Latest Google SEO Updates 2018
Top SEO News 2018: Latest Google SEO Updates
When it comes to result-driven SEO campaigns, incorporated with the latest SEO strategies is one pro technique that will always help you beat your competitions. That is why most of the time industry leaders suggest following SEO News to stay updated about the latest SEO practices. This can optimize your search ranking in a much quicker and long-lasting fashion than it used to be.
Actually, SEO is one of those fields that constantly change for the better of us.
Now the New algorithm updates from Google have literally changed the way SEO ranking systems work for businesses. Ranking in Google depends on 200+ ranking factors and that is why it is very important for you to be aware of Google SEO news to top the ranking in SERPs. However to stay updated about all the latest SEO news and related updates is quite a daunting task and For easing down your task, we have compiled the list of Current SEO news to help you discover the 16 most important SEO updates that you need to know in 2018
1- Broad Core Algorithm Update
Google, the world’s largest search engine is always in search of delivering a quality result to its users and has been successful in it throughout time.
So the latest algorithm change that has been brought about on 1st August 2018 is no different. If you are a business owner or SEO expert, you must have noticed the recent shift in website rankings, these are the result of a revision of Google’s algorithm change again.
The latest Google update is called the Broad Core Algorithm update.
A Google Liaison Mr. David Sullivan reiterating Google’s focus on quality, announced the update. One of the latest changes brought about is that there is a 2% increase in the value of using the keyword in the H1 tag whereas the same has reduced by 9% in the use of the title tag.
2- 16 Months Data on Google Search Console Analytics API
Though advancing towards the 2nd one there seems to be a lot of excitement in the digital industry with a particular change in the recent update. This excitement is the result of the announcement that the search beta console which earlier supported just 3 months in the January 2018 update, now has been upgraded to support 16 months of data.
Earlier, the 3 months of data only furnished the latest trends against the user queries but now with the recent change, the digital marketers will be able to plan their marketing activities according to seasonal behavior, keyword triggers, buying patterns, and of course the search results.
Furnishing the results according to the customer intent is the same but the changes brought about by Google have enabled businesses to get ‘highly relevant traffic’ rather than just ‘traffic’ from the last few years.
3- Bing’s Mobile Search Results Now Supports AMP Pages
The other great news is that "Bing" came up with its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) that is ready to work from its mobile search results directly. Now with the release of Bing AMP viewer and Bing AMP Cache, this feature has been offered to SEOers.
Now you will be able to see a carousel of AMP pages in your mobile search while searching for different topics. You will see these results with the lightning bolt icon in the same very manner as you see in Google Search Results. While talking about its AMP pages, Bing suggests to SEOers who are going to create AMP Content right away.
4- Google Introduces the New Search Engine for Finding Datasets
A new search engine has been launched by Google catering to every person who wants to find data easily for their work, research or just to increase their intellectual capability.
This new Search engine is called " Dataset Search "
It provides users to have access to the data of digital libraries, publisher's sites, and personal web pages of an author in an easy way. This search engine particularly brings benefits for data scientists and journalists also.
The search engine depends on the schema markup of dataset providers. It is still in the beta phase but everyone can take advantage of this new launch so get excited to use this new search engine.
5– Google Publishes Research on New Paraphrasing Algorithm
Well In May 2018, a report came out on Google’s paraphrasing algorithm. The results of this research are going to shape how the search engine will optimize the search in the future. The new design of the Google algorithm is going to involve both abstractive and extractive summaries to generate the paraphrased content-
Extractive summaries features :
- From the multiple blogs and articles, relevant content will be extracted based on the user intent.
- Snippets will be created from an important part of blogs and articles.
Abstractive summaries features :
- The extracted content from different articles will be paraphrased to make it easier for users to understand.
6- Mobile-First Indexing
Now would be the time to make your website mobile-friendly guys!!! because the new SEO 2018 Google update has changed the algorithm to show favors to mobile-friendly websites. This will definitely impact both the desktop and mobile website rankings.
It is not too late to have a mobile-friendly website because the recent change will only be applicable to some websites, which Google thinks can handle the impact of the change however If AMP pages are there in a mobile website, the search engine will first choose the non-AMP pages.
Be happy that Google has just brought the mobile-first indexing’ and ‘not mobile-only indexing’.
7- Google adds a new “Crowd Control” Feature
A new cool feature has been added to the Google maps called Crowd Control. This feature is going to come in pretty handy when you are planning to visit a particular shop.
The Crowd Control feature is going to show you the real-time situation of the place you want to go, enabling you to check out its availability beforehand.
The Crowd Control feature covers many places such as grocery stores, local restaurants, pharmacies, coffee shops, supermarkets, automobile service centers, etc.
8- “Visual Sitelinks Images” in Sitelink Extensions for Mobile Search Ads
Earlier images only used to appear in Ads, now Google has made the upgrade of using images in the site links too.
