November 2021 Spam Update
Google has confirmed that it has started the rollout of the Spam Update for November. Spam update, like the core updates that Google launch is intended to improve the quality of search results by weeding out sites that the algorithms think is spammy.
The update will take a week to complete the rollout and it’s possible that a few sites may find ranking fluctuations during and after the rollout of this new algorithm update.
Websites that does White Hat SEO doesn’t have to worry much as this update can do more good than harm. That said, sites that indulge in SEO practices that Google deems as spammy may face drop in rankings.
Google announcement on Twitter reads “As part of our regular work to improve results, we’ve released a spam update to our systems. This November 2021 spam update should be fully rolled out within a week. We encourage sites to follow our best practices for Search.”
Page Experience Update Rollout Completed (June 16, 2021)
After three months of gradual rollout, Google has now confirmed that the Page Experience Update, which will add Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor, has been completely rolled out.
The official twitter handle of Google Search Central tweeted, “The page experience rollout is complete now, including updates to Top Stories mobile carousel. Changes to Google News app have started to rollout as well and will be complete in a week or so.”
Even though the update was schedule to be complete by August, it seems like Google missed that deadline by a month.
The page experience signals of Google now include:
- Core Web Vitals
- HTTPS
- Mobile-Friendliness
- Intrusive Interstitial Guidelines
These signals combined will now play a vital role in deciding the rankings of websites.
The page experience factor will be critical for search results that has multiple sites providing relevant information. Starting now, Google’s algorithm will evaluate the page experience signal and rank higher pages that has better user experience.
July 2021 Link Spam Update
Links are back in the spotlight with Google announcing the rollout of the link spam update.
The latest algorithm update has started rolling out and the impact is expected to be broad and across all languages that Google supports.
According to the official note from Google, the update is intended to further scrutinize the quality of the outbound links within a site.
The explanation says Google has been finding more and more websites using outbound links as a means to monetize their website.
Though such monetization is allowed in some instances, like for an affiliate site, Google wants such sites to make use of the different rel attributes to mark the type of the outbound link.
Unlike the past link updates, the infamous one being Penguin, this new update is not intended to immediately penalize the website. However, what it does is “nullify” the undue advantage that some sites enjoy by building low-quality backlinks.
Like some of the updates that Google recently launched, the link spam update will also be rolled out in a span of two weeks.
The official announcement says, “this algorithm update, which will roll out across the next two weeks, is even more effective at identifying and nullifying link spam more broadly, across multiple languages. Sites taking part in link spam will see changes in Search as those links are re-assessed by our algorithms.”
What this means is there are chances websites that overtly used spammy link-building practices will see a drop in rankings after the rollout.
Through its announcement, Google is sending out a warning to websites that use spammy practices and it’s almost certain that a few sites will start seeing massive fluctuation in rankings after the rollout.
July 2021 Core Update
Google has announced that the rollout of the July 2021 Core Update has started and it’s going to make its landslide impact on search results soon.
The official announcement came via the official Twitter handle of SearchLiaison and the details remain similar to other Core Updates.
The update will take 1-2 weeks for the complete rollout but websites may start experiencing fluctuations within a few days, considering the usual pattern.
We will keep you posted with the update and the sites that were impacted. As usual, the Core Updates are quality updates intended to help websites with high-quality relevant content.
If you see a drop in rankings it doesn’t mean your website has any major flaw but it just means that somebody has better content published.
To give a bit more perspective, the July update was supposed to be launched along with the June Update. However, due to a few modules that required more perfection, the search engine giant decided to roll it in July.
Looking at the fluctuations we are seeing on algorithm sensors, the update seems to be massive, which means a lot of websites should have experienced either a jump in traffic or a drop considering the changes in the keyword rankings.
