Latest SEO Updates of 2016

Although Google comes up with changes in its search algorithm which are mostly minor, quite often it freaks one out with major algorithmic updates (be it Google Panda or Google Penguin) affecting one’s search results quite badly. Getting a hang of the Google algorithm updates can help one with SEO(Search Engine Optimization). In the second half of 2015, Google came up with an official say, a part of the algorithm had been machine learning, thus contributing among the top three influential factors.

Let’s take a look at some of the latest updates of 2016:

In January, 2016 Google came up with a core ranking algorithm update. Although webmasters mistook this as an update related to Google Penguin, it was basically a core ranking change related with Google Panda. With no official name, no details were given too regarding its nature or pros and cons. Google Panda merged with Google’s Core Ranking Algorithm.
By the end of February, 2016 Google came up with a paid search update with four ads on the top and no ads on the sidebar. But it had a disadvantage too, which the SEO’s fretted over- it pushed organic search queries down the line.

Now what is the thing with four ads on the top?

While previously the top ad blocks featured only one to three ads, Google’s examining of SERP’s with four ads created a lot of buzz among the webmasters. Not only do they have links to the specific sites as in the ads, but they also have something like location enhancements. Announcements from Google suggested that four ad blocks are only visible with highly commercial queries or Google searches, but some exceptions were indeed visible. Not only that, the column ads on the right side gradually shifted to the south-west position of the screen and later vanished like vapour into thin air. But while the ads on the right side could contain upto eight ads, the ads currently positioned on the top could only be a maximum of four in number, thus entailing a subsequent drop in the ad positions. But it also has an advantage. Top ads are more attention-grabbing than side column ads.

However, with no further updates in the recent past, these are the two main SEO updates which took the entire digital world by storm in the first half of 2016.