July 2020 Google Algorithm Updates

Google Algorithm Updates July 2020

Google gave webmasters a small break in July with no significant updates. Many started the month playing catchup on shopping pages with Google offering new free shopping tools and becoming more aggressive towards identifying fake merchandise. The lack of major updates does not mean that they got to take the month off and play on the beach, however, because work still went on.

Websites Must Provide Great Content

The month started with a small hiccup that hurt some sites about July6-8. This update seemed to affect mostly sites with little content and an abundance of links. You should take it as a reminder that you should consistently produce fresh content that your target audience will find useful.

Use Nofollow Links for Guest Blogs

This update to Google’s algorithm was followed by a warning about guest blogs. If you use paid or unpaid guest blogs on your site, then the links should always be nofollow.

Google Search Console Insights

Google also introduced a new tool this month called Google Search Console Insights. This tool is handy because it shows you how well your new content performs, including the date that Google found the latest content and how long people stayed on the page. It also shows you the number of links pointing to your site and the newest links pointing to your content. Google Search Console Insights also contains new data on people interacting with your company via social media.

Responsive Websites

Google’s John Mueller warned against the use of using loading signs on websites. He indicated that Google’s robots might not wait for content to load. Instead, he says that there are enough tools that content should start showing to users of your website immediately.

Link Building

If you have been trying to distribute links evenly across your website, then John Mueller says you are not building links correctly. Instead, concentrate on using links that real people will find useful. Then, you will naturally be building up your most important pages. He also says that you need to take a second look at your site’s navigation to ensure that readers can quickly get to essential pages from the homepage.

Since Google named Prabhakar Raghavan as their new head of search, changes may come rapidly over the next couple of months. Last month’s Google shopping update may be just the tip of an enormous iceberg that may sink your site unless you work with a professional who stays current. Contact us today and let us help you.