Latest Google Algorithm Updates – Latest SEO Strategies & Techniques
December 30, 2016
Rajat Tyagi
Get all the latest updates and News about SEO. We are listing the strategies and techniques to be adopted.
Yester years proved to be full of roller-coaster rides for the internet marketing agencies. By last year end, various strategies started surfacing in different spheres of the digital industry. Techmagnate, as a responsible digital marketing agency, is hereby compiling all the major News, strategies and techniques for you.
#24 Update – DA 2.0’ – The New Update From Moz!
Moz has rolled out a new and improved Domain Authority on March 5th, 2019! According to the Moz website, “the new domain authority is bringing more accurate predictions of search performance”.
Digital marketing experts know that Domain Authority works as a predictive measure of ranking ability, and the update saw many websites struggling with DA fluctuations. New and advanced algorithms will now measure the site strength before calculating a ranking. The new algo will use a neural network to detect link manipulation and give a more nuanced ranking to the website. Moz adds that the changes in their DA2.0 do not reflect the changes made to their link building strategy.
In fact, the new updates to the Moz algorithm make it a comparative statistic – what does this mean for you, you can now compare your DA with your competitors’ DA as well to have an accurate picture of where you stand.
In the end, Moz has sounded a warning to all those using link spamming, it will keep improving the Domain Authority and make it much more responsive to Google’s changes.
#23 Update – Google Rolls Out Broad Core Algorithm Update on 1st Aug’2018
Google, the world’s most used search engine, is every eager to keep webmasters, experts and businesses on their toes. They do so to award quality. Hence, this update – broad core algorithm update – can either be a pleasant or an unpleasant surprise, as page rankings have once again shifted.
A new Google Update always changes website rank called the Broad Core Algorithm update, is no different. Rolled out on 1 st August 2018, businesses and their teams would have seen a shift in rankings. Depending on the shift in your ranking, it could be good or bad – “there is no fix a webmaster can use to restore the rankings”.
What does this mean for businesses?
You need to start focusing on creating quality content!
David Sullivan, a Google Liaison, announced the update in a tweet. According to Danny Sullivan of Google, “It is the same boring answer we give every time, focus on creating quality content.” However, remember, more than 200 factors are affecting the rating of your webpage. For example, the value of using your keyword in the H1 tag has increased by 2% while using it in the title tag has reduced by 9%.
But, in the end, it all boils down to how the content you are creating will be able to meet the intent for which a user raised the query.
#22 Update – You Will Get 16 Months Data on Google Search Console Analytics API
A tweet by the world’s largest search engine Google has set the Digital Marketing Industry abuzz with excitement. It has announced that the new search beta console which was rolled out in Jan 2018 now supports 16 months of data instead of three months. Digital marketing experts depend on the keyword page of the search console to show which keywords trigger user queries for both organic and paid content.
What Does It Mean for The Digital Marketing Industry?
While three months data is good for trends, historic data and data patterns going back to 16 months can help plan activities around.
- Seasonal behavior
- Buying patterns
- Keyword triggers
- Search results
Data analysis of keyword triggers and user queries can be used to allow experts to identify customer intent and plan their campaigns accordingly.
What Remains the Same?
Though the industry has grown exponentially year-on-year for the last decade the use of data to identify consumer intent remains the same. The focus has shifted from increasing traffic to increasing relevant traffic, It can be summed up as – Attracting highly-relevant consumers by triggering response on most-searched keywords.
In other words, access to data, going back to one year and four months, will give a digital marketing agency the impetus to collate and analyse data. As they understand data patterns for attracting the right organic traffic, it is bound to create an impactful digital footprint.
#21 Update – Google Publishes Research on New Paraphrasing Algorithm
A published research on Google’s new Paraphrasing algorithm in May 2018 is going to shape how content gets optimised for the search engine in the future.
The new Google algorithm is designed to use ‘extractive and abstractive summaries’ to create paraphrased content. In short:
Extractive summaries + Abstractive summaries = Paraphrased content by Google
The Main Features of ‘extractive summaries’
- Based on the user’s intent, relevant content will be extracted from multiple blogs, articles or posts
- Important parts or sentences of an article or blog will be used to create snippets
The Main Feature of ‘abstractive summaries’
- Paraphrase the extracted content and make it easier and simpler for the user to understand.