This update comes after the experimentation of using images on ads and as the results were positive, the same is now incorporated in site links, which are termed as ‘Visual Sitelink’.
However, the Visual Sitelinks will only appear on mobile phones in the form of swipeable carousel manner.
9- Sitemap File Size Limit Increased from 10 MB to 50MB
However, there is good news for website owners who have long URLs.
Earlier, the sitemap file size was limited to only 10 MB, but now search engines like Google and Bing have recognized this issue and have increased the file size limit to 50 MB.
This is almost a 400% increase over the previous sitemap file size. Now the uncompressed form of the sitemaps will be uploaded easily.
10- Bing Ads Bot for Better Campaign Management
Bing Ads advertisers now will be able to create and have better performing Bing Ads. Now Bing has brought forward the idea of enabling every Bing Ad advertiser access to a virtual account manager.
This latest development has taken place because Bing has collaborated with Microsoft to design a bot that will help advertisers with their ad campaigns. When Bing Ad advertisers have access to the virtual account manager, he/she will be able to manage their ad campaigns in a more efficient way.
11- Google My Business allows Admins to Edit Review Replies from the Knowledge Panel
While using Google My Business, admins can simply use Knowledge Panel to edit their replies to reviews. This is one of the important SEO updates that is going to save the time of SEOers. You can now find an edit button just beneath the reply to a review while going through listing in the search results.
Earlier, business owners were required to delve into the Google My Business Dashboard and choose their replay again for editing it.
12- Assign Audience Lists at Campaign Level in Google AdWords with “Audience Targeting”
Now, advertisers can expect to get a better quality of traffic to their websites, all made possible by better audience targeting features in Google AdWords.
Earlier the so-called " audience targeting " was only possible with ad groups but now Google has made it possible to have better audience targeting by introducing the Audience list option right at the campaign level. Advertisers will be able to list their own desired audience group through this update. Further, bulk bid adjustments are also now possible through this new feature.
13- Consumers’ Local Search Behavior
The Crowd Control feature was introduced by Google since consumers preferred to know everything before planning a visit to the local business. However, Google noticed that businesses were facing problems in deciphering consumer’s local behavior which ultimately prompted Google to introduce changes that will enable advertisers to design ad campaigns that are in tune with the search intent of the consumer based on location.
For example, a person searching for an SEO company in Pune may not have the same requirements as the person searching for an SEO company in Bangalore.
14- Google Now introduces new Shoppable Image Ads
With the help of this update, the advertiser can now display shoppable images on the publisher’s sites. These ads are showcased upon curated content from the publishing partners of Google. This will enable advertisers to put their products and services directly in front of your prospects,
While talking about this SEO News, Google says that every 3rd-holiday shoppers prefer searching for the image before making their purchases. Google further ads-
“One-third of holiday shoppers said they searched for images before they went in store to shop. This much growth of “street style” and online influencers all show the movement towards looking at lifestyle images for visual inspiration.”
15- Google Discourages Linking to Every Page From a Site’s Home Page
Earlier Google had said to link important pages to a website’s Home Page to help users zero in their searches but this may have led some web owners to link all the pages to the Home page.
John Mueller in a recent interaction with webmasters was heard saying to avoid linking every page to the home page. This, as disclosed by him deters Google bots from comprehending the architecture of the website. This practice is common for larger websites, but smaller site owners should avoid this. Since the Google bots, in this case, is not able to distinguish between higher-level pages and lower-level pages.
16- YouTube Launches Vertical Video Ads for TrueView and Universal Apps
Google has come up with vertical video ads on YouTube for running universal campaigns or True View Campaigns. While discussing this SEO news, the company claims that more than 70% of the time of watching YouTube occurs on mobile devices and that is why for ensuring better experiences to mobile devices, YouTube is now offering vertical video solutions.
The Mobile Video Player of YouTube is also adaptable to vertical videos. Vertical video is going to cover around 75% of the mobile screen and it will appear comparatively bigger in size than landscape video. SEOers can now take the benefits of new screen dimensions to run compatible video campaigns. While using vertical videos, it is important that you avoid offering any important message in the bottom 25% and top 10% because these areas are generally cropped in vertical videos.
These are some latest SEO news; you should pay heed to while running your Search Engine Optimization Campaigns.
However, the question that can pop up here in your mind is how you can get all the latest SEO news consistently, in the most real-time. For assisting you, we, time and again come with such posts on Google Algorithm and SEO updates. In addition, you can also follow some SEO News blogs to know all the latest SEO News.
If you want to learn the practical implementation of all the SEO updates shared in SEO News Bulletins then enrolling in SEO Course will help you do this in the most practical way possible.
You should meet your trainer who will guide you to learn all the latest SEO practices and their implementations using hands-on projects and live sessions.
In case you have any queries about SEO or any latest SEO News, kindly share with us in the comments below.
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