No More Google Core Updates In 2022, Helpful Content Update Taking Longer, The Impact Of These Updates & More

Search Engine Roundtable Podcast

Google told us that we should not expect another Core update in 2022, so you can relax about that. Google said the helpful content update would take longer to roll out; now, it is well over two weeks since it started. So now both the helpful content update and link spam update are rolling out, and there has been a lot of turbulence with that. We also reported on the early impact of the link spam update. Google can now search the content within a video, which is pretty cool. Google spoke about having too many words on a page and that it does not look at words per section of a page. Google also said using a single robots.txt for all your international domains is fine and that Sitemaps are a hint, not an order. Google said you could ignore spammy links even from penalized sites that are redirected to you. Google stopped using Web Light in the future. Bing will fully switch to the new BingBot user agent next month. Google is testing a new wider desktop search interface. Google is testing an about carousel for websites. Google may have rolled out the new local pack design. Google added top products to the Business Profile performance reports. A study said that upvoting reviews in Google local might help those reviews stay up longer. Google has a new ad policy about promoting content or behavior that risks harm. And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

SPONSOR: This week's video recap is sponsored by Duda, the Professional Website Builder You Can Call Your Own.

0:00 - Introduction

1:09 - Google: No Core Update During Remainder Of The Year

1:53 - December 2022 Google Helpful Content Update Taking Longer, Said Google

2:30 - Google Helpful Content Update & Link Spam Update Still Making SERP Turbulence

3:36 - Google December 2022 Link Spam Update's Impact

4:17 - Google Search In Video

4:48 - Google Looking At Upper Limit Of Word Count? Probably Not But Get To The Point

5:58 - Google: Our Search Algorithm Doesn't Look At Words Per Section

6:07 - Google: You Can Use A Single Robots.txt For All Your International Sites

6:43 - Google PSA: Sitemaps Are Hints, Not Orders

7:28 - Google: Ignore Spammy Links Even When A Whole Penalized Site Is Redirected To You

7:52 - Google Stops Using Web Light To Serve Lighter/Faster Version Of Your Pages

8:55 - Bing Will Fully Switch To The New BingBot User Agent In Early January

9:35 - Google Search Testing New Desktop Search User Interface Design

10:15 - Google Tests Sponsored Label On Desktop Search Ads

10:35 - Google Tests About Carousel For Websites

10:55 - Google's New Local Pack Full Design Now Live?

11:26 - Google Top Products Added To Business Profiles Performance Reports

11:38 - Study: Upvoting Reviews Keeps The Reviews On Google Local Longer

12:07 - New Google Ads Policy Disallows Promoting Content That Risks Harming Users, Googlers Or Google Ads

12:45 - Conclusion