What is unclear right now
- Will the algorithm link back to the multiple pages from which the content is extracted
- Will the abstracted content become a Google article
However, marketing experts agree, if the algorithm is well-executed, it will have a
- Negative Impact — Small Blogs
- Positive Impact —- Video Marketing
- Neutral — “Money”/”Non-informative” keywords
#20 Google is Rolling Out ‘Mobile First Indexing’
Mobile-first indexing is one of the important updates in 2018 by Google. In this update, Google crawlers will now give preference to mobile website which will directly impact rankings of both mobile and desktop.
Don’t worry yet – if you do not have a mobile-friendly website. As of now, this update is rolled out only for a few sites, which the search engine thinks have the capability to withstand the change without being severely affected. If a mobile website has AMP pages, Google will give preference to indexing non-AMP pages.
Google has smartly rolled out ‘mobile-first index’ instead of ‘mobile-only index’. Your desktop website continues to bring in value, though without being mobile-friendly, your Google rankings are likely to be affected. In other words, if you do not have a mobile-friendly website, you should start thinking of getting one.
Additional Read: Checklist for Google Mobile First Indexing
#19 Check Real Time Crowd in Any Store with Google’s “Crowd Control” Feature
Google introduced an additional feature termed as “Crowd Control” on Google Maps, which enables a real-time look at the locations you are planning to visit. This feature enables one to assess availability and business prospects.
This facility is available at your local restaurants, grocery store, pharmacy shop, supermarket, coffee shop, automobile servicing centre, and many others places.
#18 Use “Visual Sitelinks” Images in Sitelink Extensions for Mobile Search Ads
After experimenting with image extensions in Adwords, Google introduced this new feature in sitelink extensions, which is named as ‘Visual Sitelink’. In Google Ads sitelink extensions, images will also appear along with the text. This feature will be spotted on mobile phones only in a swipeable carousel manner.
#17 Google and Bing Sitemap File Size Limit Increased from 10 MB to 50 MB
Earlier the limit of sitemap file size was restricted to 10 MB only. But, Google and Bing have comprehended the difficulty of the websites with long URLs, so, they increased the file size limit of sitemaps files by 400%.
Both the search engines have taken efforts to increase the file size limit of Sitemaps files, so that one can upload the uncompressed version of Sitemaps up to 50 MB.
#16 Use Bing Ads Bot for Better Campaign Management
Bing has come up with a new idea of giving every Bing Ads advertiser access to a virtual account manager. With the help of Microsoft, they have built up a bot that will help the advertisers to manage their ad campaigns more effectively. This will assist the marketers in designing better ads.
#15 Assign Audience Lists at Campaign Level in Google AdWords with “Audience Targeting”
A new strategical update under Google AdWords enables advertisers to assign audience lists of his own choice at the very campaign level, instead of ad groups. Advertisers can now select desired audiences for different ads at Google AdWords. This feature has provided bid adjustments in bulk.
#14 Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior
We have learnt that consumers prefer to do local searches to get the exact data before visiting the store. For this reason Google has introduced the new feature of ‘Crowd Control’. But it has been noticed that advertisers are struggling to design local ads because they are failing to map the local search behavior. As the behavior of a user searching “ppc company in Mumbai” might be different from a user searching for “ppc company in Chennai“. Therefore, advertisers should not struggle in the same way as they used to do in the previous years. First, they should understand consumers’ behavior and psychology in local searches and then create the appropriate form of local ads.
#13 How Content Marketing will Affect e-Commerce Industry
e-Commerce industry is flourishing with the trend of online shopping. The market competition to grab the attention of the customers is also heating up. To attract your prospects at different stages of their buying cycles, content serves as the main tool. This update indicates that you need to create more and more content and market it properly through different channels. But this should be done with a clear and well-defined strategy for content marketing.
Additional Read: Content Marketing Trends
#12 How to do Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) indicates the process when your website visitors are directed towards a particular task that you want them to do. After directing the visitor to a particular task, it should meet the eye as far as this process is concerned. Then it will be considered as a complete process of CRO. But, trends signifies that first you need to be aware about how CRO functions. This will enable you to use CRO to increase your revenue and professional goals.
