Have you (or your customers) noticed a change in the ranking of keywords during the first week of August? If so, you are not alone. Google recently confirmed the release of a “Basic Algorithm Update” on Aug. 1 on its SearchLiaison Twitter account, indicating that Google’s ranking algorithm would undergo significant changes and improvements. As is common with these Google ads, they have been vague about what “specific improvements” entail, leaving webmasters to connect the points themselves to what may have changed and how to adjust.

Although Google suggests that basic algorithm updates are common and occur multiple times during the year, not all updates are causing these Google ads to try to discern which factors have gained or lost importance with regard to the influence on the ranking of organic keywords.

Otherwise, we turn to the broader research community to share information and gain a broader perspective on the impact of updating the algorithm. Moz reports that the change seems to have hit the largest number of websites in the area of health and well-being, resulting in high volatility in the ranking of organic keywords. At a broader level, this latest update appears to be a general “tightening” of results to favor websites with greater perceived expertise, authority or trust in a given industry or sector.

What We Know

At FMIM, we have noticed that, in general, the ranking of keywords of our SEO clients has had a positive impact since the launch of this update of the basic algorithm. As we work with our SEO customers to optimize their existing content and create new content to improve their authority and expertise in their sector or industry, we encourage Google to align their algorithm to reward those efforts and deliver the results. more useful research. their users.