Google Core Algorithm Updates Continue As SEOs Notice Weekend Google Update

Almost exactly like the week before, many SEOs and webmasters this weekend reported major ranking changes in Google.

Google was quick to answer that this weekend was the same as last, with ongoing updates to their core algorithm.

Gary Illyes from Google said on Twitter this morning that the weekend fluctuations were “core algorithm” and “not Penguin.”

Many webmasters are waiting for a Google Penguin update, and we are expecting it to happen early this year. So when we see major fluctuations, some are quick to say it is Penguin.

But Google is telling us this is not Penguin but rather just common core ranking algorithm updates.

The thing is, the past week or so has been pretty volatile in the search results for both the automated tracking tools and the chatter in the community. But again, Google is saying it is not Penguin, it is core.

We have asked Google for more on these latest updates, and if we hear back, we will update you, but for now, we still do not have a Penguin update to report.

Google: Title Tags Are Not A Critical Ranking Signal

Another interesting question came up in a Google+ hangout from last week. Google's John Mueller said the title tag on the page is not as critical for ranking than the content on the page. In short, he explained that Google can rank a page with a missing title tag, but missing content makes it much harder for Google to rank.

As most SEOs know, content is critical for Google to know what the page is about. But the title tag can often seal the deal for which keywords the page should rank for. All John is saying is that not having a title tag won't prevent the page from ranking, but not having content on the page can.

Source : https://www.seroundtable.com

Google: Why It Is So Hard To Confirm All Algorithm Updates

A couple hours ago, Google's Andrey Lipattsev a Search Quality Senior Strategist participated in a Q&A with Bill Slawski, Ammon Johns, Eric Enge and Anton Shulke.

Andrey Lipattsev gave one of the most detailed explanations on why it is so hard for Google to confirm or deny algorithmic updates, including why there was so much confusion around what it means that an algorithm is part of the core algorithm. Let me summarize the long explanations and then share transcripts (I type fast) and the video):

What Does Core Mean?

In short, it means that the algorithm that is part of the core algorithm is now pretty solid and consistent that it can just join the family of algorithms that Google knows works. Google will not update it that often anymore, they trust it just works. It will continue to run, just like PageRank runs.

In fact, he said he doesn't believe there is a list of which algorithms are part of core and which are not.

Why It's Hard To Confirm Some Update

Google is constantly making changes, some are experiments, some are samples, some are larger updates as well. Within some algorithms, they might make tweaks daily, weekly, monthly. Some algorithms they may launch once and not update it again. We've seen examples of the algorithms that get tweaked and then not get updated for a while with Penguin. With Penguin it was updated a lot after Penguin 3.0 launched and then laid dead for 15+ months.

In addition, some algorithms use continuous crawl data, some crawl their own data periodically, some have their own fetch systems. The cycles this happens can be on a pattern or sporadic or never, it depends on each element.

Finally, if Google makes a tweak to one line of code, is that an update. Or does it take 50 lines of code, 500 or 5,000 lines of code. When is it enough of a tweak to call it an update?

Source : https://www.seroundtable.com