Too often, businesses and marketers overlook the most important updates that affect their strategies. Believe it or not, only 44 percent of businesses currently have an SEO strategy, let alone follow Google’s updates.
Well, if you’re in that small minority, then you’re in luck! That means you have little competition standing in your way.
Let’s talk about the most important Google algorithm updates in 2022 that affect your business.
1. The “Page Experience” Update
Without a doubt, this is the most important aspect of all recent updates, as it affects businesses of all industries and sizes.
Taking similar factors into account, the update places more stock on your website’s user experience. Like before, these factors include
- Mobile usability
- Security concerns
- Ad experience
- Performance essentials (speed, layout, etc.)
However, the reason these updates place more stock into these factors is simple; they matter more. Mobile traffic is only becoming more dominant, which is leading websites to develop their own “mobile-first” strategy.
Also, the risks of cybersecurity threats have been growing exponentially since 2020 and there’s no sign of slowing down.
Lastly, businesses of all sizes are becoming increasingly competitive on their overall page performance, leading to tighter standards.
For these reasons, a clean navigation system, fast load times, removal of junk code, and any user-centric features are essential to compete.
As you’ve likely noticed, more websites are offering tables of contents at the tops of their pages to help users gain quick access to the information they want. This is just one easy example of how you can improve your site’s usability.
However, if you want to look at your website’s UX more generally, then we recommend using a website audit tool for a better understanding.
2. The “Link Spam” Update
In July of 2021, Google announced that it was taking a stand on link spam, and the update is now upon us.
At the time, Google suggested SEO specialists ensure they are following best practices for links, creating high-quality content, and promoting user experience.
Essentially, they’re saying that links need to serve a purpose to the user, not to the marketer or their affiliates, and not to an overwhelming extent.
If you believe this will affect your SEO prospects, then it’s time to review your existing content and linking structure.
3. Update On Product Reviews
Google launched an update last April that affects product review pages. They were specifically targeting what they called “thin content that simply covers a bunch of products”.
Instead, they are prioritizing content that offers a more in-depth look into specific products with minimal fluff. Ideally, product reviewers must show:
- How the product works physically
- Expert knowledge about a specific product (when appropriate)
- How a product differs from its competition
- Which products are best for specific situations
- The pros and cons of each product (also in specific situations)
- Key factors in decision-making before purchasing
If you have a lot of product review content on your website and you’ve noticed an SEO drop, go back and ask yourself if the content meets these criteria.
4. Multitask Unified Model
Last year, Google announced its newest model to help improve the answering demands for search queries. Multitask Unified Model (MUM) is similar to their previous model (BERT), but only in function.
According to Google, MUM is one thousand times more powerful than BERT, and marketers may need to understand its functionality and make adjustments accordingly.
In a nutshell, Google’s MUM seeks to end the need to conduct multiple searches to compare and gain deeper insights into a given topic. MUM has the ability to understand and offer solutions based on an interpretation of images, videos, and podcasts in a way that was never possible before, giving it the nickname “Google’s brain”.
So, how will this affect your content? Well, it makes the algorithm far more advanced at recognizing the type of content that will not only answer a user’s question but also any follow-up questions they are likely to have.
Luckily, there are things you can do about that.
What You Can Do After These Google Algorithm Updates
Essentially, Google’s algorithm is only getting better at recognizing quality content that’s relevant and related to the topic at hand, and they’re becoming better at stopping it. Their job is to reward websites for offering quality content, leaving marketers with one option.
Focus On Quality Content
While this may sound like a broad topic, and it is, take notice of the common thread between all of the recent updates mentioned above.
Every update in recent years, and any upcoming update, has been Google’s way of trying to promote one thing; quality content. As a marketer or business owner, the best thing you can do for your site’s SEO value is to give it to them.
From your links to your information and to your UX features, everything should be focused on the user. If you manage that, you won’t even have to worry about any future updates.
Fortunately, there are SEO services available that can help improve your website’s usability, get you on track after these latest updates, and keep your website ranking for years to come!
Start Ranking Today
Now that you know some of the most important Google algorithm updates for 2022, there’s no time like the present to start improving your website’s SEO value. The sooner you do, the sooner you will see results.
Stay up to date with our latest digital marketing tips, and feel free to contact us with any questions or for help with your strategy!
