Google Algorithm Update 2021

Our December 2021 product reviews update is now rolling out for English-language pages. It will take about three weeks to complete. We have also extended our advice for product review creators: https://t.co/N4rjJWoaqE

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 1, 2021

According to Google, they received feedback from the users on what type of content they find useful and trustworthy.Users generally trust reviews that provide evidence of tested products and want multiple options to buy the product.

This is why Google has added this new product review guidance. For now, this update is rolling out for the English-language pages, which will take about three weeks.

Google has also provided two new best practices that you can use for your content.

1. Add more multimedia to your product reviews to support your expertise and showcase your authenticity.

2. Provide links to multiple sellers, which will give your readers the option to purchase from the merchant of their choice.

This new update will promote review content better than the templated information available on the web.

Google will be promoting these in-depth product reviews in their rankings.

However, this doesn’t mean that lower-quality product reviews will be removed completely from the search. Thin content that’s similar to the product description will be demoted from the first page results.

The update’s focus is to ensure that users have access to in-depth product reviews, have original research, and are written by experts.

If your website is offering product review content, it is important that you check how your rankings have been impacted because of the update.

For the long term, you need to ensure that you add more details into your product review content so that it stands out from the competition.

Even though the result of the update seems to be drastic as always for a few websites, Google’s take on it has remained the same.

They call it just yet another update with a focus on ranking websites that are offering better quality content for the search queries entered by the users.

Later today, we are releasing a broad core update, as we do several times per year. It is called the November 2021 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates is here:https://t.co/0LAL28ueDq

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) November 17, 2021

John Mueller tweeted in reply to SEO Rich Messey’s tweet regarding the timing of the November update where he said, “good things go up with the update too.”

I'm curious — would you prefer we just mentioned them afterwards, or not at all? I realize there's an aspect of "never change anything", but good things go up with updates too. (not being snarky, honestly wondering what your thoughts are, feel free to DM if you prefer)

— I am John – ⭐ ⭐ LIVE ⭐ ⭐ (@JohnMu) November 18, 2021

Danny Sullevan in one of his tweets wrote, SEOs should probably stop the fear-mongering about the broad core updates and try to reassure website owners about the positive side of it when they have their website follow the best practices.

The reality is core updates make no huge change for most. People shouldn't be panicking; maybe more tweets reassuring people would be more helpful than the virtual red alert. Guidance about core updates hasn't changed. Been doing best practices out there for ages, should be good.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) November 17, 2021

Thinking about what is the best way to optimize your website for safeguarding it from such updates?

The broad core update doesn’t mean there is something wrong with your website. If you see a drop in rankings that’s just an indication that your content may require an update. Refresh the content before doing anything else and don’t switch to panic mode, there isn’t anything that’s irreversible, provided you are doing no blackhat SEO.

Ask yourselves these questions regarding the content:

1. Is it authentic?
2. Does the page really have content that’s useful for the users?
3. Have you included original research, analysis?
4. Is there something that’s unique to your content that makes it stand out?
5. Are the titles within the content relevant to the topic covered or are they misleading?
6. If the content comes under the YMYL category, was it written by someone with high credentials in the field like a doctor or a financial expert?
7. Is your content safe for children and the general public?
8. Is the content contrary to the scientifically proven information?
9. Does it abide by the common rules of grammar, spelling, and style?
10. Is it syndicated to multiple other websites?
11. Are you using too many pop-ups or ads within the content which makes it hard for the user to read?

Websites that do White Hat SEO don’t have to worry much as this update can do more good than harm. That said, sites that indulge in SEO practices that Google deems as spammy may face a drop in rankings.

Google’s announcement on Twitter reads “As part of our regular work to improve results, we’ve released a spam update to our systems. This November 2021 spam update should be fully rolled out within a week. We encourage sites to follow our best practices for Search.”

