Read about the Google updates that have happened this year.
November 2023 Review Update: Enhancing Your Review Content
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital content, the November 2023 Review Update represents a pivotal moment. Launched on November 8, 2023, this algorithmic upgrade is set to transform the way we perceive online reviews and recommendations. This update aims to reward insightful analysis and original research authored by experts or enthusiasts, emphasising quality over quantity.
The primary focus of this update is on individual pages hosting articles, blog posts, or similar standalone content that offers recommendations, opinions, or in-depth analysis. It seeks to distinguish and elevate content that showcases expertise, presents evidence, and thoroughly explores the pros and cons of the subject matter.
November 2023 Broad Core Update: Shaping the Search Landscape
On November 2, 2023, Google introduced a significant core update, signalling its commitment to delivering valuable and dependable search results for users. This update has the potential to affect the overall traffic to your website, so it’s advisable to exercise patience and refrain from assessing its impacts until the update is fully rolled out.
Historically, these core updates take approximately two weeks to complete their full rollout. For additional insights on assessing the impact of core updates, you can refer to Google’s guidance provided here.
October 2023 Broad Core Update: Refining Content Assessment
The October 2023 Core Update, which was released on October 5, 2023, completed its broad core update rollout on October 19, 2023. Like its predecessors, this update was designed to enhance Google’s systems for assessing content quality across the web.
October 2023 Spam Update: Combatting Unwanted Content
Google took a proactive stance against spam on October 4, 2023, with its October 2023 spam update. This update targets an improvement in spam detection across multiple languages, including Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Chinese, and more.
September 2023 Helpful Content Update: Identifying Quality
On September 14, 2023, Google rolled out the September helpful content update. This algorithmic improvement focused on enhancing Google’s ability to identify helpful content. The last helpful content update was in December of 2022.
Google has thoughtfully provided a set of questions for self-assessment to help determine if your site was impacted by this algorithm update, which you can find here.
August 2023 Broad Core Update: A Content Evaluation Shift
August 22, 2023, witnessed the release of a broad core update by Google. These changes aimed at improving how Google assesses content quality overall. The adjustments might result in pages that were previously under-rewarded performing better in search results or vice versa.
April 2023 Review Update: Elevating Reviews
On April 12, 2023, Google rolled out the April 2023 Review Update, a significant algorithmic overhaul targeting reviews spanning products, services, destinations, games, movies, and related topics. It seeks to enhance user experience and search rankings by simplifying the process of finding relevant information within product and service reviews.
To align your content with this algorithm change, Google offers guidance on creating high-quality reviews. The essence of your content should be to showcase expertise, provide evidence, and offer a balanced discussion of the subject, helping users make informed decisions. Following best practices, such as evaluating from a user’s perspective, comparing similar options, and linking to useful resources, will contribute to a comprehensive and helpful review.
March 2023 Broad Core Update: A Universal Content Transformation
The March 2023 Broad Core Update is a pivotal algorithmic shift affecting all content types across regions and languages. Google’s intent with these changes is to improve the overall assessment of content quality.
This means that pages that were previously undervalued may now receive better rankings in search results. Importantly, this update does not target any specific pages or sites. Websites should concentrate on creating high-quality, high-value webpages, emphasising helpful content, excellent user experiences.
February 2023 Product Reviews Update: Elevating Ecommerce
The Google Product Reviews Update, which launched on February 21, 2023 targeted product reviews, urging businesses to generate high-quality content with valuable information for users. Ecommerce websites should prioritise optimization with proper product structured data and schema markup to align with this update’s objectives.
