this was known as featured Snippet Deduplication.

This update removes this feature; instead, websites which receive Featured Snippets will only appear once in SERP results.

4. Google’s In-Depth Articles

SEO is an ever-evolving field and there is always something new to learn. Staying current on SEO news, research and best practices is vitally important if one wishes to optimize their website effectively.

Google appears to be featuring articles written by reputable publishers for searches related to broad topics like censorship, physics and capital punishment. Unfortunately, however, its not clear which factors will dictate whether an article makes this special search feature.

5. Google’s Hummingbird Update

Hummingbird was another significant algorithm change to significantly alter many websites; unlike its predecessors Panda and Penguin, however, Hummingbird didn’t penalise certain keywords or penalise websites directly.

Instead, they investigated the overall meaning of search queries to provide relevant results – this process is referred to as semantic search.

Prioritising helpful content and making mobile-friendly websites even more essential.

6. Google’s Knowledge Graph Update

Google uses its Knowledge Graph as a repository of knowledge to answer search queries, drawing from reliable sources like Wikipedia and CIA World Factbook.

Google understands search queries better, providing results which are more pertinent to their users – great news for SEOs who specialize in content marketing!

7. Google’s RankBrain Update

Google RankBrain is a machine learning algorithm developed to assist search engines in comprehending complex or ambiguous user queries. As part of Hummingbird, RankBrain has been widely recognized for improving results by understanding multiple-word searches by comprehending meaning of words involved.

As opposed to previous algorithm updates, RankBrain should not require major alterations to your SEO strategy; however, it’s wise to keep an eye out for any possible updates to this algorithm.

8. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Update

Google’s Mobile-friendly update caused shockwaves in SEO circles when it rewarded mobile-friendly pages in search results while penalizing those that weren’t.

This update only affects searches made using mobile devices, making optimization for mobile search all the more essential to ensuring customers have an optimal experience when looking up your business online.

9. Google’s AMP Update

AMP pages provide publishers with an ultralight page format for mobile publishing, which enables publishers to load content faster on mobile devices. Unfortunately, however, there can be drawbacks to AMP. Recently, Brave made headlines over how these pages track data and violate privacy. DuckDuckGo also shares these concerns.

Google now mandates websites use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for inclusion in the Top Stories carousel and search results, although no preference will be shown towards AMP pages in terms of speed or user experience.

10. Google’s Penguin Update

Google’s Penguin Update seeks to combat webspam by penalizing pages using over optimized SEO strategies such as link schemes, private blog networks, keyword stuffing or any other black-hat techniques.

Since its initial roll-out in April 2012, Google’s Penguin algorithm has undergone multiple officially announced updates. As part of Google’s core ranking algorithm since September 2016, Penguin now acts in real time; meaning sites affected will no longer need to be refreshed periodically.