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Welcome to "Keeping Up With Google" - your go-to source to keep tabs on the recent happenings of the world’s largest search engine!
This month’s edition will highlight the late October and early November Google updates and related discussions that took place in X (Twitter).
If you are a digital marketer, advertiser, business owner, or individual with a keen interest in keeping up on significant Google updates, we are here to condense the information to help you stay on top of your game.
The Google Search Spam Updates
Following the September helpful content update and the October spam update, Google rolled out a core update in November 2023.
This core update is an attempt to improve the ranking system. This update also aims to refresh the way that the Google review system works. This way, Google can deliver more legitimate, authoritative, and insightful reviews to its users.
The update is not yet fully rolled out, and you can expect to see the impact in the coming two weeks.
What is the Google Review System?
The Google Review system analyzes and evaluates review content like comparisons, product recommendations, and feedback that helps readers understand the quality, relevance, and usefulness of a product(s). The goal of the review system is to find relevant content and present it to the readers to help them make a sound decision.
This update is highly relevant to bloggers and brands that create comparison articles. If you have a lot of review content on your website, chances are that the review system will evaluate your content at the site level.
How does this update impact your website?
"Content that was impacted by a review update might not recover until the next update is released", says Google. If your review content is not up to the mark, you may see a hit in the ranking. However, Google also states that if you're performing well in other aspects, you might see an improvement in ranking even after being affected by the Google Core Update. This is because the review system is one of many factors that determine your position in the SERP.
In Closing
Back-to-back core updates came as a surprise to most SEO professionals and enthusiasts. However, Google is on its way to delivering the most relevant and appropriate content to its users.
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, staying attuned to these updates and aligning content strategies with user-centric approaches will be pivotal for marketers, content creators, and publishers.
For further updates, make sure to follow along with Keeping Up with Google at Scalenut.