Trying to figure out Google’s algorithm can feel like hunting something that changes its colors constantly. They are always trying to figure out how to get the best results for people, and it can be hard to wrap one’s arms around it. This post is here to help figure out the 2021 Google algorithm updates.
One thing to remember is that this all is continually evolving. Google’s algorithm does not stay static for very long – it’s thought to change up to 600 times a year. While they are generally tweaks, there can be some really big adjustments that can dramatically affect how web pages rank.
Read on to see what they did.
Spam Updates
One of the main things that the company decided to tackle was spam. They did this with not one but two rollouts that featured a new AI that was designed to ferret out would-be spammers that try to game the rankings.
Getting Rid of Domain Crowding
Another tactic that they wanted to get rid of is domain crowding, where one domain with different endings, like .com, .uk. ca would all be listed. These supposedly went down a lot after an update.
The June/July Update
This was an update that was to the core algorithm. The rollout led people scrambling to figure out what those changes were so that their rankings wouldn’t plummet. Here’s what they came up with:
- Google wants to rank quality links more
- They aim to get answers for questions that their users ask (People Also Ask)
- Their quest to reduce low quality search results is working some but still needs refining.
It’s hard to determine what Google will work on next, but here are some things they may try to work on:
- Improving the quality of search results for users from other countries
- Figuring out how to stop highly ranking scraper sites that trawl the snippet winners
- Expanding its way of determining rankings without having to look through a site for clues about what it does
The thing that some site owners need to do is remember that if they lose rankings, it doesn’t mean that they necessarily made a mistake – Google just changed how they interpret certain things.
One thing to do is to analyze the ranking changes, figure out what happened and then make the site changes. Trying to do it on the fly can only lead to frustration. Just stay diligent and be ready for the next core algorithm change… whenever it may be.