8 SEO Updates You Need to Know About!
Regularly, Tink’s web analytics team shares the latest SEO trends to help you adopt the best practices when updating your website or digital content. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to stay up to date with our tips and news!
1. 2 out of 3 searches end with no click
A study by SparkToro and SimilarWeb reveals this trend. Zero-click searches are on the rise: the percentage went from 50% in June 2019 to 65% in 2020. A zero-click search occurs when search engine results (mostly from Google, but also Bing or Yahoo) are directly displayed on the results page, so there’s no need to click on a link.
Google, however, argues that this is due to factors like query reformulation, quick fact checks, browsing local data, or navigating to apps.
2. A review management tool appears in Google My Business
Business owners listed in Google My Business now have the ability to flag certain reviews they deem false or incorrect. However, the effects of this reporting feature are limited. Also, this feature is only available for listings with around ten reviews.
3. Have you heard about Google Web Stories?
This article takes a look at a content format that first appeared over three years ago but is becoming increasingly prominent in Google search results. Similar to Instagram stories, these are visual pieces of content that you can feature on your site. An example? Search for "europe hidden village" on your mobile and click on the image mosaic from National Geographic's site... More details about this format can be found here.
4. All about the AMP format
Speaking of Web Stories, here’s a quick reminder of what AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is and its impact on SEO. AMP allows for instant display of indexed content in Google, thanks to a simplified HTML version. Why and how should you implement it? What benefits can you expect, and how do you measure them? The answers are here.
5. Google unveils MUM, its next algorithm version
MUM (Multitask Unified Model) is a new natural language processing model, said to be 1,000 times more powerful than the previous model, BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), which is still in testing. (Google loves abbreviations!)
Unlike its predecessor, MUM will be multimodal (capable of processing text, images, or pages) and multitask (capable of multi-layered analysis).
Trained in 75 languages, this model, when integrated into the algorithm, will improve automatic translation, generate high-quality text automatically, and better understand natural language, delivering even more relevant answers to users' questions.
6. Google announces partnership with Shopify
At its annual Google I/O 2021 conference, held online from May 18 to 20, Google announced a partnership with e-commerce platform Shopify. Few details were provided, but we can assume that importing products into Google Shopping will be much easier for the 1.7 million merchants using Shopify. Google hopes to grow its inventory and compete with Amazon by displaying products in Google Images and YouTube. Additional information available here.
Tink is already working closely with Shopify’s teams.
7. 96% of websites fail to meet the 3 Core Web Vitals standards
A study by SearchMetrics confirms what we’ve sensed: most websites worldwide are not ready for Google’s mid-June update, which will consider user experience (UX) metrics as part of SEO ranking criteria. Google primarily aims to pressure webmasters to make their sites more performant. However, this update is expected to be minor, with no significant SEO impact penalizing the majority of sites.
8. The Google Page Experience update extends to desktops
Continuing on the topic of web performance being factored into page rankings: Google initially announced that this "Page Experience" update would only affect mobile sites. But during the Google I/O event, Google product manager Jeffrey Jose revealed that desktop versions of pages would also be impacted. Many questions remain about this update. We’ll have to wait and see whether it will roll out simultaneously or gradually during the summer.
Do you have questions or projects related to these topics, SEO, or digital strategies in general? Contact us!!
