News Archives | IMSR

Google Algorithm Update History

Howard — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 14:32:42 +0000

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

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2018

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2015

The post Google Algorithm Update History appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

10 Online Review Statistics You Should Know in 2023

Tahseen — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 09:27:47 +0000

In the digital age, online reviews are becoming increasingly important for businesses. Reviews offer potential customers valuable insight into the quality of a business’s products and services and can ultimately decide their success or failure.

Statistics show that an overwhelming majority of consumers trust online reviews and take them into account when making purchasing decisions.

In this article, we will provide 10 online review statistics to illustrate this point. In addition, we will conclude the article by highlighting 5 lessons you can take away from these online review statistics and a few resources that can help you improve your online reputation management.

10 online review statistics you should know

As of 2021, 87% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase, according to a survey by BrightLocal. (Source)
According to a survey by ReviewTrackers, 97% of consumers read online business reviews. (Source)
A survey by Podium found that 92% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses. (Source)
A study by Spiegel Research Center found that products with more reviews have a higher chance of being purchased. (Source)
A survey by Dimensional Research found that 90% of consumers say their buying decisions are influenced by online reviews. (Source)
A survey by Trustpilot found that 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. (Source)
A survey by Bazaarvoice found that 63% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (Source)
A survey by PowerReviews found that 72% of consumers will take action only after reading a positive review. (Source)
A survey by OpenReviews found that 88% of consumers trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts. (Source)
A survey by Reevoo found that 92% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. (Source)

5 lessons and takeaways

The majority of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. This highlights the importance of businesses having a presence on review sites and actively managing their online reputation.
Positive reviews can have a significant impact on a consumer’s purchasing decision. This demonstrates the value of businesses investing in strategies to encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews.
Online reviews are trusted by consumers just as much as personal recommendations. This shows the power of word-of-mouth marketing in the digital age.
The number of reviews a product or business has can impact a consumer’s purchasing decision. This underlines the importance of businesses getting as many reviews as possible.
Online reviews can influence a wide range of consumer decisions, from local businesses to e-commerce products. This means that businesses of all types need to be aware of the impact of online reviews and take steps to manage their online reputation.

Resources

You can learn more about online reviews, their impact, and how to get customer reviews online here:

In addition, don’t forget to check out our comprehensive guide to local SEO. This guide covers everything you need to know about setting up your website for local SEO success in 2023.

The Most Comprehensive Guide to Local SEO Ever

The post 10 Online Review Statistics You Should Know in 2023 appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

Google’s Dec. 2022 updates are still rolling out in Jan. 2023

Tahseen — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 10:34:22 +0000

In December 2022, Google started rolling out two updates that would affect search engine rankings for a lot of websites. Those updates were:

Usually, such updates roll out completely in two weeks. However, the timing of these two updates coincided with the 2022 Holiday season. As a result, the two updates were slowed down or temporarily paused.

According to the latest statement by Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, the two updates are still rolling out and are expected to complete in one to two weeks. However, Danny’s tweet comes up with a disclaimer that this time frame is not guaranteed, and “timings might change.”

The delay

As we mentioned earlier, the reason why these two updates were delayed was because of the Holiday season. This was also confirmed by Danny Sullivan:

“Both the updates are continuing to roll out. Normally these types of updates would have concluded by now, but rollouts can slow or pause when we get into the holiday periods.”

What’s the takeaway?

As of January’s first week, the updates are still being rolled out. And they may take up to a couple of weeks to roll out completely.

During or immediately after this period, you may see a change in organic rankings and traffic for pages on your website. It is important to keep a close eye on your website’s analytics and see if you notice any substantial changes.

At the same time, however, it is important to let these updates roll out completely before implementing any big changes.

Here’s a quick refresher on what the updates are about:

1. The December 2022 link spam update

The December 2022 link spam update aims to detect spam directly, identify websites that engage in buying and selling backlinks, and nullify the effects of unnatural links by utilizing Google’s AI-powered spam-prevention systems.

