Blogs,Funeral

What Is a Google Update and Why Does It Matter?

Google, and other search engines, run on algorithms. These are complex programs and models that help determine which pages rise to the top of the search results.

It’s a fair logical conclusion that you can help increase your website’s standing in the search results if you know what the algorithms are doing. Then you can create content that pushes the right buttons for those models.

Except Google tweaks its algorithms thousands of times a year, constantly making slight changes to ensure search results are the best they can be. It’s not something deathcare firms can hope to keep up with, so it’s better to concentrate on publishing high-quality content that is valuable to the reader.

 

What Are Major Google Updates?

That being said, deathcare firms should pay attention to major Google updates. A few times a year, Google makes more sweeping changes to its algorithms. It typically announces these changes so websites can react accordingly to address content needs.

These major updates can have a significant impact on how a site ranks in search results. They tend to target specific things and can penalize sites engaging in activity Google has deemed low-quality.

For example, a core update in May 2022 included changes that would downgrade content Google could tell was created by AI. Low-quality AI content isn’t what Google wants to serve people in the search results.

In 2021 and early 2022, Google rolled out a page experience update that applied Core Web Vitals to search algorithms. That meant that pages that didn’t meet Google thresholds for experience metrics like page load times might be downgraded. (Google likes to see page load times less than 1.5 seconds, by the way.)

 

How Do You Find Out About Major Google Changes?

You can follow search engine news on sites such as Search Engine Journal. Reading or even skimming a few articles a week on such sites helps you understand which way the search engine winds are blowing.

And if you work with funeral home marketing professionals like those at Ring Ring Marketing, you can trust that someone is keeping an eye on search engine changes for you and can let you know if major overhauls to your content may be required.

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