Search Engine Optimization is a reletively new field that has exponentially grown in relevance and importance. As this industry continues to grow, it will be reliant on the updates, rules, and guidelines that the various search engines choose to implement. Focusing specifically on Google, there have been several updates that have dramatically changed the playing field for website optimization. While this blog post won’t talk about those historic updates, I did want to touch on the most recent update, and explore how this update will affect SEO.
This update was initially rolled out on March 13th, but the changes may take a few weeks to fully take effect. This is one of the standard core updates that take place several times throughout the year and are “designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites.” (Google). This seems like a very basic definition, of Google essentially trying to just become better at doing what they are doing.
However, some of these updates have had major changes to the Google algorithm. to avoid catching people off guard, Google announces these updates and what to expect, providing enough time for changes to be made and websites edited. With this specific update, Google did not provide much extra information, but they do offer some advice on how to respond if the core updates result in your site being negatively impacted.
One thing that they noted is that there are “no specific actions to take to recover… you may see some recovery between core updates, but the biggest change would be after another core update” (Search Engine Land). Unfortunately, this sounds like it might just be a “hang tight, hopefully everything will get resolved” situation, which can be frustrating for business owners whose sites are negatively affected by the update. Reading the comments on Google’s LinkedIn Press Release, it seems like many SEO specialists are frustrated with this update, with some tagging others saying “get ready,” and “here we go again.”
The same article from Search Engine Land ultimately closes with the advice to “write helpful content for people and not to rank in search engines,” which echos everything that we have learned in class so far. The lack of clarity from Google in regards to how this new update with affect SEO is leading many to be irritated, especially those who devote their career to optimization, just for the standards to be changed so frequently.
Were you surprised by the overall reaction to this update? What types of things do you think would actually be helpful in an update?
3 Responses
Wow, that’s interesting, I can definitely see how frustrating it could be for those who depend on SEO when this keeps changing so rapidly. I think it’s good that they are trying to improve the methods of SEO, and that it might take a while to do so. Hopefully, it will actually benefit us all by that point in time with a greater understanding of the SEO world itself.
Great post Kaitlyn, I liked all of the different sources you referenced! I find it surprising that Google has been rather vague about what the update entails. I think this could be frustrating for those who rely on SEO, but it sounds like Google will give users suggestions of what to do if it ends up creating negative results.
Nice post, Kaitlyn! It’s very insightful! I agree with Abby, echoing that this would be super frustrating for those who rely on SEO for brand visibility and engaging their target audience. You do mention how Google suggests some changes if the new updates impact your website negatively, but we can wait and see how much this update affects those that utilize SEO.