Google appeared to launch a major ranking algorithm update last weekend, according to reports from Search Engine Land and other sources. The update has not yet been (officially) confirmed, but rank checking tools showed significant volatility between February 7 and February 11, and chatter among digital marketing agencies and the SEO community showed that numerous sites across many industries were affected.
If confirmed, this would be the third major algorithm update of the New Year: the January 2020 Core Update rolled out on January 13, and the Featured Snippet De-duping update, which removed URLs appearing in Featured Snippets from traditional organic results, launched January 22.
Google’s algorithm is updated several times each day and thousands of times per year, as all digital marketing agencies know. Most changes are imperceptible to even the keenest observers, but some cause shockwaves. The rumoured February update was reflected in reports from major rank checking tools including Mozcast, SEMRush, Advanced Web Rankings, SERPMetrics, Accuranker, RankRanger, Cognitive SEO, and Algoroo.
There are generally no ‘quick fixes’ to reverse sudden ranking drops caused by major algorithm updates. The sites that are affected tend to violate Google’s Quality Guidelines; at GrowthEngine Media, our SEO strategies are informed by the search engine’s stated best practices. We ensure client sites are fast, user-friendly, full of relevant content, and painstakingly marked up to maximize visibility to Google’s crawlers. As such, we do not expect clients to be significantly affected by this or any update.
As a Google Premier Partner digital marketing and SEO agency with valuable insights into Google’s preferred practices, GrowthEngine Media is positioned to increase your website’s visibility and help you get found by your target audience. In addition to SEO, our areas of expertise include paid search, social media marketing, web development, immersive marketing, and more. Contact us today to learn how we can get your business discovered online.
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