Google's major local algorithm update, dubbed "Pigeon", expanded to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The update was confirmed on the 22nd but may have rolled out as early as the 19th. Multiple SERP-trackers and many webmasters reported major flux in Google SERPs.
Google has temporarily disabled live traffic features offered by Google Maps in Ukraine to protect users’ safety as the country is invaded by neighboring Russia. Quickly find explainers, videos, and results from the web for math, history, chemistry, biology, physics, and more. Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions. Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.
Google confirmed a major Panda update that likely included both an algorithm update and a data refresh. While Matt Cutts said it began rolling out on 5/20, our data strongly suggests it started earlier. A Google representative said that Penguin had shifted to continuous updates, moving away from infrequent, major updates. While the exact timeline was unclear, this claim seemed to fit ongoing flux after Penguin 3.0 (including unconfirmed claims of a Penguin 3.1).
Moz data suggested drops on April 5th and 7th, with about 4% of stable URLs falling off of page one. In a forum post today, OnePlus’ Pete Lau confirmed a few new details about the future of the brand, including that it has ditched plans to merge OxygenOS with Oppo’s experience. But just as exciting was the confirmation that OnePlus has a 150W charging spec coming later this year. Valve has officially released its PC gaming-focused portable handheld this week, and the flexible machine has garnered a fair bit of praise for its performance on local games. However, if you were hoping to play cloud games from Google Stadia and similar services on the Steam Deck, it seems you’re in for a rude surprise. Google said the decision to disable these features was made to protect local users’ safety after consultation with Ukrainian authorities, report Reuters and Vice.
Get technical support and product resources to bolster client success. In this work, we investigate this premise empirically and provide a strong case against it. Our researchers publish regularly in academic journals, release projects as open source, and apply research to Google products. We’re fostering a collaborative ecosystem with open-source tools, public datasets, and APIs that allow all of us to make the most of machine learning.
The monthly "Google Dance" finally came to an end with the "Fritz" update. Instead of completely overhauling the index on a roughly monthly basis, Google switched to an incremental approach. Google continued to crack-down on deceptive on-page tactics, including invisible text and META-tag stuffing. Some speculated that Google put the "Hilltop" algorithm into play and began to take page relevance seriously. A large-scale shuffle seemed to occur at the end of March and into early April, but the specifics were unclear.
Webmaster chatter and industry case studies suggest these were separate events. According to our MozCast 10K tracking set, half of page-1 Google organic results were secure/HTTPs as of mid-April. Google claimed that the bulk of the indexing and canonicalization bug had been fixed by around October 14th. MozCast measured a drop in indexed pages and a temperature of 104°F around October 12th, with temperatures in the 90s lasting for a few days after.