As part of our regular work to improve results, we've released a spam update to our systems. This November 2021 spam update should be fully rolled out within a week. We encourage sites to follow our best practices for Search: https://t.co/jK3ArQmTqT

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 3, 2021

The page experience rollout is complete now, including updates to Top Stories mobile carousel. Changes to Google News app have started to rollout as well and will be complete in a week or so.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 2, 2021

Even though the update was scheduled to be complete by August, it seems like Google missed that deadline by a month.

The page experience signals of Google now include:

• Core Web Vitals
• HTTPS
• Mobile-Friendliness
• Intrusive Interstitial Guidelines

These signals combined will now play a vital role in deciding the rankings of websites.

The page experience factor will be critical for search results that have multiple sites providing relevant information. Starting now, Google’s algorithm will evaluate the page experience signal and rank higher pages that have a better user experience.

The explanation says Google has been finding more and more websites using outbound links as a means to monetize their website.

Though such monetization is allowed in some instances, like for an affiliate site, Google wants such sites to make use of the different rel attributes to mark the type of the outbound link.

Unlike the past link updates, the infamous one being Penguin, this new update is not intended to immediately penalize the website. However, what it does is “nullify” the undue advantage that some sites enjoy by building low-quality backlinks.

The official announcement says, “this algorithm update, which will roll out across the next two weeks, is even more effective at identifying and nullifying link spam more broadly, across multiple languages. Sites taking part in link spam will see changes in Search as those links are re-assessed by our algorithms.”

What this means is there are chances websites that overtly used spammy link-building practices will see a drop in rankings.

Through its announcement, Google is sending out a warning to websites that use spammy practices and it’s almost certain that a few sites will start seeing massive fluctuation in rankings after the rollout.

If you see a drop in rankings it doesn’t mean your website has any major flaw but it just means that somebody has better content published.

The July 2021 Core Update, previously announced, is now rolling out:https://t.co/6Xs77WDsur

These typically take 1-2 weeks to finish. Our guidance about such updates is here:https://t.co/e5ZQUA3RC6

Here’s more on how we improve search through updates:https://t.co/IBmInwGOiX

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 1, 2021

To give a bit more perspective, the July update was supposed to be launched along with the June Update. However, due to a few modules that required more perfection, the search engine giant decided to roll it in July.

Looking at the fluctuations we are seeing on algorithm sensors, the update seems to be massive, which means a lot of websites should have experienced either a jump in traffic or a drop considering the changes in the keyword rankings.

Though Spam Updates don’t affect genuine websites, the repercussions of the update could be massive for sites with dubious and deceptive intentions.

The official tweet of Google SearchLiason says, “As part of our regular work to improve results, we’ve released a spam update to our systems.”

This spam update will conclude today. A second one will follow next week. We'll add to this tweet thread when that happens.

We encourage sites to follow our best practices for Search: https://t.co/jK3ArQEuir

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 23, 2021

The second batch of Google Spam Update was launched on June 28th and the implications of it remain the same as the earlier one.

Google also officially announced that Spam Update Rollout is now complete.

The second part of our spam update has has begun today, and it will also conclude later today, unless we share otherwise.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 28, 2021

The page experience update is now slowly rolling out (Top Stories will begin using this new signal by Thursday). It will be complete by the end of August 2021. More here: https://t.co/kDwhhOYklK

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) June 15, 2021

The top stories carousel in Google Search (mobile version) now sees non-AMP pages. This means any Google News Approved webpage can feature in the News Carousel irrespective of its Core Web Vitals score or page experience status.

What we know is the page experience ranking factor didn’t play a vital role at least till August.

Google has also confirmed that the page experience update is not going to make a massive difference in the rankings because it’s just one of the many factors that decide which page to rank.

The Page Experrice Update will be part of the larger segment of Google Algorithm that includes other ranking elements such as Mobile-Friendly, Safe Browsing, HTTPS, and No Intrusive Interstitials. Combined, these are called User Experience signals.

We are also expecting Google to do away with the AMP badge on the search results page and replace it with something that lets users identify content that offers a great user experience.

