Fibre Marketing

Author: Laura

The Canonical And Mobile-Indexing Bugs: What You Need To Know

Posted on by Laura

September saw some noticeable canonical and indexing issues that affected Google’s search results. Although some in the SEO community originally thought that these spikes in the SERPs were the result of an as-yet-unannounced Google update, it was later revealed to be two different bugs that were causing all the commotion.  

As confirmed by Google, one of the issues affected mobile indexing, while the other affected canonicalisation, which in turn affected how content was being shown in search results. For clarification, canonicalisation refers to search engines being notified of which version of a URL is the ‘original’. If a site owner decides to syndicate content – meaning they allow their content to be republished on another site – then canonical tags are used to show search engines whether a URL is the original content page, or a ‘duplicate’. This helps the site that originally provided the content to still rank in the SERPs when its content is reproduced elsewhere.   

So, if your site’s organic traffic was affected on 21st September, it was likely due to the indexing issues. 

On 1st October, Google Search Liaison reported they were “working to resolve two separate indexing issues that have impacted some URLs.” 

They have been elaborating further via their Twitter thread:  

What Happened 

On 23rd September, there was talk in the SEO community of another Google search ranking algorithm update, with automated tracking tools showing spikes. Users reported seeing unrelated results for their queries, and there were reports of previously indexed web pages no longer appearing in search results.  

The fluctuating SERPs can be seen in this screenshot of the SERP volatility checker below: 

SEO veteran Glenn Gabe commented on 26th September: “I had a news publisher reach out to me that has seen 1,300 articles get canonicalised TO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ARTICLES.” 

Fibre previously tweeted about the issues on 30th September (see here).  That same morning, SEO Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz reported seeing several complaints on Twitter about pages being dropped from Google’s search index.  

One user commented on the article, “Today I found out that the main page has disappeared from the index. The page has been in the top for more than 4 years, no prohibited methods were used, there were no alerts, no changes were made to the site either. Yesterday I filled out the questionnaire “Share your experience with Search Console Insights” and today the page is not in the index, and accordingly the drawdown of positions and traffic. Where to dig, what happened.”  

However, Google Search Liaison said the canonicalisation problems actually started as early as 20th September, and that the mobile-indexing issues began even earlier (although these bugs really became more noticeable on 21st September); 

Why It Matters 

The topic of duplicate content is already tricky in the SEO community, as you have to be careful that search engines don’t mistake the wrong URL as the original. When Google started selecting the wrong page despite the canonical tag, this made the situation even more complicated. The canonicalisation issue has resulted in syndicated content no longer being linked to its original site, so original web pages no longer showed in the search results, causing sites to lose organic traffic. URLs that once ranked well in the SERPs no longer rank.  

The Current Situation 

Gary Illyes from Google said that they are “estimating the impact and potentially annotating the reports affected,” which means Google might be adding footnotes to Search Console reports to highlight the indexing bug. 

Google said the indexing bug only impacted about 0.02% of its index, and as of 2nd October, Google restored about 10%. This was followed by another update on 6th October, where Google Search Liaison reported this: 

What Can Site Owners Do? 

Site Owners don’t need to panic; in this case it is down to Google to fix the problem.  

On 2nd October, Google Search Liaison tweeted: 

Conclusion  

This isn’t the first time Google has experienced indexing issues; 2020 has seen numerous problems take place. For instance, just in September Google reported an indexing bug in the Top Stories section of search, and, back in July, Google Search Console flagged up a problem with indexing, but this was fixed relatively quickly and with less commotion. And lets not forget the large glitch that occurred in August, caused by an indexing bug, which resulted in major, temporary changes to search rankings.  

There has long been speculation that something is underway at Google; so perhaps these bugs are just the catalyst for bigger changes further down the line? We’ll keep an eye out for more developments.  

Google Rolls Out May 2020 Core Update

Posted on by Laura

Google is constantly making updates – thousands a year – although more extensive core updates understandably play a greater role in how search results will be generated. On the 4 May, 2020, Google announced that they rolling out a core algorithm update, the second one of its kind for this year.

This is a broad update which will affect everyone regardless of location, industry or language – but what does it mean for your business? Part of our work at Fibre is to properly understand exactly how these updates affect our clients, and how they can position themselves to stay ahead. We’re here to answer a few questions about the upcoming changes.

“Part of our work at Fibre is to properly understand exactly how these updates affect our clients, and how they can position themselves to stay ahead. We’re here to answer a few questions about the upcoming changes.”

What are core updates essentially for?

Though the hundreds of smaller updates throughout the year go by largely unnoticed, core updates cause changes that can be very noticeable, internationally, and are likely to have obvious effects on the way your business shows up in search results.

This may not be a bad thing however – at Fibre we’ve noticed that some sectors are more negatively impacted while others will actually see a gain in their search rankings. Updates generally aim to improve content relevancy for users, but this does mean that businesses need to routinely reappraise their SEO strategy and be aware of how any updates affect their visibility.

How long does the update take to have effect?

Though the rollout is live currently, it’s likely still too early for businesses to notice any major effects. Typically, updates of this size take around a week or two to be established fully. Google’s first core update of this year was in January.

What kind of content will fare better after the update?

Google’s algorithms are designed to reward content that is more likely to satisfy users’ queries. If your content has dropped in relevancy since the last core update, its new search ranking will reflect this. On the other hand, some content will in fact perform better.

There are no hard and fast rules – every business needs to do a careful assessment of pre-existing content to find out what’s working and what isn’t.

Wouldn’t the Coronavirus prevent Google’s updates?

The straightforward answer is no. Google have confirmed that scheduled updates will take place regardless. This could be worrisome, especially for those businesses who are already experiencing some volatility. Though some are choosing to essentially pause during lockdown and hold off on making strategic changes to their search marketing plan, it’s worth remembering that the new algorithms have not paused, and any losses experienced during this period may be difficult to recoup after lockdown lifts.

The unavoidable truth is that the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly altered not only consumer behaviour but also online search behaviour, with Google reporting, for example, that searches related to the virus have been the single most popular topic in the search engine’s history. Even casual users will have noticed the many changes Google has made to provide accurate information and data, as well as prioritise certain helpful content in the public interest.

Thus, Google’s update has rolled out as planned, but the criteria for “relevant” is greatly impacted by the needs of a world ravaged by the Coronavirus. The May core update may prove to be disruptive primarily because people’s searching behaviour is vastly different from what it was just six months ago. Some unexpected content topics are gaining in relevance while previously high performing ones will take a knock.

What you can do

In Google’s constant attempts to refine their search algorithms, businesses are forced to respond by increasing the quality of their sites. Though the changes can seem intimidating, many of the old rules still apply: businesses should always seek to be an authoritative and trustworthy source of truly valuable information, and reassess continually to make sure they’re hitting the mark.

A flexible SEO team can help you narrow down an intelligent strategy that exploits rising trends – such as increasing mobile use, the decline of text-rich content in favour of other formats, the rise of Google My Business and a growing focus on a more local perspective.