In terms of search engine optimization, the Google algorithm updates in 2021 have been significant and challenging. This is not only due to the number of updates that were made, but also because of the timing of some of these changes. For example, the Page Experience update was launched later than planned and the deadline for mobile-first indexing was missed. It also appears that two updates were rushed out. Additionally, there are plans for more significant algorithmic updates towards this year 2021.
April 2021
Updated product reviews for April 2021. On April 8, 2021, Google released its first product reviews update. Google made it clear that this was not a core update and only affected English content, but much of the recovery advice mirrored that of a core update. Google effectively completed the rollout on April 22, 2021, but there may have been some edge case tremors later, so it took about two weeks to complete. According to the data providers, the update was significant but not as significant as a typical core update.
June 2021
Core update in June 2021. Google took its time releasing the year’s first core update, the June 2021 core update, which began rolling out on June 2, 2021. On June 12, 2021, ten days after it began, the update was completed. Based on the data provided to us by several data providers, this core update appeared to be a slow rollout with a slew of mixed results.
Spam update for June 23, 2021. On June 23, 2021, Google released a spam update that began and ended on the same day. It was a 24-hour update designed to combat spam efforts in Google Search.
Spam update for June 28, 2021. Google then released part two, the June 28 spam update, the following week. That update also began and ended on the same day, with a 24-hour roll out.
July 2021
Core update in July 2021. Google released the July 2021 core update on July 1, 2021, shortly after the June core update this was similar to part two of the previous June core update. This update took about 12 days to complete, and it was completed on July 12, 2021. The July core update, unlike the June core update, was quickly rolled out, according to data providers.
Update on link spam in July 2021. The following month, Google launched a July link spam update, which went into effect on July 26, 2021. Google said the rollout would take about two weeks, but it took about four weeks, which was two weeks longer than expected. The rollout was completed on August 24, 2021, and it targeted spammy links that attempted to manipulate Google search results.
November 2021
Core update in November 2021. Then, several months later, Google released the November 2021 core update, which began on November 17, 2021, just before the big holiday shopping season. That update took place over Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, and was completed on November 30, 2021, 13 days after it began. According to the data, the November core update hit hard and quickly, but many SEOs were caught off guard by the timing of the update.
Not to be outdone by the web search algorithmic updates, Google confirmed after the rollout that a local search update was performed in late November. That update began on November 30, 2021, and ended on December 8, 2021.
December 2021
Google algorithm update 2021 on product reviews for December 2021. If the first product reviews update in April wasn’t enough, Google launched a second product reviews update on December 1, 2021, dubbed the December 2021 product reviews update. That update took about three weeks to complete, and it was finished just days before the Christmas holiday, on or around December 21, 2021.
Mobile-first indexing delayed again
Google’s mobile-first indexing initiative, which began in 2016, has been delayed once more and is now scheduled to be completed in March 2021. This year, Google decided to abandon the deadline and stated that it will be completed when it is completed. So, if your site hasn’t yet been converted to mobile-first indexing, it will be sometime in 2022, but Google won’t be providing any further timelines on this initiative.
MUM, Passage Ranking and Subtopics
Passage ranking. Google discussed its google algorithm passage ranking in 2020, but it wasn’t until February 2021 that Google began to use passage ranking. Passage ranking is a method by which Google ranks specific passages from a web page in search; it is a ranking update rather than a visual update to the search results. MUM, or Multitask Unified Model, is 1,000 times more powerful than BERT, according to Google.
It was first used this year to help people understand the hundreds of different COVID vaccine names. Google has big plans for MUM in Google Search and elsewhere, and it has already expanded its use cases for later in 2021. Sub-topics. In November 2020, Google will launch another AI-based ranking system called sub-topics rankings. However, Google did not inform us that it went live until 2021.
Additional Google algorithm updates
It’s been a hectic year. In 2020, Google confirmed that it made over 4,500 changes to search. I believe that figure will be higher in 2021. Google also released a predator update, as I refer to it, which demoted libelous content in its search results.
In February, the company also released an image search update that reduced duplicate images in its image search results. The changes to Google’s title tags caused quite a stir in the SEO industry. After the change went live, the company confirmed that it made changes to the title snippet and what Google uses to display the title snippet. It also explained why it made the changes and, about a month later, made some changes.
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