Recollecting Google's Algorithmic Shocks of 2018

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Recollecting Googles Algorithmic Shocks of
2018
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Hearty Welcome to 2019!
Before you or your digital marketing agency move
on with new SEO updates and guidelines to meet
your businesses New Year marketing goals, make
sure to have an idea about the shocking updates
by Google in 2018. Search engine algorithms may
change based on user habits.
2018 saw some updates that were extremely
confusing for webmasters and the changes they
bring to the SERPs seem unintelligible.
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Those updates month-wise are
January
Maccabees updates

• In December 2017, Google rolled out an update
  which was quickly named the Maccabees updates.
• Certain ranking changes noted in January 16 were
  considered to be possibly linked to these updates
  that were thought to be aimed at keyword
  permutations.
• The presence of these updates was partially
  acknowledged by Google.

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February

• There came an unnamed update in February 20, 2018
  that resulted in increased volatility in search
  rankings.
• The volatility settled though, which could be an
  indication of an algorithm update that was well
  targeted.

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March
Brackets Update

• Glenn Gabe named Googles March 7, 2018 core
  update as the Brackets update
• Effects of this update were felt for nearly two
  weeks, right from March 4 with another spike on
  March 8
• It isnt clear whether these multiple effects
  were felt as a result of a long rolling update or
  multiple updates made at quick intervals.

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March
Zero-result SERPs

• From March 14 Google started displaying zero
  organic results and a "Show all results" button
  on a small set of Knowledge Cards
• A week later this test was stopped, announcing
  that the zero-result SERPs arent going to go
  ahead any time now

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March
Mobile-first Index

• On March 26, Google announced that the
  mobile-first index was finally "rolling out."
• After many months of testing, Google has
  suggested they are migrating sites gradually
• It's unclear what impact this roll-out would have
  had on the index overall

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April

• April 17 saw an unnamed core update
• A significant algorithmic flux was reported,
  whose effects were felt for more than a week
• Though a "core" update was confirmed Google or
  the SEO community didn't provide any specifics
  and the update wasn't named

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May

• Google tested longer display snippets of up to
  300 characters for a few months
• On May 13, it rolled back most snippets to the
  former limit (about 150-160 characters)

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June
Video Carousel

• Videos were removed from the regular organic
  result listings and instead placed them in a
  separate video carousel on June 14.
• The number of SERPs with videos increased
  significantly. MozCast reported a rise of over
  60.

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July
Mobile Speed Update

• Google rolled out the mobile page speed update on
  July 9, making page speed a ranking factor for
  mobile results
• According to Google, this update was only
  targeted at the slowest of mobile sites.

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July
Chrome Security Warnings

• On July 24, Googles Chrome 68 started marking
  all the non-HTTPS sites not secure.
• Months before, users were actually warned of
  non-HTTPS forms. Users need to install the latest
  version of Chrome for the changes to take effect
  though.

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August
Medic Update

• A "broad core algorithm update," was confirmed
  and rolled out over the period of about a week,
  but peaked on August 1-2.
• This Medic update seemed to be particularly
  affecting sites belonging to the health and
  wellness sector, though there was impact in other
  sectors too.

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September

• On September 12, Search Engine Roundtable
  reported discussions about a possible update
  sometime around September 11, which is not as big
  as the Medic update though

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September
Birthday Update

• Google announced a small update on September 27
• Since September 27 is Googles birthday, the
  update was called the Birthday Update by SE
  Roundtable.

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October

• On October 16, Google released another update.
• SE Roundtable reported discussions in the
  Webmaster World and Black Hat World forums.

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October
Halloween Update

• Though Halloween came along on October 31, 2018,
  Google never confirmed any update. The first week
  of November felt some volatility was felt all
  through

• As the week progressed though, the update seemed
  to be getting stronger and there were signals
  reported
• There were even doubts whether the volatility
  witnessed later in the week was the result of a
  completely different update or the same one

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November

• An update by the middle of November particularly
  affected UK sites, though it was never confirmed
• By November 20th though, the updates seemed to be
  reversing though there was still some weird
  volatility going on

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December

• Before December began, on November 30, there were
  some signals indicating an update
• In the week of December 13, there was talk of
  some update
• The chatter went against the concept that Google
  restrains from making major algorithmic changes
  before the holidays start
• The weekend of December 15 discussed changes in
  rankings at the webmaster forums
• SE Roundtable reports that it was an update
  pushed out by Google

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• Now let us wait for Googles algorithm updates in
  2019. Partnering with a Long Island SEO company
  helps to stay up-to-date with current trends.

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