Google Algorithm Updates: Why and How to Track Them
Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2024 8:15 am
It has become official that Google algorithm updates occur thousands of times a year.
Navigating the unpredictable waters of Google Search can be difficult, so it’s crucial to stay on top of all the changes so you can adjust your SEO strategy as needed and in a timely manner.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the basics of Google algorithm updates. You’ll learn why and how to track changes, and what to do after an update is released.
How Does the Google Search Algorithm Work?
Before you start tracking changes, you first need to know how Google’s algorithm works. Depending on the platform, Google Search works in three stages :
Crawling: Google's automatic "crawlers" continually discover new URLs and download the text, images, and videos on those pages.
Indexing: Google tries to understand what a new page is about by analyzing and processing its content and structure. This information is stored in the Google index, which is a large database.
Serving results: When a user searches for a keyword or query, Google matches it with related pages in its index and returns results containing the best matches. This "relevance" is determined by a variety of factors.
What are Google Algorithm Updates?
Although the search process remains the same russia telephone number data Google frequently updates its algorithm to improve the quality of search results worldwide.
Many of these updates are minor and unimportant to website owners, but others are much more significant and can potentially hurt (or boost) your site’s rankings.
Here are some examples of recent updates confirmed by Google :
Useful content update (August 25, 2022): This update will favor genuinely useful, people-first content over low-value content written primarily for search engines.
Product reviews update (July 27, 2022): This update will improve Google's ability to identify and rank high-quality, in-depth product reviews in English.
Core update (May 2022): This update will improve the overall search process. While Google has not mentioned any details, they have announced this update to confirm the reason behind the noticeable drops or changes in rankings.
How often does Google update its algorithm?
In 2021 , Google released a total of 4,366 updates , each of which was carefully reviewed by data scientists and engineers before release .
The platform releases one or more small updates every day. Most of these changes are unnoticeable but help Google improve its performance.
Google also releases major or "major" updates several times a year. These updates are officially announced days or weeks before they're released.
Google Algorithm Updates
Why Should You Follow Google Algorithm Updates?
Website owners and SEO managers need to keep track of algorithm changes for various reasons.
First, these updates can impact your rankings, visibility, and traffic, which can impact your conversions and overall revenue. A slight drop in rankings for important keywords can often translate into thousands of dollars in losses.
Secondly, there may be updates that require you to change your content or SEO strategy. If you don’t, you’ll end up wasting tons of valuable time, money, and other resources.
Navigating the unpredictable waters of Google Search can be difficult, so it’s crucial to stay on top of all the changes so you can adjust your SEO strategy as needed and in a timely manner.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the basics of Google algorithm updates. You’ll learn why and how to track changes, and what to do after an update is released.
How Does the Google Search Algorithm Work?
Before you start tracking changes, you first need to know how Google’s algorithm works. Depending on the platform, Google Search works in three stages :
Crawling: Google's automatic "crawlers" continually discover new URLs and download the text, images, and videos on those pages.
Indexing: Google tries to understand what a new page is about by analyzing and processing its content and structure. This information is stored in the Google index, which is a large database.
Serving results: When a user searches for a keyword or query, Google matches it with related pages in its index and returns results containing the best matches. This "relevance" is determined by a variety of factors.
What are Google Algorithm Updates?
Although the search process remains the same russia telephone number data Google frequently updates its algorithm to improve the quality of search results worldwide.
Many of these updates are minor and unimportant to website owners, but others are much more significant and can potentially hurt (or boost) your site’s rankings.
Here are some examples of recent updates confirmed by Google :
Useful content update (August 25, 2022): This update will favor genuinely useful, people-first content over low-value content written primarily for search engines.
Product reviews update (July 27, 2022): This update will improve Google's ability to identify and rank high-quality, in-depth product reviews in English.
Core update (May 2022): This update will improve the overall search process. While Google has not mentioned any details, they have announced this update to confirm the reason behind the noticeable drops or changes in rankings.
How often does Google update its algorithm?
In 2021 , Google released a total of 4,366 updates , each of which was carefully reviewed by data scientists and engineers before release .
The platform releases one or more small updates every day. Most of these changes are unnoticeable but help Google improve its performance.
Google also releases major or "major" updates several times a year. These updates are officially announced days or weeks before they're released.
Google Algorithm Updates
Why Should You Follow Google Algorithm Updates?
Website owners and SEO managers need to keep track of algorithm changes for various reasons.
First, these updates can impact your rankings, visibility, and traffic, which can impact your conversions and overall revenue. A slight drop in rankings for important keywords can often translate into thousands of dollars in losses.
Secondly, there may be updates that require you to change your content or SEO strategy. If you don’t, you’ll end up wasting tons of valuable time, money, and other resources.