In 2022, Google released ten major algorithm updates. These included core updates, product review updates, and others designed to improve search relevance, combat spam, and the user experience.
This blog details the Google Search ranking updates in 2022 relevant to website owners and digital marketers.
The following is a summary of Google’s algorithm updates for 2022.
Google’s Page Experience update 2022 (February to March)
Google announced that the previously released Page Experience Update for mobile SERPs would be rolled out to the desktop. This rollout was officially implemented between February 22 and March 3, 2022.
This update will incorporate all the current signals of the mobile version of the page experience update, regardless of whether or not the page is mobile-friendly. Google stated that all mobile page experience factors would be included, with the obvious exception of the mobile-friendliness requirement.
Update Impact:
This update pertains to non-content-related page-experience influencing parameters. The update includes a set of metrics for evaluating the user experience that comprises the essential web metrics.
This update includes:
- Page Loading performance
- Page Responsiveness
- Page Layout stability
- First input delay
As Google incorporates page speed signals into its ranking algorithms, you should also evaluate your website’s compatibility with different mobile screens.
Google’s Product Review updates 2022 (March, July, and September)
Google confirmed a significant update to product reviews and changed the naming convention to align with Core Updates. This update is intended to assist Google in identifying and rewarding high-quality product reviews with higher rankings.
Update Impact:ย
This update improves Google’s ability to identify reviews of high quality. This will make it easier to provide users with sound purchasing advice.
Google’s product review update aims to better reward high-quality product reviews, as well as content that offers insightful analysis and original research and is written by subject matter experts or enthusiasts. Currently, this update only affects global English searches.
The three-product review algorithm in 2022 targeted product reviews. Google wants to eliminate redundant product information because it may not:
- Describe how a customer should utilize the product.
- Discuss the product’s benefits and drawbacks in detail.
- Offer visual explanations of the product via tutorial videos or images.
- Include multiple sellers so that the reader can choose from whom to purchase.
The objective is for product review websites to improve a user’s shopping experience by implementing Google’s best practices from multiple updates. Google provides periodic tips for achieving this objective.
Google’s core updates 2022 (May and September)
Today, we're releasing a broad core update, as we do several times per year. This update is called the May 2022 core update. Learn more: https://t.co/7kFklwdkAb
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) May 25, 2022
These are extensive modifications to Google’s search algorithms that may affect many websites. These updates are not directed at particular websites or practices, such as spam or product review updates. Instead, they concentrate on the content evaluation criteria Google employs to determine relevance and how they can rank pages in search engine results. This may cause some pages to lose or gain rankings.
You can review your website’s content to ensure that it satisfies the search intent and audience relevance of users. The content should provide users with firsthand knowledge. It will help you recover from ranking drops resulting from such updates.ย
Update Impact:
These updates are not directed at particular websites or practices, such as spam or product review updates. Instead, they concentrate on the content evaluation criteria Google employs to determine relevance and how they can rank pages in search engine results.
You can conduct a quality audit using questions Google has provided as content indicators. Some of these inquiries are:
- Does the content contain information derived from original research and analysis?
- Is the content comprehensive?
- Does it deliver information that goes beyond the obvious?
- Is it a simple repetition of information from other sources?
- Does it draw from other sources while also contributing original content?
- Does the heading effectively summarise the content?
- Other questions like grammar check, readability score, mobile device compatibility, etc.
Google’s helpful content updates 2022 (August and December)
The Dec. 2022 helpful content update was released Dec. 5, starting to become more visible today & will take about two weeks to fully roll out. It improves our classifier & works across content globally in all languages. Our help page explains more: https://t.co/MS7hbcBTsp
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 6, 2022
The Helpful Content Update aimed to reward “people-first” content while devaluing SEO-focused content. It is designed to seek out artificial intelligence and system-generated content that was created solely for search engines and not for humans. Google’s automated ranking systems identify low-quality content and classify the site or page as containing unhelpful material.
Update Impact:
Any content, not just unhelpful content, on sites determined to have a relatively high amount of unhelpful content overall, is less likely to perform well in Search, assuming there is better content elsewhere on the web. Consequently, removing unhelpful content may improve the rankings of your other content.
This algorithm is based on a model of machine learning, allowing it to compete with other parameters that may determine the same data to be of high value.
If you observe that your site has been impacted by such an update, return to the content evaluation you would conduct for a core update and improve your site’s content accordingly. If the majority of your content is generated by artificial intelligence, you may need to reconsider your content strategy.
Google’s spam and link spam updates 2022 (October to December)
Today, with our December 2022ย linkย spamย update, weโre leveraging the power of SpamBrain to neutralize the impact of unnaturalย linksย on search results. The update launches today & will take about two weeks to rollout. Learn more:ย https://t.co/ACO2Ut8wmi
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 14, 2022
Google uses spam updates to identify and eliminate pages with gibberish, deceptive, or malicious content, as well as hacked websites.ย
Update Impact:
If your website’s traffic decreased after the rollout of the update, your content might have been removed from Google’s index or demoted due to poor site security.
These downgrades can be caused by malware or hacked content. Google utilized SpamBrain, a form of artificial intelligence, to detect spam more accurately and remove it from Google Search results.ย
Additionally, it is used to detect spam in business profiles, reviews, videos, and fake user accounts, among others.
Letโs get some details on the Unconfirmed Google Algorithm updates in 2022:
Unconfirmed Google Search Ranking Update (January 2022)
There was no official confirmation of a Google update on January 11, but industry chatter indicated that rankings had changed. Numerous tracking tools reveal significant fluctuations in Google’s search results. The Google search ranking algorithm may have been updated on January 11, 2022. This is the first genuine unconfirmed update for the year 2022.
According to some users, website traffic from the United States dropped significantly on this day, while international traffic remained very strong.
Unconfirmed Google Search Ranking Update (February 2022)
Early in February 2022, some Google search algorithm tracking tools reported large fluctuations in the search results, indicating a possible Google search algorithm update. During this time, however, the SEO industry has been extremely quiet, with no signs of an update.
Unconfirmed Google Search Ranking Update (June 2022)
Even for a historically active summer, Analytics tools measured unusually high-ranking flux in June. Google did not provide any information or confirmation, so the nature of the update is unknown. Google Analytics showed large unconfirmed fluctuations around June 23, June 19, and June 20 for some users.
Unconfirmed Google Search Ranking Update (July 2022)
MozCast recorded high levels of volatility on both the 8th and 6th of July. Even though some SEOs and rank-tracking tools observed a significant drop in rankings during this time frame, Google did not confirm an update, and no clear details emerged.
Closing thoughts:
You will need to collaborate with both your content production team and your developers to incorporate these Google updates. They will require education and guidelines on how to construct a website that can withstand future algorithm updates and continue to increase organic traffic.
It is essential to comprehend algorithms when optimising a website, despite the fact that they are technical and appear daunting when considering your SEO strategy. Digiligo, a well-known and homegrown digital marketing agency, can assist you in fully optimising your website for the most recent Google algorithm update.
Despite the numerous search engine updates, we have the necessary software and marketing know-how to ensure that your page ranks highly.
How Digiligo will help your business?
- Acquaint yourself with Google’s content guidelines and algorithm updates.
- Optimize your content for keywords and topics in consideration of user intent.
- Make certain your website is compatible with all browsers, screen sizes, and devices.
- Regularly monitoring your SEO performance will allow you to identify problems early on.
In addition to other methods for keeping your business website updated with the google algorithm.
If you need assistance evaluating and updating your SEO, Content, or Digital marketing strategy, please contact us; we’d be delighted to begin a conversation with you.