What We Know About The June 25 Google Update

Google updated their search results algorithm in late June, and over the holiday weekend. A significant Google algorithm update happened on June 25. This update has had webmasters and SEOs buzzing in all past week about the significance of its effects on websites across the world.

Not all the tracking tools are showing massive changes. Mozcast has been overheating for the past couple months now, SERPMetrics seems to have declined a bit, Algoroo is somewhat calm now, Accuranker shows activity, RankRanger is showing major swings and SEMRush is also showing major changes.

Google's June 25 Algorithm Update - High Fluctuations, Low Chatter

Despite the length of the current update, the initial chatter, per Barry Schwartz of SERoundtable, was quite light. This is obviously peculiar, not only in light of the length of the update, but the fluctuation levels themselves as well. The risk levels on our Rank Risk Index have risen above moderate, and show a continuous series of high fluctuation levels.

With rank fluctuations being what they are, a voluminous degree of chatter would be the norm, or at minimum the expectation. What then is behind the slow development of industry chatter in this instance? This question, oddly as it may be, plays a significant role in understanding (of course partially, as only Google knows the full picture) what transpired with this update.

It’s no secret that Google updates its algorithm often, and based on what we’ve seen since 2000, it will likely continue to do so for years to come. If you’re noticing the reduction of impressions in Google Search Console over the default view of 28 days, expand the range to 90 days.

June's Algorithm Update Ranking Positions Hit Analysis

RankRanger, another tracking tool, provided further analysis of the June 25 update in a blog post published today. The company says this appears to be a long running update, the likes of which has not been seen since October 2016.

Analysis from RankRanger indicates Google’s recent algorithm update primarily targeted sites that were ranking in positions 6-10.

• Top 3 Results - Exact Match (%)
• Top 5 Results - Exact Match (%)
• Top 10 Results - Exact Match (%)

RankRanger also broke down its analysis by niche. While there were fluctuations across all niches, the food & beverage industry appears to have been hit the hardest. This is followed by sites in the health & fitness, gambling, retail, and travel niches respectively.

Google's June Update - What You Should Do Now

Being able to accurately identify the root causes plaguing your website can seem like a scary proposition for some. Using the scientific method can help you figure out whether you have a big SEO problem.

For those who want to know, How to tackle this situation, follow this guide:

• Start With Hypothesis
• Make Ranking Observation
• Conduct an Website Analysis
• Update Your Content Regularly
• Publish Relevant Content

Information and advice about Google Phantom 5, the SEO update of 07/02/17

At the beginning of February 2017, particularly on the 7th, Google made an important update of its algorithm, with big impacts for some sites. In the absence of official announcement, the world SEO talks about the update "Phantom 5" whose characteristics are as follows.

We have already seen several unofficial updates of the Google algo that seem to touch the quality assessment (in addition to Panda): they are grouped in the "Phantom family".

After Phantom 2 in May 2015, Phantom 3 in November 2015 and the 4 in June 2016, here is Phantom 5 in February 2017!

For now I am getting closer to the conclusions of other specialists (eg Glen Gabbe or SearchMetrics ). As with other "Phantom" updates, it seems that Google's algo is getting better and better at estimating the user's satisfaction level.

Here are the ideas of Search Metrics:

• Phantom focuses on "quality of content (which requires a complex evaluation)
• The algo works URL by URL: its impact is at the level of individual pages, or directories, but not entire sites
• Deployment may take several weeks.
• The big brands are often among the winners (or the losers!), Probably because it concerns a lot the marks requests
• Sites are often "impacted" by several algorithms or updates, and sometimes as both winners and losers
• The big changes are often related to trademarks or long head tags ( head keywords )
• User-related criteria appear to play a role in quality assessment. In particular, the intention of the user is a major aspect.

I suggest you re-read what I explained in 2011: the behavior of the user is monitored by Google , in particular the Internet user who comes from the SERP .

If your site (or your client's site) is too big, it may be difficult to evaluate which pages have quality issues. I suggest you "roughen the ground" by identifying pages that have relatively obvious problems.

This is a crawler that generates an SEO audit report understandable by all, with full explanations and all necessary appendices.