Google rolled out a fresh algorithm update on 4^th May, that is only the second in 2020. Initial impact seems to be big and broad across multiple sectors and industries, as opposed to some niche specific updates we’ve seen over recent years. According to SEMRush, rank volatility has been especially noticeable for travel, property, health, pets and animals and people and society. Interestingly, the focus seems to be less EAT, (expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness), but maybe more towards content factors and CTR factors. Find out more here.

Despite many ad services seeing significant drops in revenue during the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon has bucked this trend, seeing it’s revenue soar 40% to an astonishing $3.9 billion. Amazon is one of the few channels that has been able to see such significant gains. Last month we noted that YouTube advertising rates are dropping, however with huge surges in what would be offline customers migrating online, Amazon have been able to monetise their direct sale offering with their advertisers. You can learn more here.

Google continues to test different methods of providing the best possible search experience by offering suggested searches based on recent activity. It’s worth noting that users need to be logged in for this to occur, however it will most likely continue to change the way we search, with different queries being automatically generated to get users to the content that is most relevant to them, based on their intent e.g. purchasing. This is definitely something worth considering during keyword research phases and potentially FAQ content. You can learn more about it here.

As well as improving search experience, Google also wants to ensure users aren’t overwhelmed by ‘annoying’ battery and data draining ads. They have recently announced that starting at the end of August, Google Chrome will begin blocking resource heavy ads, particularly those that have been programmed poorly, have not been network optimised, or mine cryptocurrency. They are going to do this by limiting the amount of resources a display ad can use before a user decided to engage with it. Find out more here.

On 28^th May, Google announced that user experience will become a ranking factor in an algorithm update they plan to launch in 2021. Although many aspects of Google’s existing algorithm look at how users engage with various aspects of websites and their content, e.g. page speed, whether the page is mobile friendly, the HTTPS ranking boost, Google will be formally ranking pages that they believe offer the best user experience ahead of others them deem offer a poor one. Google provides extensive literature regarding user experience in their page experience criteria documentation, which should be noted in the coming months before this update rolls around – luckily they have given designers and webmasters ample time to prepare! You can read more about it here.