Google is the world’s most popular search engine and the most influential voice when it comes to SEO best practices, with a market share of 91.94 percent. Companies across the globe are scrambling to keep up with the ever-changing algorithm of the platform in order to preserve their position at the top of search results.
Google started rolling out its next major core upgrade in May 2022, with the goal of improving the overall relevance of search results. As previously, the platform’s purpose is to speed up and improve search results for everyone. The update deployment was finished on June 9th.
SEO experts believe that the May upgrade will have a substantial influence on the landscape of SEO. As far as algorithmic changes go, this is one of the most important in a long time.
The May 25th Broad Core Update’s Key Facts
Google released its first major upgrade since November 2021 with the May 25th wide core update. Changing the algorithm has the potential to have a significant impact. In the first place, it alters the way in which websites may attract search engine rankings and visitors. Consequently, it has a direct effect on the money firms may get from organic visitors.
The preparation and assessment of the effect of every core update might take many weeks due to the large scope and gradual change that these updates frequently entail. Google doesn’t often share specifics on what’s changed.
After the upgrade, however, many SEOs responded in an explosive manner. Several webmasters reported major traffic declines. So far, the volatility in the May 2022 update has been more severe and shorter-lived. Nevertheless, some volatility is not unusual after the implementation of adjustments.
FAQ Snippets’ Effect
Since the May upgrade, FAQ snippets and feature snippets have had a significant influence. Search results featuring FAQ snippets, for example, are now appearing in 22% of Google searches, up from a previous 22%. As a consequence, search engines are more likely to display FAQs and short responses on search results pages, which encourages website owners to put FAQs and answers on their sites.
Websites benefit from including a FAQ section since it lends credibility and knowledge to the site. It also demonstrates the desire of companies to give open and honest information about their products and services. To improve their chances of appearing in the first page snippets, companies can mark up their FAQ material with relevant structured data.
Featured snippets have experienced more ups and downs than ever before. Some companies have seen a significant increase in organic traffic as a result of these snippets.
Relevance and Context
As recently as a few years ago, it was possible for web pages to get more traffic by cramming their content with keywords. Thus, search engines would pick up sites with large amounts of keywords, even if the articles’ relevance was low and their context included little useful information.
It’s a new era now. The May 2022 upgrade aims to reduce the number of websites that rely on keyword stuffing. As a result, Google is becoming more adept at understanding context and tying synonyms to specific phrases in search results. As a result, it can detect whether or not an article has succeeded in covering a subject.
Businesses should prioritise quality above quantity as the most important lesson learned. Writers should refrain from releasing work that isn’t well-organized or well-thought out. As a result, each new piece of information should be tailored to a user’s specific search intent and address their inquiries thoroughly.
How Companies should respond?
Businesses may see a decrease or increase in traffic and search engine rankings after each major core upgrade. However, Google asserts that businesses must accept these shifts as normal. Because of this, there is no rush to repair things on their website that aren’t broken.
It is quite unlikely that a site’s performance would improve following a core upgrade. They have not been punished by Google’s webmaster standards, which they do not break. There are no particular sites or pages targeted by Google’s core upgrades. Instead, they alter the overall ranking of pages in the system. The goal of the search engine is to reward high-quality material that was previously underperforming. Changes should favour content that provides clear answers to user inquiries and is well-structured.
It’s possible that sites that have been ranking high in search engine results have simply been surpassed by sites with more worthy material. For this core upgrade, Google advises against looking for a remedy. Instead, site owners should stick to tried-and-true methods of content optimization.