2. The December 2022 Helpful Content update

The December 2022 Helpful Content update aims to further improve the identification system of the Helpful Content introduced by Google in August 2022. The system rewards web pages that are created for people instead of search engines, add unique value, and are genuinely helpful to readers.

The post Google’s Dec. 2022 updates are still rolling out in Jan. 2023 appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

Google rolls out October 2022 spam update

Tahseen — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 10:50:36 +0000

Google has confirmed that it started rolling out a new spam update on October 19, 2022. This spam update is rolling out globally and, therefore, will affect search engine results worldwide and in all languages across the globe.

The initial estimate by Google is that the update will be fully rolled out in a few days — around a week.

The last spam update before this was the November 2021 spam update.

What are spam updates?

Google rolls out spam updates quite regularly. However, details of what an update is about are not as common.

In some cases, the update targets one specific area. For such instances, Google shares more specific information on the targeted update and the best practices for content publishers and website owners.

One such example is last year’s link spam update that started rolling out on July 26, 2021. In that update, Google re-assessed search results for websites that took part in link spam.

But what are spam updates?

This is how Google defines spam updates:

“While Google’s automated systems to detect search spam are constantly operating, we occasionally make notable improvements to how they work. When we do, we refer to this as a spam update and share when they happen on our list of Google Search ranking updates.

For example, SpamBrain is our AI-based spam-prevention system. From time-to-time, we improve that system to make it better at spotting spam and to help ensure it catches new types of spam.

Sites that see a change after a spam update should review our spam policies to ensure they are complying with those. Sites that violate our policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all. Making changes may help a site improve if our automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies with our spam policies.”

What to do?

At this stage, there isn’t much to do because Google hasn’t shared many details about the October 2022 spam update.

However, keep an eye out for your website’s search engine rankings and organic traffic. If you notice major changes, you may have been hit by the spam update.

And in that case, you know that you have work to do.

The first step would be to review Google’s spam policies. Next, audit your website to identify where and what the problems are and start moving away from spammy practices.

If you need help auditing your website for SEO or just general improvements in search engine rankings, feel free to contact us.

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The Manifest Celebrates Improve My Search Ranking as London’s Top Reviewed SEO Agency for 2022

Tahseen — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 09:34:07 +0000

Search engine optimization may look easy at first glance but don’t be fooled by online tutorials, it’s an intricate process that can quickly catch you off guard. Here at Improve My Search Ranking, we’re devoted to providing companies with strategic and proven SEO services. Our solutions allow our clients to boost their online visibility and organically increase their traffic.

Because of our great work for our clients and their success, we’ve unlocked a fantastic award from a trusted industry resource. According to the latest The Manifest Company Awards, Improve My Search Ranking was officially named as one of the best recommended and reviewed B2B leaders in London! In the platform’s esteemed report, our team was hailed as a trusted partner for mobile SEO this 2022!

This award is genuinely big for us. It’s truly humbling to know that we have strong connections with our clients who are also supportive of our journeys. Seeing them succeed and conquer the digital realm validates our hard work.

Moreover, The Manifest is an independent B2B news resource that provides business tips about the IT, marketing, and business services spaces. The site’s very first company awards highlight the incredible partnerships built by service providers with their clients. The awardees from different categories were selected based on the number of stellar testimonials and ratings they’ve earned over the past twelve months.

Thank you so much to all of our amazing clients, stakeholders, and team members. Of course, this award is a collective effort. We wouldn’t be celebrating this moment without everyone’s continued confidence and support.

We’re extremely excited to welcome more opportunities. Looking for a team that guarantees superb results in 90 days or less? Look no further because Improve My Search Ranking is here for you. Connect with us and let us know what you need.

