Google’s updates are changes to Google’s algorithms or systems that can affect the ranking and visibility of websites in search results. Google regularly updates its algorithms and systems to improve the quality and relevance of search results which can significantly impact the performance of websites in search.

The role of Google’s updates aims to improve the overall user experience of search by providing users with more accurate, relevant, and useful search results. The motive behind the launch of Google’s updates is to promote high-quality websites and content. For doing it, Google’s crawler demotes or penalizes websites with spammy or manipulative tactics.

Here are some of the key Google updates from 2022 that you should be aware of and consider incorporating into your SEO strategy

1-Page Experience Update ( Desktop)

This update, also known as the “Core Web Vitals” update, will prioritise websites with a good “page experience,” measured by metrics like loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.

But the good thing about this update is that it doesn’t have any impact on your rankings. The purpose of designing it is to highlight pages that offer great user experiences.

To prepare for this update, ensure your website is fast, responsive, and easy to use.

2-March 2022 Product Reviews Update

Next on the list is the “March 2022 Product Reviews” update. The Google product reviews update wants to promote content that goes above and beyond much of what you read on the web. It enhances Google’s ability to identify high-quality product reviews. 

Google aims to reward sites with more insightful review content. However, there is no penalty for product reviews that summarise the product in their reviews.

3-May 2022 Google’s Core Update

The Core update by Google aims to increase the relevancy of google’s search results. Core updates don’t target particular pages or sites. Instead, the changes are improving how google’s systems assess overall content. 

These core update changes will ideally cause some pages to do better that were previously under-rewarded.

Read More: Did Google Replace Its Core Ranking Algorithm “Panda” With “Coati”?

4-July 2022 Product Review Update

Another amazing update in the list is the Product Review Update. It was an improvisation on the initial algorithm released on March 2021. It is not a penalty, it promotes “insightful analysis and original research.” 

If this hits you, you will need to look at your content and see if you can do better with Google’s advice. 

5-Helpful Content Update

Would you like to scroll a website whose content isn’t helpful at all? Of course, you won’t. Well, the Helpful Content Update focuses on the user-friendliness of the content. It aims to improve the quality of search results quality by emphasising helpful material.

It lets you focus on your niche as there are better ideas than writing on every topic under the sun. Try to provide valuable content to your readers, and answer their pain points. 

Read More: 5 Interesting Things About Google’s Helpful Content Update In 2022 

6-September 2022 Core Update

After the Helpful Content update, Google released the September 2022 Core Update. However, the impact of September 2022’s Google Core Update is less widespread. You can start with analytics data to see if any pages have lost their rankings. Later on,  figure out a plan to improve those pages to regain any lost rankings. 

It resulted in some rank volatility but was overall considered weaker than core updates.

7-September 2022 Product Reviews Update

Although a typical update, this one caused quite a stir as it rolled out one week after the core update. According to Google, it will prioritise those product reviews in its search results rankings which are in detail and have comprehensive evaluations. 

Google aims to reward sites with more insightful review content rankings higher than yours.

8- “Site Names” To Mobile Search Results

Google introduced this update to make it easier for users to identify the website on their mobile search engine. These site names were the ones available for English, French, Japanese, and German initially. But Google will eventually add other languages too.

According to Google, the goal is to ensure that paid content is clearly labelled and distinguished from search results.

9-October 2022 Spam Update

After 11 months of preparations, this update is targeted at fighting spam. This update improves spam detection and penalises those sites that violate Google’s policies. The sites that are against these spam policies will rank lower or not at all in search engines.

10-December 2022 Helpful Content Update

Its purpose is to eliminate content written only with the motive of ranking in search engines. Instead, it requires to focus on writing human-focused content. This update rolled out across search results four months after the launch and expands to all languages. 

Wrapping it up,

Predicting Google’s update impact isn’t always possible. Still, you must follow the best search engine optimisation (SEO) practices to make your website stand out. Create high-quality content to allow your website to withstand changes to Google’s algorithms. As a result, you can always improve the visibility and success of your website in search results.