Some analyses (such as those conducted by Malte Landwehr of Searchmetrics) indicate that websites that improved user signals gained in the eyes of the algorithm. This may indicate that Google also takes into account user behavior on the site. In the cited analysis, the sites that gained had lower bounce rates, longer time on the site, and more pages visited per user session.
One thing is certain. In order to maintain high positions, you need to take care of unique, high-quality content, adapt to the user's intentions (whether they need quick information or an article explaining the topic in depth) and ensure a positive experience when dealing with the site - non-invasive ads, a limited number of pop-ups or a satisfactory page loading speed.
Date introduced: March 12, 2019
Goal: Better match results to user intent
Who Benefits: Highly authoritative portals with a broad range of topics that offer a positive user experience.
Who lost: Niche sites that cover a small area of medicine and portals that negatively impact user experience (long page loads, excessive pop-up ads, intrusive ads).
Site Diversity Update
By entering a selected phrase, we get a set of search results in which a given domain appears once. There are cases where two or three places in the top ten, a strong, well-optimized domain. This usually happens with stores, where three pages can appear for one phrase - product, category and home page. Even less often do we have a situation where the search results are dominated by one domain.
The relatively recent Site Diversity update is designed to combat such anomalies . As of June 6, 2019, keyword search results will contain a maximum of two addresses from the same domain (although Google provides exceptions). Subdomains will be treated as part of domains, and the changes have only affected the main search engine.
Date introduced: June 6, 2019
Goal: Limit the number of search results from one domain to a maximum of two addresses
Who gained: Pages from further down in the search results (due to restrictions, they may appear higher in the search results)
Who lost: Sites that dominated SERPs for some queries (several results in the top 10)
June 2019 Core Update
With the arrival of June 2019, Google announced the first time in advance that it would update its search algorithm. On June 2, information about the planned implementation of the June update appeared via Twitter. The June 2019 Core Update - as it was called - was introduced the following day - June 3 - and the entire implementation process lasted until June 8.
As with other updates, there is no official information about what has actually been fixed or changed. Only signals from SEOs around the world allow us to assume what the update could have been about.
Among the biggest losers were portals such as dailymail.co.uk. and cnn.com. In the case of the latter, organic traffic losses are estimated at over 50%, and visibility on mobile devices has fallen by over 70%. The domain itself regained full visibility with a vengeance after an update in January 2020.
number of words in top 10 for cnn.com domain
Number of words in the top 10 for the cnn.com domain. There is a visible sharp drop in the number of phrases in the top 10 after the June update. A large increase, in turn, began to appear after the January update. Currently, since February 2020, the domain has been recording a continuous decline.
A certain connection to the previous major update was also noticed in the environment. Namely, some websites that suffered in March received compensation in visibility after the June update.
The main reasons for the declines are seen in poor UX on mobile devices, a large number of ads, slow site loading, and low-quality content. The questionable authority of the author of the publication was also important.
Questions have also arisen once again about how to exploring the social and economic impact of chinese canadians in canada protect against drops resulting from algorithm updates. Unfortunately, there is no golden mean. In such cases, it is important to consistently build high-quality content, take care of positive user experiences and maintain the service from a technical perspective. Even if a domain has suffered as a result of one update, it can receive a solid bonus in visibility with the next one.
Date introduced: June 3, 2019
Goal: Improve the quality of search results
Who gained: Sites that lost traffic as a result of the March update and those that maintain a positive user experience with high-quality content.
Who lost: Portals with excessive advertising, long waiting times for content to load, poor quality content or poor UX on mobile devices.
September 2019 Core Update
Another major update to Google's core algorithm in 2019. As with the previous two (March 2019 and June 2019), Google suggested a name here to avoid the confusion that arose with the March update.
Similar to other updates to the main algorithm, we can only guess what this update was about. Among the observations and analyses, there are those that speak of improving the position for sites with a strong link profile. In turn, other SEO specialists noticed that for some keywords, the TOP10 included sites with a weaker link profile, but with better content providing thorough topic coverage.
An interesting conclusion drawn from the analysis of the effects of the June update is the increased relevance of video content for some informative keywords. It was noticed, among other things, that pages that had long occupied the first places for these phrases dropped to position 4, and a carousel with videos jumped in their place. Although position 4 could still be treated as the first traditional organic result, the number of visits to the page could change dramatically as a result of such actions. Some phrases gained additional snippets - such as Feature Snippets or People Also Ask), which made it even more difficult for the user to reach organic results.
Worse still, the declines in organic hits did not result in declines in position monitoring tools, which have trouble taking into account additional SERP functionalities.
A month earlier, Google posted information on its webmaster blog about what to expect in the next updates and how to react to them. Google is constantly working on improving content ratings, which means that some sites lose and others gain as a result of the next updates. This means that sites that previously suffered may regain traffic with the next updates.
At the same time, Google notes that drops in search results do not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with our site. An example is a page with a ranking of the 100 best films. At the time of publication, it will be current and valuable. However, after a few years, it may not contain films that have been released in the meantime and that deserve to appear on this list. By updating the information contained in older articles, we can minimize the effects of subsequent updates.
Date introduced: September 24, 2019
Goal: Improve content quality ratings
Who benefited: Sites with weaker link profiles but better, comprehensive content, YouTube.
Who lost: Pages ranking for phrases that gained additional features in search results (video carousel, feature snippet, related questions).