The post The Manifest Celebrates Improve My Search Ranking as London’s Top Reviewed SEO Agency for 2022 appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

Google rolls out September 2022 product review algorithm update

Tahseen — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 09:19:41 +0000

The September 2022 product review update is now rolling out. As confirmed by Google, the update started rolling out on September 20, 2022, and will take up to a week to roll out completely.

Usually, these product review updates take two weeks to fully roll out. However, this time, it will take less than a week.

“For awareness, the September 2022 core update has not fully completed, but it’s mostly done. We expect it will be fully complete within a week and will share on our updates page when it is done,” announced Google.

Note that this is the fifth update in a series of updates that Google rolled out to target low-quality online reviews.

This product review update was expected to go live last month in August 2022, but it was delayed. Instead of this product review update, we saw the Helpful Content update in August by Google. You can find all the details you need to know about the Helpful Content update here.

Product review update vs Core update

The timing of this product review update is not necessarily a good one. Because multiple updates have been clumped together, it may create some difficulty for people trying to ascertain what hit them.

To remedy that, Google mentioned the following guidelines:

“If you see a change and wonder if it’s related to the core update or the product reviews update:

If you produce product reviews, then it’s probably related to that.
If not, then it might be related to the core update.”

To that end, Google’s Danny Sullivan also shared his thoughts on the timing of these updates. According to Danny, Google does its level best to keep updates as separate as possible, so as to make it easier for website owners to determine which update might be affecting their search rankings.

“We’ve worked very hard to keep updates separated from each other, or as little overlap as possible, to help creators understand more.

So no, not a coincidence. We’re due a core update but said let’s wait on that until the helpful content update has rolled out,” said Google’s Danny Sullivan.

What is the product review update?

In case you need a refresher, the product review update specifically targets — as the name suggests — online product reviews.

The aim is to reward higher-quality reviews that share personal expertise, in-depth research, and unique content.

On the other hand, the update also penalizes reviews that have thin, unoriginal content that is mostly rehashed from the manufacturer’s website or other reviews online.

Google wants to rank those reviews higher in the search rankings that demonstrate personal experience with the product. This can be done by adding original product photos, videos, first-hand observations, and unique takes.

If you are a local business that also reviews products, this update is for you. On the other hand, if you only sell products that customers can review on your website, this update does not apply to you.

For more local SEO news, tips, and tricks, stay tuned.

The post Google rolls out September 2022 product review algorithm update appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

Google prohibits bribing customers to remove negative reviews

Tahseen — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 10:23:02 +0000

Has this ever happened to you?

A customer leaves a bad or negative review about your local business. You reach out to them, try to make amends, and offer them a discount or free goods to make them happy. As a result, they modify or remove the negative review.

Seems like an excellent idea, right?

Not anymore, unfortunately.

Google has updated its Google Maps review guidelines. According to this late update, incentivizing customers to modify or remove negative reviews is now prohibited by Google.

The guidelines say, “Content that has been incentivized by a business in exchange for discounts, free goods and/or services.”

Now, Google has added the following line of text to the guideline, which makes it prohibitive for local businesses to use incentives for modifying negative reviews:

“This includes merchant requests for revision or removal of a negative review through offered discounts, free goods or services, or other incentives.”

Fake Engagement |Deceptive Content

In “Fake engagement”, under the “Deceptive content” section, Google has the following guidelines.

Paying, incentivising, or encouraging the posting of content that does not represent a genuine experience.
Content that is not based on real experiences and does not accurately represent the location or product in question.
Content that has been incentivized by a business in exchange for discounts, free goods, and/or services. This includes merchant requests for revision or removal of a negative review through offered discounts, free goods or services, or other incentives.
Content that has been posted by a competitor to undermine a business or product’s reputation.
Content that has been posted from multiple accounts to manipulate a place’s rating.

The idea of these guidelines is to ensure that Google Maps reflect a genuine experience of a business or place.

You can read the full set of guidelines regarding prohibited and restricted content here.

The takeaway for local businesses

If you have a local business listed on Google Maps, it may be tempting to incentivize people who left negative reviews and ask them to modify their bad reviews.

