Algorithm Rolled Out: Mid-June 2015
Algorithm Summary: Overall Gist
Google has tweaked its core algorithm and released an update for the second time in a few weeks without officially announcing it. Based on our preliminary analysis, this update appears to be primarily concerned with trending and temporary search intentions related to informational (short-head) keywords. First-look winners are primarily media websites, with topicality being one of the most important aspects of the update. That’s why we chose the working title “News-Wave Update“: Google surfers, check out the trending tides! Search results will be much more volatile in the future if this is meant to be a permanent change.
The key focus here is volatility. This post is based on very recent data, but the rankings have already changed while I was writing these lines. Google appears to be constantly updating the SERPs with new newsworthy content.
The “Google News-Wave Update” is here.
Most of the changes are related to informative or newsworthy keywords. Please keep in mind that keywords normally unrelated to news can become newsworthy when something involving a topic related to this keyword happens. Most keywords appear to be derived from the short head, which consists of one or two words. Google tries to serve the most recent search intent for these types of searches.
Because news domains and magazines are among the most important sources and elements of search results (along with Wikipedia), they have benefited greatly. But: This appears to be a fleeting success.
What about Twitter and Google Trends?
When the SERPs began to shake on June 17th, Google Trends experienced a massive relaunch. Everyone can now analyze search trends in real time. So, according to Google, the relaunch of Google Trends is “the largest expansion of Google Trends since 2012.” Google is also now tracking trends on YouTube and Google News. Google’s portfolio now includes: Google has had complete access to the Twitter stream since February 2015.
That is why actuality is one of the key factors for the news wave update.
Google’s algorithm can now respond instantly to changes in search volume for specific keywords or trending topics on Twitter, YouTube, or Google News.
The News wave conclusion: intent, reality, and volatility
The Google Newswave Update impacts short informational head keywords, the search results of which are flooded with the news.
Because news pages are, however, apart from Wikipedia, Google’s most important source for current and newsworthy information in its search results, those news domains gained a lot of SEO visibility due to this Google Update.
Actuality is one of the most necessary factors in calculating the user’s search intent (and flooding the SERPs with news content). The simultaneous relaunch of Google Trends and Google Search on Wednesday, June 17th, was not by chance: real-time search data is now a part of Google’s ranking algorithm. In contrast, this is only a temporary phenomenon; as the news fades, the ranking for the affected topic and keywords should also level off.
The news comes and goes like waves. They can be small at times and large at other times. But the next (news) wave will undoubtedly arrive.
Partially, there are keywords affected that have no actual reference. Aside from that, we believe that such a large number of similar pages ranking for the same topic is slightly exaggerated. As a result, we believe Google is still testing and improving the algorithm change. However, the volatility of search results will increase in general, particularly when there are trending news results and a change in search volume for informational keywords. It may impact online businesses because increased volatility in search results may result in temporary drops in rankings and traffic.