Recollecting Google's Algorithmic Shocks of 2018

1. Recollecting Google’s Algorithmic Shocks of 2018 1-800-670-2809 | (631) 494-3324

2. 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. 1-800-670-2809

3. 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. 1-800-670-2809

4. 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. 1-800-670-2809

5. March Brackets Update • Glenn Gabe named Google’s 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 isn’t clear whether these multiple effects were felt as a result of a long rolling update or multiple updates made at quick intervals. 1-800-670-2809

6. 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 aren’t going to go ahead any time now 1-800-670-2809

7. 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 1-800-670-2809

8. 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 1-800-670-2809

9. 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) 1-800-670-2809

10. 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%. 1-800-670-2809

11. 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. 1-800-670-2809

12. July Chrome Security Warnings • On July 24, Google’s 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. 1-800-670-2809

13. 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. 1-800-670-2809

14. 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 1-800-670-2809

15. September Birthday Update • Google announced a small update on September 27 • Since September 27 is Google’s birthday, the update was called the Birthday Update by SE Roundtable. 1-800-670-2809

16. October • On October 16, Google released another update. • SE Roundtable reported discussions in the Webmaster World and Black Hat World forums. 1-800-670-2809

17. 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 1-800-670-2809

18. 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 1-800-670-2809

19. 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 1-800-670-2809

20. Now let us wait for Google’s algorithm updates in 2019. Partnering with a Long Island SEO company helps to stay up-to-date with current trends. 1-800-670-2809

21. Contact us : 8596 E. 101st Street, Suite H Tulsa, OK 74133 200 Broadhollow Road, Suite 207 Melville, NY 11747 1-800-670-2809 | (631) 494-3324 THANK YOU ….