We live in a world where with every minute that goes by something is becoming obsolete, being expelled. An object or an idea is now trending and ends up in the trash in no time at all.
With the ever-changing technologies in the market, Google needs to keep updating its algorithms to provide its users with the most accurate and relevant search results. Each algorithm update is created to improve the user’s experience and help them find the information as quickly as possible.
Let’s take a look at the latest Google algorithm updates in 2021.
1. Passage ranking
The Passage Ranking Update was introduced on February 10, 2021. With the help of an artificial intelligence strategy, Google can now index not only websites, but also individual paragraphs and sentences on these pages, so that certain passages can be displayed as featured snippets. With this update, the goal is to have all specific queries answered quickly instead of having the user go through multiple web pages.
2. About this result
This results update was started in February 2021. Google provides additional context for individual search results so that users can determine which results are most helpful to them.
About us box shares:
- The date the site of the page was first indexed by Google
- Your connection to the site, whether it is secure or not
- The terms you searched for appear on the page
- Other websites with similar search terms link to the page
- The language of the page
- Whether the search appears relevant to this search in many regions
- If you have a Wikipedia reference, a brief description of the page will be shown
The “About This Score” field does not affect your ranking, but provides you with a list of facts about the website.
3. Complete update of the Mobile First Index
Google has put a significant effort into not only returning accurate search results for mobile searches, but also prioritizing rankings based on which websites are performing best on mobile.
Let’s get the background to fully understand this update. In 2015, Google began to attach more importance to the ranking factor mobile phone friendliness. The speed update took place in 2018, in which mobile speed became a ranking factor.
On July 1, 2019, mobile-first indexing became the standard for all new websites (which means that Google mainly uses the mobile version of your website’s content for indexing and ranking) and it became the standard for all websites in March 2021. old and new.
How do you optimize for mobile-first indexing?
- Make sure your website is accessible to Google.
- Make sure the content is the same on desktop and mobile device.
- Review your structured data.
- Follow Google’s recommendations.
- Stay up to date with mobile errors.
4. Update of product reviews
Google announced that it will be releasing its algorithm update for product reviews on April 8, 2021 for Products.
Rather than just focusing on the sales aspect, leave the review, which is purely informative and will prove fruitful for the audience upon purchase.
The following example explains how two websites gave their product reviews.
A: The content is purely sales oriented.
B: The content is of a purely informative nature.
5. MUM (Multitask Unified Model) update
Google’s MUM update, released in June 2021, aims to meet modern search needs by using an AI algorithm to improve online search functionality. Google can now understand 75 different languages and offer solutions that are not only based on text content, but also on the interpretation of images, videos and podcasts.
MUM offers users the most complete and complete search experience and answers even the most complex queries.
Example:
So instead of searching:
“When is the best time to travel to Europe?” Then
“Which places in Europe offer the best adventure experience?”, Then
“Whether I should plan a leisure or adventure trip to Europe?”
You can search;
“I want to go to Europe for leisure in July; Do I also have opportunities for an adventure trip? ”And find out everything in one search.
6. Link spam update
Google announced the launch of its new algorithm update – Link Spam Update – on July 26, 2021. The algorithm update focuses on detecting and eliminating unnatural link spam.
Link spam updates focus on three aspects – paid links, affiliate links, and sponsored guest posts.
Tips to protect your website from spammers:
- Update your website’s SSL certificate.
- Use the Google Search Console for security issues and manual action reports.
- Perform regular cleanup of suspected spam actions, such as: B. multiple requests from one IP address.
- Use the index to prevent Google from indexing low trust pages and mark the links as not following.
7. Updating the site experience
On June 16, 2021, Google introduced the Page Experience Update. This update aims to give users a better experience by prioritizing pages that offer high quality page performance that offers fast load time, no drift, and a stable page. Since 2010, Google has always had some page experience metrics, but with the 2021 Page Experience update, Google is now rolling out new metrics that measure both speed and overall page experience.
These new metrics are called Core Web Vitals.
Core Web Vitals includes:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): How quickly the main content of the page loads.
- First Input Delay (FID): How quickly a webpage reacts to the user’s first action on the page.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): How stable the web page layout is (i.e. elements don’t bounce around unexpectedly).
8. Update of the page title
On August 24, 2021, Google confirmed that it had introduced a new system, the Page Title Update, which focuses more on precisely describing the content of a page than on adapting to the query made by the searcher. Website developers used to set these headlines to make sure they accurately reflected the brand and page content.
However, this update has not been warmly received as it allows Google to completely ignore page title tags if it believes they do not display the content of the pages correctly, which has caused significant problems for many website owners. It takes into account the main heading (H1), the other headings on the page, the body text, and other internal link text.
Google is constantly changing and updating its algorithm to better serve the audience with what they need. Hence, as a website owner, you need to develop high quality content and focus on improving the technical factors of your website. You also need to check your website regularly and keep an eye on your analytics so that you can review your website’s performance and follow the latest practices.
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