SEO Research

There were a lot of important changes and updates that had an impact on the industry in 2017. We're both honored and humbled to be a part of reporting and analyzing the big stories that affect the industry. With another year behind us, let's have a look back at some of the weightier findings we brought to the forefront in 2017.

Month in and month out, industry news sources report on what seems to be a constant stream of rank fluctuation events. In such an environment, it's easy to become fixated on a website's single visibility spike (or hit) and attribute the site's fluctuations to a single algorithmic act and declare insight victory. But that's not how Google's algorithm updates really work. 

In this case study, I'll highlight why analyzing a site's fluctuations in relation to one specific update often creates an incomplete picture that discounts Google's overall algorithmic relationship to the site (i.e. get ready for some myth busting action).

It's the one story that Google would like to shake, but can't seem to, Fake News. With underlying ethical underpinnings that bring into question where Google's content responsibilities begin and end, along with the technical boundaries fighting fake news stirs up, the issue is in a way epic. Over time Google has released a series of statements, and even the announcement of a new project, all indicating it is on top of the Fake News faux pas. But are they really? After taking a hard look at how Google goes about broadcasting information media, that would be news to me...

Google's recent update impacted more than rank. A series of Google's more prominent SERP features saw changes in their data paths during the update. Here we'll take a look at how Google tacked on SERP feature trajectory shifts onto its latest update. 

After a relatively considerable period of quiet, Google has rolled out its latest algorithm update. Not since October 2016 have we seen a Google update as long running, lasting five or more days. In this context, the current rendition of Google's ever-changing algorithm has a degree of esteem that is not common to all updates. Like its counterparts though, discerning the actual impact of the update on rank is intrinsically elusive. That is, determining the character of the update, as well as what sites in what positions were impacted is challenging. Allow me then to offer some context and a bit of understanding of what transpired, specifically what ranking positions were most impacted by this update.

Recently, there has been some industry speculation that Google rolled-out an algorithm update circa May 18th. Indeed we tracked an increase in rank fluctuations on our Rank Risk index, indicating that an update was pushed over at Google. Making use of a unique SEO tool that we plan on bringing to the market in the upcoming future, we've determined that Google has hit some major sites within the retail and consumer goods industry that has shaken the rankings a bit.

There has been a lot of Google algorithm update activity as of late, and it would be nice to get some perspective on what's been going on, as these algorithms can seriously impact your rankings. Now, as you may well know, Google has said it unleashes and roll-outs thousands of updates a year. However, the algorithm updates that have come out of Google recently seem to be weightier than usual, and it's important to realize that. So let's then take a look at the recent updates, including last week's roll-out that has become widely known as 'Fred', to see what these updates have in common. Perhaps we can even speculate as to what Google has in-store for the SEO industry.

Google's AMP has been making a lot of noise on the SERP for a good while now. Most recently, and as we reported, AMP results have come to dominate Google's News Box on the mobile SERP. As it turns out, that's not all AMP is dominating these days. After a bit of research I've determined that Google is giving heavy preference when it comes to showing mobile carousels to organic AMP results. In this case study, I'll show you how some heavy-hitting and quite prominent websites are not showing up on the mobile SERP with carousels simply because they have not gone AMP.