le algorithm updates 2022: Product reviews, core updates, helpful content updates and spam updates //

The Google algorithm updates this year brought with them different stresses. There were fewer pandemic stressors and more recession-related stress. This year we had ten confirmed Google algorithm update confirmations, which is the same amount as in 2021. We had two of the new helpful content update ranking systems this year.

Similar to last year’s, Google also released two major algorithm updates at the close of the year.

Google has confirmed the algorithm update summary

This timeline shows all confirmed Google search algorithm updates for 2022. It allows you to visualize the changes over the years. Note that the two previous updates are still incomplete. I will update this story when they are complete.

Google’s core updates in May and September were major updates

May 2022 Core Update. Google’s first core update for 2022 was the May 20,22 core update. This update was released June 9, 2022. It took 15 days for it to be implemented. This update was large and quickly rolled out to many queries that data providers track. After the initial update, we did experience some “tremors”, shifts in volatility. The largest were on June 5,. This should be the last set of volatility that you would have seen from the broad core update.

September 2022 core update. Google released the September 2022 core updates on September 12, 2022. It took two weeks for the update to be released, and it was completed September 26, 2022. Although this update was faster than other updates , it had less impact. Although there was some volatility, consensus was that this update was less than previous Google core updates.

We are not anticipating any further core updates before year’s end.

Google’s two new helpful content updates appeared calm

Google has released the helpful content update to its algorithm. This update aims to degrade content written to rank in search engines, and not to help people.

August 2022: Helpful content update. Google’s new helpful content update was released on August 25, 2022. Google’s helpful content update targets websites with a high volume of unsatisfying and unhelpful content. The content was written for search engines, not humans. The update was released September 9, 2022. It took 15 days for it to be implemented. Although this update didn’t feel widespread, Google stated that it was a major update and did not cause any significant shakeups.

December 2022 helpful content update. Google published the second helpful content update on December 6, 2022. It was the December 2022 helpful information update. Although this update is still in progress, I will update the story once it is. This update was rolled out over X days and ended on December X 2022. This update was not as widespread or impactful as core updates or product reviews updates.

Google’s September, July, and March product review updates have shuffled shelves

Google released three product reviews updates in 2022, despite only two core updates. This is one more product review update than 2021.

March 2022 Product Reviews Update Google released the March 2020 product reviews update. The update was released April 11, 2022. It took 19 days for it to be rolled out. This was technically the third product review update in history. The first was launched April 8, 2021, and the second was launched December 1, 2020.

Google has released the third product reviews update. It said that this update “builds upon” the work of the previous two product reviews updates to improve Google’s “ability ” to identify high-quality product reviews.

Based on data provided by data providers, this update wasn’t as large than the December 2020 update.

July 2022 Product Reviews Update. Google published the July 2022 Product Reviews Update on July 27, 2022. The update was only six days long and ended August 2, 2022. The tracking tools showed very few changes and while some sites did seem to be affected by the update, there wasn’t much SEO community talk about ranking changes. We actually saw an increase in traffic on August 3rd, but this was after the update was completed.

September 2022 Product Reviews Update. Google published the September 2022 Product Reviews Update on September 20, 2022. The update was also released in six days and ended on September 26th, 2022. Although this update was smaller than the previous two, it overlapped with a core update.

Fear caused by Google’s link spam and spam updates

As with spam updates, SEOs or content creators can become anxious that their websites or content might be affected.

October 2022 spam update. On October 19, 2022, the first spam update for the year was published. This update is the October 2022 spam. This update was only 48 hours long and ended October 21st, 2022. SpamBrain is an artificial intelligence that Google uses to detect spam and rank it in Google Search. Although this spam update was not large, it targeted spam and not content written by ordinary people for normal purposes.

December 2022 link spam upgrade. Google then released the link spam update, December 14th 2022. Although this update is still in progress, I will update the story when it is complete. This update was rolled out in X days and ended on December X 2022. This was the first time SpamBrain AI has been used by Google to detect and eliminate link spam. It had an effect on rankings and links.

Google’s desktop page experience update

This year’s page experience update was a one-page one. It was meant to bring the page experience signals on desktop. The page experience upgrade for deskop launched on February 22, 2022 and was completed nine days later March 3, 2022. This update will contain all current signals from the page experience update for mobile, except that the page must be mobile-friendly. Google stated that all page experience factors for mobile will be included with the exception of mobile-friendliness, which is quite obvious.

Google algorithm updates, modifications, tweaks, or topics

Google Search had another busy year with more than 5,500 changes in 2021, and I expect that number to rise for 2022.

The Panda update evolved into the Coati algorithms. However, both are now part of the core algorithm. Speaking with Hyung-Jin Kim (VP Search at Google) at SMX was a great way to learn a lot. Google started using MUM in more areas, such as featured snippets. Google also updated its title algorithms to support multi-lingual and transliterated pages.

Google has documented some of the most notable ranking systems and confirmed that the 2018 and 2010 page speed algorithms are no more in use.

Google replaced the HTMLmaster Guidelines with Google Search Essentials. redesigned the quality raters guidelines and added “Expertise”, an additional E to the E-A-T.

We also did a deep dive into how Google uses AI in search.

Are you all excited about 2023? I know I am.

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