On 3rd December 2020, Google announced the long-awaited December 2020 Core update unexpectedly, after several months of anticipation among the online marketing community. Here you can view SEO Updates of 2020.
The most recent core update was launched on 4th May 2020, creating a 7-month gap for website owners who were adversely impacted to attempt to make a few changes to their websites and get back in Google’s good graces.
2020 was a special year for SEO experts not just because of Google’s core updates, but also due to important shifts that took place in the search results.
For those site owners who have felt the impact of Google’s recent core updates, it has become clear that recovering rankings and traffic is generally not possible until the next core update is announced.
While small, incremental profits may be attainable during the interim phase, it is usually not until the announcement of the next core update that full or partial recoveries are possible. For depth understanding of SEO & updates you may join professional-level SEO training or you choose career-oriented digital marketing courses in Bangalore.
What is a Google Broad Core Update?
A Google Broad Core Update is an algorithm update that can affect the search visibility of several websites. Every time an update is announced, Google reconsiders that SERP Ranking of sites based on expertise, trustworthiness, and authoritativeness.
- Unlike the regular algorithm updates, the broad core update comes with a far-reaching effect.
- Variation in ranking positions can be found for search queries across the world
- The update enhances contextual results for the search queries
- There are no fixes for websites that were earlier hurt by the Google update
- The fix is to enhance the quality of the content
Let us have a look at the Google SEO Algorithm Updates of 2020
Google Algorithm Update- December 2020 Core Update
The announcement of the December 2020 Core update is not officially finished. Still, the casualties caused by this new Google Broad core update seems to be huge.
At least by having a look at the tweets, and significantly, the algorithm trackers, it seems like a lot of websites were affected. But there is always a positive side to this as many websites that were not ranking high are now in the top position, which is a good sign.
Depending on what we know till now, looking at the forum discussions and the SEO community’s thoughts, the Update was more important than what we saw last May. Anyway, it is quite clear that the rollout had a worldwide impact, with nearly all industries seeing enormous SERP fluctuations.
The tweet that announced the rollout was quite straight forward as it mentioned the complete rollout will take or two weeks, which means the chances that you will see in the initial stage might be temporary, and the results might be different when the rollout gets over.
So, keep up your spirits and wait till the rollout gets completed before making any final decision.
Putting an end to the long seven-month wait of SEO’s, Google announced that the December 2020 Core Update will be rolled on December 3rd.
The Twitter handle of the official Search Liaison made the pre-announcement about this update. The tweet said, “Later today, we are realizing a broad core algorithm update, as we do repeatedly during a year. It is referred to as The December 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such Google updates remains as we have covered earlier.”
The directives for the webmasters remain an equivalent as Google has earlier announced that Broad Core Algorithm updates are meant to re-evaluate the standard of pages currently ranking on Google.
This means that the websites that were not ranking higher on Google even after publishing high-quality content will find a ranking boost.
However, the sites that see a fall in rankings must find the reasons that could have caused it.
As per Google, a fall in rankings after the Google core update does not mean that the website or the content in it is bad.
The search giant says it could be just that someone has published an updated content or added fresh content, which the users are more fascinated in reading.
The announcement that was made initially was just an alert. The rollout will start later during the day and is expected to last for some days, as has been the case earlier.
What makes this update more important is that it comes after a pause of more than seven months. Since late 2018, it has been a pattern for Google to announce an update every 3 months
Unconfirmed Google Algorithm Update – 16th August 2020
Some days after Google faced the heat because of a bug within its Caffeine Algorithm that caused immaterial results to appear on SERPs, the search engine now seems to have launched an important algorithm update.
As per the data retrieved from algorithm trackers, the recent update, which remains to be unconfirmed, has created a strong confusion in the search results. This means that many websites may have noticed important changes in the organic traffic list.
This type of high SERP fluctuation is generally the result of Google making significant changes to its algorithm as it does plenty of times every year. Generally, these unannounced huge changes are precursors to an impending broad core update.
Unconfirmed Google Algorithm Update – 23rd June 2020
We all know that Google has a history of rolling back some of the signals after the announcement of the Broad Core Update. However, these changes are not announced, and it is just through the sensors that we come to know about the SERP changes.
It looks like Google has rolled back some signals of May Core Update on the 23rd of June as we have seen sites getting hit by the last Broad Core Update getting ranking enhancements.
Google begins to roll out May 2020 Core Update- 4th May 2020
After 2 months of recess, the SEO community must brace for an additional Google Broad Core Algorithm Update with changes in SEO trends. Announcing the roll-out of the recent core update, the Official Search Liaison Twitter handles.
Unlike the regular updates launched by Google, the broad core algorithm update has huge implications as it is tarnished for shuffling the organic results, which in turn causes fluctuations in the organic rankings of the sites.
However, Google says, there is no fix if a broad core algorithm update hit you. The reason for the fall in the organic ranking is not because your site has some serious SEO issues, but it is the result of Google finding better results for search queries.
Unconfirmed Algorithm Update – 8th to 13th February 2020
We know that there are thousands of algorithm tweaks that happen every single year. However, the one that has occurred during the last week seems to be as important as a broad core algorithm update.
Announcing significant algorithm updates before its announcement is a habit that Google has been following for the last 2 years. Thanks to the Search Liaison Twitter handle has been doing a good job, keeping the webmasters informed about the impending updates.
However, it seems like an update with as much or even more impact than a Google Broad Core Algorithm update was announced last week- unnoticed.
Featured Snippet Algorithm Update – 23rd January 2020
Officials of Google announced that it has rolled out an algorithm update that will restrict URLs that are displayed in the featured snippet to appear again within the initial ten organic search results.
Google’s Danny Sullivan, while answering a question on Twitter confirmed that a webpage that gets featured in the snippet position #0 position, will not show up again in the list.
According to Danny Sullivan, the new change in the algorithm will make sure the Search Results page is not cluttered, and just relevant information is displayed.
He also confirmed that the featured snippet will be considered as one of the ten listings on the SERP.
Google January 2020 Broad Core Algorithm Update
As announced on 13th January, Google announced its first Algorithm Update of 2020. The importance of this algorithm update increases as the search engine confirmed that the new Google Update is a broad core algorithm update.
Many sectors got affected by the 2020 Google Algorithm Update. According to a study by the Search Engine Land, the sectors that experienced major changes after the May 2020 Core Update are Health, Travel, and Real Estate. But after those categories, the industries that saw the maximum changes in the SERP ratings were “Pets and Animals” and “People and Society.”
No matter whichever industry you are in, the May and December 2020 Google Core Updates should encourage you to have a look at your online marketing practices and re-calculate. Are you generating high-quality and informative content that engages as well as offers real value to your target audience? Are you using backlinks in the form of a support strategy instead of your only strategy? The good news about Google Algorithm Update is that if you have been concentrating on curating high-quality content, you will be rewarded in the SERPs. And as per the experts, this trend will continue as Google’s algorithms work to make the user experience as helpful and smooth as possible. So, keep doing the good work!
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