#11 8 Crucial Ranking Factors
The good news is once we are clear with the concept of content. We can understand what “great, rich content” should be like. It is necessary to understand what should be included and what to be excluded in a quality content. This is because nothing else can create a strong impact like a rich content.
#10 14 Point Local Marketing Checklist
Local Marketing has grown exponentially in relevance with a sharp increase in searches. Search marketing significance has drastically grown recently. Experts have revealed two major reasons for this transition. One is that more and more local searches are being conducted on mobile devices wherein location plays a key role. The second is that Google itself has been giving a lot of importance to organic local results even for desktop searches.
#9 9 Important Ranking Factors
Finally, those 9 useful ranking factors have been revealed. Marketing professionals will not have to be puzzled in search of that valuable ranking factors anymore.
Earlier they were always concerned about the ranking factors, as they keep on changing with the periodic algorithm updates rolled out by the search engines. To refine the search results, it is necessary for Google to come up with algorithm updates.
Today, there is no need to be confused with their strategies and techniques. ranking factors will continue to act as the base of marketing pillars in spite of whatever search engine updates.
#8 Create Quality Backlinks with “Reverse Image Promotion”
Reverse Image Promotion was adopted last year. It has been revealed that using graphics just for ornamental purposes won’t benefit the site much. However, if we utilize graphics in an interactive and interesting manner, it may be a useful element that people will willing share.
Reverse image search will also help us know who is using our images and graphics without permission. In this way, it will not only give you due credits but will also provide you a bonus backlink.
Additional Read: Create Quality Backlinks with “Reverse Image Promotion”
#7 Find the Hidden Treasure of Internet Marketing from these Famous Blog Posts
Some essential factors of internet marketing that were buried under the soil of ignorance of the professional were exposed recently. What matters is focusing on clients and customers demands; everything else is just details.
Every sphere of digital marketing is important that needs special attention and requires specialized treatment for each one of them.
#6 Mobile Marketing: 5 Best Practices to Follow
Digital Marketers need to ensure their mobile sites are fully optimized for the users’ experience. To solve these complexities related to mobile marketing, this update had came into place. Internet Marketers used to struggle a lot to reach the limit where the website will be fully mobile-friendly. But, the secret route has been recently revealed to develop the best mobile website.
#5 10 Best Plugins for WordPress ECommerce Websites
WordPress has been around over a decade as per its official website history, and ever since its inception, the platform has dedicated itself to helping individuals (and businesses) get the word out and build a space of their own on the World Wide Web.
Introduction of these 10 Plugins for WP ECommerce Sites will definitely be counted as one of the great updates.
#4 Top Tips for eCommerce Success
It seems no question will remain unanswered. When people at Internet Retail Expo, came up with the question of how to do marketing for eCommerce sites, it was decently answered by an expert. Many have similar doubts in their mind. In order to clear all kinds of confusions, some permanent solutions have come into light.
#3 SEO is Changing Fast, Let’s Know How
While researching latest strategies and techniques that are influencing the search engine rankings of websites in the current scenario, it has been noticed that search results is changing fast. It has almost revolutionized the entire phenomenon. Content and user experience has been considered as the top most ranking trends. All prominent bloggers and agencies have also agreed to this fact. It indicates that the future of search marketing is going to be different from what it’s today.
Google has also given an indication as they are doing some water testing currently and some big changes are just around the corner.
#2 10 Most Recommended Tools
Google is updating its algorithm way too frequently. It is a hard nut to crack for any website to be well optimized with all these new changes. Hence, it is getting evident that we need to pull up our socks and bring some changes to our SEO strategies. So, it is vital to get hold of the right tools, in order to perform advanced analysis for higher ranking and better visibility in Google. This has dug out the top 10 tools that will be inevitable for search engine optimization.
#1 12 Trends and Tricks for a Better Marketing Planning
Just like the marketing tools, some tricks are also essential for planning a better campaign. People struggle with their plans, as all of them target to make their business stand out online.
This has led to the generation of 12 trends which is not only applicable this year but also beyond that. To improve a site’s performance, some tips and tricks need to be implemented so that one can keep a pace with the new and trends.
Now, that we have noted these 21 NEWS and updates with important strategies and techniques, it is clear that this year is not going to disappoint us. This is surely going to be a year full of updates and this will definitely bring new dimensions in creating better strategies.