Don’t.

It is now explicitly prohibited by Google and goes against the user-generated content policy that Google has for Google Maps.

In addition to this, remember that incentivizing or encouraging content that does not represent a genuine experience is also against Google’s policies. Similarly, encouraging or incentivizing people through free goods/services or discounts in exchange for positive reviews is also prohibited.

Learn more about how to ask and get more positive customer reviews.

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Google updates Top Stories structured data documentation

Tahseen — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 09:40:32 +0000

Google has updated its structured data documentation for Top Stories eligibility. In addition, the search engine giant has also updated the image requirements and guidelines for Top Stories.

In this post, we cover and summarise the changes that Google just made.

1. Structured data is not necessary for Top Stories

It is unclear if structured data was ever mandatory to be eligible for Top Stories. Nevertheless, it is interesting that Google has recently updated the documentation. According to the latest update, Google added a new paragraph that clearly mentions that structured data is not necessary for a page to appear in Top Stories.

Here is the new paragraph that Google just added:

“Adding Article structured data to your news, blog, and sports article pages can help Google understand more about the web page and show better title text, images, and date information for the article in search results on Google Search and other properties (for example, Google News and the Google Assistant). While there’s no markup requirement to be eligible for Google News features like Top stories, you can add Article to more explicitly tell Google what your content is about (for example, that it’s a news article, who the author is, or what the title of the article is).”

As mentioned in the new paragraph, structured data is not a mandatory requirement for a page to be eligible for Top Stories. However, Google still recommends adding structured data as it can help Google understand the contents of the page more effectively.

2. AMP is no longer necessary for Top Stories eligibility

AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages was an essential requirement for a page to be eligible for Top Stories. That is no longer the case, as Google has deleted all references to AMP from its documentation.

This is not a new change, though. Google first gave notice of this change back in May 2020 in this blog post, which read:

“AMP will no longer be necessary for stories to be featured in Top Stories on mobile; it will be open to any page.”

3. Updated image guidelines

Apart from these two changes, Google has also updated its image guidelines for Top Stories.

According to the latest guidelines, Google has relaxed the image requirements.

Previously, publishers were required to upload multiple high-resolution photos with a minimum of 800K pixels when the height and width were multiplied. After the change, publishers are now required to upload multiple photos with a minimum resolution of only 50K.

The requirements for aspect ratios didn’t change.

Here is the latest text by Google:

“For best results, provide multiple high-resolution images (minimum of 50K pixels when multiplying width and height) with the following aspect ratios: 16×9, 4×3, and 1×1.”

Conclusion

Although these changes may seem insignificant, they are important and can help publishers drive more organic traffic via Top Stories. The relaxation of image requirements is a particularly welcome change.

Stay tuned for more news and SEO updates.

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Google shares thoughts on Helpful Content’s gradual buildup

Tahseen — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 14:51:56 +0000

Google recently started rolling out the Helpful Content update. It was expected to make a big splash, but so far, the rollout has not led to big changes in search rankings.

There is now a growing consensus that the Helpful Content update may not be as big of a deal as people initially thought. However, that can be misleading.

Google’s Dunny Sullivan learned about this notion that the Helpful Content is a smaller update and decided to address the situation by sharing more information on Twitter.

Here are a few important points he made that would be helpful to know.

The Helpful Content update is still being rolled

We are one week into the launch of the Helpful Content update. If everything still feels very quiet on the search engine results pages, that’s because the update isn’t done yet.

Danny Sullivan mentioned that Google will “keep refining how it works.”

“Update isn’t done. It’s also part of a continuing effort, as we’ve explained. We’ll keep refining how it works. Directionally, the guidance we’ve given is what SEOs and creators should be considering.” — Danny Sullivan.

The Helpful Content doesn’t guarantee big changes

Yes, it is a big sitewide algorithm update, but the rollout does not necessarily mean big changes on the SERPs. It’s especially true for websites that already have good, helpful content.

