

Google September 2022 Product Review Algorithm Update Rolling Out Now
source link: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-september-2022-product-review-algorithm-update/465021/
Go to the source link to view the article. You can view the picture content, updated content and better typesetting reading experience. If the link is broken, please click the button below to view the snapshot at that time.

Google Answers If Core Update Ranking Losses Are A Soft Penalty
Google answers question about the causes of ranking drops after a core algorithm update
Roger Montti

Google’s Office Hours Hangout featured a question about algorithm updates and whether the rankings of a negatively affected site is suppressed by a “soft penalty.”
The person asking the question made reference to a soft penalty, which is a phrase that’s been around for several years but isn’t really a thing.
They also make reference to suffering from a “flag” that’s been assigned to their site, which alludes to Google having marked the site in some way, as in flagged.
Here is the question:
“Both of my websites have been hit by different updates, around 90% drops and are suffering from some type of flag that is suppressing our sites until the soft penalty is lifted.
Or… is there even a soft penalty? “
This is the answer:
“No, the named updates that we publish on the rankings updates page on Search Central are not penalties in any shape or form.”
That confirms that any ranking drops associated with a named Google update is not a penalty and should not ever be thought of that way because that’s not what is happening.
The Googler explained why it’s not a penalty:
“They are adjustments to our ranking algorithms, so they surface even higher quality and more relevant results to search users.
If your site has dropped in rankings after an update, follow our general guidelines for content.
Take a look at how you could improve your site as a whole, both from content and user experience perspective, and you may be able to increase your rankings again.”
Core Update and Fixing Content
Googlers initially advised that there’s nothing to fix when a site loses rankings after a core algorithm update.
Sometimes, we make broad changes to our core algorithm. We inform about those because the actionable advice is that there is nothing in particular to “fix,” and we don’t want content owners to mistakenly try to change things that aren’t issues…. https://t.co/ohdP8vDatr
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 11, 2018
But at the same time they also advised improving content, which is somewhat mixed messaging.
We understand those who do less well after a core update change may still feel they need to do something. We suggest focusing on ensuring you’re offering the best content you can. That’s what our algorithms seek to reward….
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 11, 2018
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get the latest SEO & search marketing news conveniently into your inbox.
The Googler in the hangout (I think it’s Gary Illyes) advised those who have suffered drops in rankings to focus on improving rankings.
That advice makes sense because surfacing “higher quality and more relevant results” implies that the algorithm is focusing on the content.
Soft Penalty
I’ve been in the search industry for over 22 years and the term “soft penalty” is not a real thing.
There is no half-version of a penalty. A site is either penalized (by a manual action) or it’s not.
It’s a catch-all phrase that explains something without actually explaining it, like the phrase, “engine problem.”
Non-penalty ranking drops can be caused by many different causes:
- Content related issues
- Improvement in how Google understands search queries
- Quality issues
- A competitor simply has better content
Watch/listen to the Google Office Hours Hangout at the 15:08 minute mark.
Featured image by Shutterstock/Luis Molinero
Recommend
-
3
Also a bit on Google vs SEOs; the adversarial/evolutionary relationship. Barry Schwartz on April 9, 2021 at 10:00 am ...
-
9
SEO Google product reviews update is done rolling out Google did say while it is fully rolled out, the caveat...
-
11
After years of Google taking the lead in rolling out security updates to their phones, Samsung has consistently been the one to debut a new month’s Android update in recent months. The September 2021 security update is no different, with Sams...
-
4
Google has confirmed this update is now complete - days before the Christmas holiday. Barry Schwartz on December 21, 2021 at 4:25 pm ...
-
4
Almost three weeks after Google launched the 3rd version of the product reviews update, it is now done rolling out. Barry Schwartz on April 11, 2022 at 3:16 pm
-
8
-
5
Will Google Penalize Sites That Look The Same? Google's John Mueller explains how Google handles two sites that are essentially identical in their HTML...
-
6
Google Highlights Online Discussions & Forums In Search Results A new feature in Google Search will highlight results from a wider selection of online discu...
-
11
-
7
This update took 14 days to fully roll out and is now complete. Barry Schwartz on March 7, 2023 at 1:19 pm | Re...
About Joyk
Aggregate valuable and interesting links.
Joyk means Joy of geeK