Google updates are inevitable and they may affect your SEO strategy for real.

In 2021, we received nine major updates during the course of the year. As a result, we can only expect Google to keep up the good work. And we thought this update compilation article could be useful in helping SEO marketers and website owners to prepare for this year 2022.

Google Search algorithms are modified hundreds of times per year to ensure that the most relevant and specified results are displayed first as per the user intent.

Over the last five years, Google claims that its continual dedication to the search experience and the quality of results has helped them reduce the number of irrelevant results appearing on a search results page by over 40%.

Imagine searching for a diamond in a sack of stones, we cannot distinguish between the results until we know what exactly we want, or we have filters that can identify and cut short what we are looking for. Irrelevance is unavoidable in that case but google is smart that way, over the period of time it had worked through and through according to user interest and intent which makes it easy for us to get specific results with search.

While the bulk of these modifications goes unnoticed, every now and then one that truly rocks the SEO boat comes along.

In this piece, we’ll look back at the changes that have affected SEO over the last year and how they might affect your future goals.

Here are five of Google’s most significant updates for 2021.

The Page Experience Update

Google began rolling out a major core algorithm change called “The Page Experience Update” on June 16th, 2021.   This update was devised to provide a better user experience by prioritizing pages that provide high-quality page performance, such as fast loading times and a non-shifting, consistent page. Google has always had some page experience metrics — mobile-friendliness, HTTPS security, and intrusive interstitials — and has emphasized fast sites since 2010, but with the 2021 Page Experience revamp, they now added three additional metrics to measure both speed and overall page experience. Core Web Vitals was the name of these new measures.

• Core Web Vitals: A set of metrics used to evaluate the user experience of a page.
• Mobile usability: A page must be free of problems when viewed on a mobile device.
• Any security issues on a site prohibit all pages on the site from receiving a Good rating.
• HTTPS usage: To be qualified for Good page experience status, a page must be served over HTTPS.
• Ad Experience: A website cannot utilize advertising strategies that are disruptive, interruptive, or otherwise harmful to the user’s experience.

 Google’s Link Spam Update

Google’s “link spam” algorithm update went live on July 26, 2021, with the goal of identifying, targeting, and reassessing the ranking of sites that actively participate in link spam in several languages. This means that B2B websites will lose the value of links that are detected as spam by the algorithm, rather than being penalized for manipulative link creation.

Google announced 

“In our continued efforts to improve the quality of the search results, we’re launching a new link spam-fighting change today — which we call the “link spam update…

Sites taking part in link spam will see changes in Search as those links are re-assessed by our algorithms.”

Summer Broad Core Update(s)

The June Update was the first of two major core algorithm changes that Google released this summer. The fascinating aspect of this update is that it was the first of two, with Google announcing that another core upgrade would be released in July.

There’s nothing that can be done expressly to fix a site after a major core update. “Because of the two-part format of this release,” Google added, “it’s possible a very small chunk of content might receive changes in June that reverse in July.” So maybe don’t cheer just yet; there’s more to come.”

Product Reviews Update

On April 8, 2021, Google announced the Product Reviews Update, a new algorithm update. The change was made to favor in-depth reviews over shorter reviews (whether they were for a single product, a set of products, or service reviews, for example). Since the update’s rollout, we’ve been researching its impact across several niche categories, as well as the content that was impacted, site-level data, user experience factors across affected sites, and more.

The Product Reviews update had a significant influence on several review sites in a variety of niche categories. It was a major update, and Google indicated that the algorithm is now analyzing sites and sections more generally (much like Google’s broad core updates do

The Introduction of MUM

In June 2021, Google released the Multitask Unified Model (MUM) update, which aimed to provide search results that were free of language and format barriers, resulting in a better search experience.

The Google MUM update uses a special technique that allows us to access previously hidden information around a core query, allowing us to get more of what we want without having to conduct numerous searches.

Google MUM can understand and translate texts and graphics in 75 different languages.

In the months and years ahead, MUM will provide Google’s algorithms with a more detailed understanding of search queries, content quality and relevancy, and more.

This is not it, there were so many more updates and 2021 was a total rollercoaster for website owners, but taking notes from all of the above updates, we can still save our website and still be relevant in 2022 by just keeping a few things in mind.

How to deal with google updates in 2022?

You are not required to keep up with every single Google update. However, being aware of new features, moving SERP opportunities, and major Google modifications put what you’re seeing in your site’s performance data into context.

There are a few updates that can shake or make your website in 2022, consider it a heads up from our end.

Responsive Ads Replacing Extended Text Ads

Google said in September that, starting in June 2022, RSAs will be the only ad type that marketers may create and update, with extended text advertisements being phased out.

Page Experience Will Become a Ranking Factor on Desktop

Google is introducing page experience ranking factors to desktop search starting in February 2022 and ending in March 2022. Page experience became a ranking criterion for mobile in June 2021, if you recall.

Third-Party Cookies Will Be Phased Out in 2022

In an effort to improve privacy, Google will phase away third-party cookies on Chrome browsers in an update that was initially scheduled for February 2020.