We will keep you posted when Google announces more implications of the Page Experience Update Rollout.

Later today, we are releasing a broad core update, as we do several times per year. It is called the June 2021 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates is here:https://t.co/e5ZQUA3RC6

This will be followed by the July 2021 Core update. Here’s more information about that…

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 2, 2021

As always, the definition of the core update remains the same. It’s intended to present relevant and authoritative content to searchers. What this means is, those sites that failed to rank despite offering quality and authoritative content will benefit from the update.

It has to be also noted that Google rolled out this update in parts. According to the official statement, some of the proposed update modules weren’t yet ready and this forced the team to roll out a partial update this time.

However, Google confirmed that another Core Update will be rolled out next month which will be called the July 2021 Core Update.

Some of our planned improvements for the June 2021 update aren’t quite ready, so we’re moving ahead with the parts that are, then we will follow with the rest with the July 2021 update. Most sites won’t notice either of these updates, as is typical with any core updates….

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 2, 2021

You can expect a reshuffling of SERP rankings due to the impact of the update. This is normal as Google is trying to make the top search results more relevant to the users.

If you find a dip in rankings, make sure to update the content by adding more relevance and authoritativeness. Please keep in mind that the update is not focused on links or any other aspect but is purely based on the search relevance.

We did a quick check on different algorithm trackers and were surprised to find no major fluctuations during the first few houses after the launch.

However, the sensors started spiking up on June 3rd night with the peak being observed on June 4th.

SEMRush Sensor

MozCast

SERP Metrics

Algoroo

The product review update fully rolled out on April 22, 2021, emphasizes the quality of review-type content and the need to meet user intent.

Google is not directly penalizing sites that feature product reviews with low-quality, thin content. However, it will sound more like a penalty when another site with better content than yours shows up while you are pushed down in the SERPs.

The truth is, Google is not posing a penalty against your content but only intends to appreciate sites that put up unbiased and insightful product reviews that help users to make better choices.

This update checks only on product review type content and not anything else. Though data providers claim it to be a big algorithm update, it isn’t as eye-catching as the Google core update.

If you run a product review website, this update will certainly have an impact on your site and it’s time to revamp your content to be in line with this new algorithm update. If not, you don’t have anything to worry about.

Google has also provided noteworthy tips to help website owners understand what kind of product content rank better with this update.

While the update gives a boost to the rankings of such useful content it will push thin reviews down the rankings so that the users don’t have to go back and repeat the same search. According to Google, this is just another improvement that it’s making to the ranking system and should be looked at separately and not as part of the core update.

Google with this new algorithm update aims at helping those websites that are producing rich and useful content that satisfies the intent of the users.

Even though this is an update that has nothing to do with the usual core update, the advice for webmasters remains the same. Produce quality content that helps people satisfy the real intent.

Specific to this update, if you are a website owner that publishes reviews, make sure that the content is written by an expert in the field. Again, this update seems to be more aligned towards E.A.T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust.)

Here are a few tips provided by Google for websites that publish product reviews:

1. Get the content written by an expert
2. Don’t depend on the peripheral content provided by manufacturers. Do a hands-on review with your personal experience of using the product.
3. Based on the kind of product you review, try to include important features, such as the performance if your product is a laptop.
4. Make sure to add a section that speaks about how the product you are reviewing stands out amongst the top competitors.
5. Most products have advantages and disadvantages. Don’t skip both, this shows you are doing an impartial review.
6. If the product is an updated version, compare it with the previous version you used and inform the users how different it is now.
7. Also, tell the readers why they should buy the product and the USPs that they must consider before making the buying decision.
8. Try to identify the beneficiaries of the product. Not all products are beneficial to all people so help the right audience take an informed decision.

What Google is trying to aim with the product review update of 2021 is to make sure that reviews that are genuine rank higher and the ones that are paid by the manufacturer and affiliate site owners don’t make it to the top of search results.