In the year 2020, Google made 4,500 adjustments to its search criteria.
Back in 2009, Google made about 350-400 changes over the course of the year. By 2018, the number of changes increased to 3200—about eight or nine changes per day. Google’s rate of changes to Search continues to grow, all the way up to over 12 per day in 2020. How did this affect your SEO strategy?
Some of the more notable developments in the last year include:
- Three core updates
- Introducing page experience signals as a ranking factor
- AI advancements that allow for improved understanding of misspelt words and the relevancy of search passages relating to long-tail keywords
- Improved behind the scenes functionality of the My Business Profile feature
If there is one thing to take away, Google is releasing more changes to Search, faster than ever before.
What Does This Mean for Digital Marketing Managers?
As we head into a post-pandemic future, digital marketers need to develop a sustainable SEO strategy to protect their business in an increasingly unpredictable digital marketplace.
In a world where there are so many factors that we can’t control, staying on top of Google Search developments will keep you one step ahead of the game.
A great place to start is the newly redesigned How Search Works webpage, featuring more user-friendly topic-based links and a revamped Home Video. Once you have a grip on Google Search as a whole, focus on core and major updates. Core updates happen about once every two to three months and affect a significant number of web pages.
Google’s Search and SEO Blog is an indispensable resource for anybody who wants to keep up on core algorithm updates in search or dive deeper into existing features. Subscribing to the RSS feed will help ensure you never miss out on a significant development.
Building a More Sustainable SEO Strategy
If you don’t have a future-oriented digital marketing plan in place, you could be pumping time and energy into directions that could actually hurt your ranking as time goes by.
Investing in a comprehensive, sustainable, long-term SEO strategy and ongoing analysis will ensure that major changes and core updates will help you improve your search engine ranking position—and not the other way around. Focus on Organic Content
If there is one constant that you can rely on in the fast-evolving world of SEO, it is the relevancy of fresh, organic content.
Google is continually developing more comprehensive and sophisticated tools to evaluate the quality of your content. High-quality content is not only informative and authoritative, but it answers questions that your audience wants to know.
Our work with Avanti Insurance is an excellent example of how a comprehensive link building and content initiative will help give old content new life while ensuring your new content stays evergreen. Anticipate Needs Now and in the Future
When working with Volvo construction, we crafted an optimal ad-spend strategy that consistently improves performance each year to support ongoing SEO efforts. We took the time to understand their business so we could craft a rebranding strategy to adapt to their changing needs.
The key to building a successful long-term Google ad strategy is staying on top of developments. We continue to work with Volvo to inform them of new doors opening as the digital landscape evolves.
Shift Your Focus to Building More Sustainable SEO strategies
We helped Slim’s Detailing achieve triple-digit percentage sales growth by leveraging a targeted Google ads campaign with an on-site SEO revamp. Our commitment to ethical principles like transparency means that we openly communicate what is working and what isn’t. The result is a ground-up SEO and digital marketing strategy built to last.
Slim’s had enjoyed a 30% annual growth rate until 2019, when they opted to increase their marketing budget and saw their growth jump to 47%. Here at Climbing Trees, we have the tools to help you effectively leverage your marketing budget to create a far-reaching and sustainable digital marketing foundation. We will help you create a digital marketing model that fits both your long-term goals and your ideals by giving you the big picture. We are obtaining a B Corp certification to prove our commitment to maintaining an exceptional level of sustainability and accountability that you can rely on. “In making the experience of a searcher more seamless, Google has, at the same time, shaken the world of SEO.”