“Updates don’t necessarily mean a big giant shift. If you have good content, you’re generally fine.”

Sullivan also suggested that people who have been severely affected by the update because they didn’t have helpful content on their websites are less likely to share their feedback. That could be another reason why we may not hear about the lack of big changes and high volatility on the SERPs as much.

“Those who have content with issues, there can be reasons why they might not want to be particularly vocal about a change.”

The Helpful Content is a continuing effort

Unlike Google’s core algorithm updates, the Helpful Content update is going to be more of a continuing effort. Google expects this update to evolve over time. The plan is also to refine the algorithm — and its subsequent impact — with a major launch every few months.

In other words, Google’s helpful content will finish rolling out next week. However, that won’t be the last time we hear about it. Going forward, Google will rely on “incremental improvements” in the way Google analyzes and ranks content. Google will notify if there are more significant updates on the horizon.

“I expect if we make really significant changes to how our classifier works, we’d give notice about that. But more incremental improvements might happen as part of ordinary operation. And it’s very much not a case, as our post tried to explain, of “wait until the next update.”

Important points to remember about the Helpful Content update

Google’s Helpful Content update is still relatively new, but we believe this will set the direction of how Google wants to operate in the future and decide how to evaluate the quality of a content piece.

In case you missed it, here are four important points to remember about the Helpful Content update.

A higher word count does not necessarily guarantee that your content is helpful. Instead of focusing on how many words your web page has, Google is more concerned about the quality of the content. Word count is an arbitrary metric in the grand scheme of things.
The Helpful Content wants your content to give all the answers that the search engine users may have about a topic or question. If they feel the need to search for more content after leaving your website, it signals that your content wasn’t as helpful as it could be.
Google will prioritize content that clearly demonstrates first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge. The Helpful Content update wants authentic, credible, and reliable content. Do not rehash information that is available on other websites. Create something new.
The Helpful Content update is a sitewide algorithm update. What it means is that if your website has a mix of helpful and unhelpful content, your entire website can be negatively affected. The unhelpful pages can bring down the helpful pages in search rankings.

For more information, check out this resource by Google that shares what content creators should know about the Helpful Content update

The post Google shares thoughts on Helpful Content’s gradual buildup appeared first on Improve My Search Ranking.

Google to introduce three new travel products for hotels

Sami — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 10:00:11 +0000

Google recently announced that three new travel products would be released soon for hotels that would make it easier for hotel business owners to manage and change their hotel rates.

Let’s see what the three updates are.

Update #1 — Industry-standard protocols

According to the first update, Google is bringing industry-standard protocols for bringing hotel rates online — making uploading and changing new rates consistently.

Update #2 — Direct input of rates

The second update will have a direct impact on hotel business owners as it will make it easier for them to change hotel rates on the fly.

As of now, hotel businesses are required to manually upload complicated spreadsheets whenever they want to add hotel rates to their Google Business profiles. After this update, they will be able to directly input the rates into their Google Business profiles — making the entire process seamless and significantly easier.

This feature will come especially handy when hotel businesses need to change rates quickly — especially during busy seasons. Moreover, this will also make them less dependent on technology partners.

Update #3 — Open access to Hotel ads

Last but not least, the third update would allow Google advertisers to run ads for any hotel business website easily. That’s because they will no longer need a Hotel Center to run ads and ad campaigns.

Google also confirmed that the Hotel Center accounts wouldn’t be phased altogether.

“We will not be phasing out Hotel Center accounts. Current hotel advertisers with existing Hotel Center accounts will continue to operate and serve ads as usual,” Google mentioned.

Takeaways

With COVID restrictions being lifted in many parts of the world, the travel industry is all set to bounce back. Google highlighted that search interest in “passport appointments” have increased by 300% in the first four months of the year.

With an easier and more streamlined process, both consumers and hotel business owners will find it easier to operate.

You can read the full announcement by Google here.

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