2018 was a dynamic year in SEO, marked by significant Google search algorithm updates, changes within Google’s management team, mobile-first indexing, and updates to Google Search Console. Additionally, Google local, Google My Business, and maps-related changes were quite active this year.
The reliance on structured data within Google search and the pullback on personalization features indicate where Google is heading with rankings. Not to mention the massive shifts in voice search with Google Assistant and other devices, including significant Google user interface changes. Bing also made notable advancements this year. Here’s our recap:
Google Search Ranking and Algorithm Updates
Google made numerous search ranking algorithm updates, some big, some small, some confirmed, and some unconfirmed – some were even pre-announced.
Speed Update. The Speed Update was pre-announced in January 2018 and released several months later in June. According to Google, it only impacted the slowest sites in terms of their ranking position in search. Google stated it “only affects a small percentage of queries.”
Medic Update. The most substantial search ranking algorithm update felt by the SEO community was the “Medic Update.” It occurred around August 1, when Google confirmed it happened after the community took notice. Classified as a “broad core algorithm update,” it affected many sites in the health and YMYL categories. Google informed SEOs there is “no fix” to improve site rankings overnight with this update.
Other Search Algorithm Updates. Google also confirmed the March and April core updates after they occurred.
Mobile-First Indexing
In 2016, Google began experimenting with mobile-first indexing, aiming to crawl and index the web from a smartphone perspective rather than a desktop computer’s. In 2018, Google began rolling out this change to many sites, with over 50 percent of search results now indexed through mobile-first indexing.
SEO Changes
Structured Data. Google emphasized structured data and schema considerably in 2018. This included speakable markup for voice search queries, an indexing API for job posting schema, updates to recipe markup, new job posting guidelines, the new Q&A schema, and much more.
Other Changes. Google discontinued support for the news meta tag and the standout tag, with Editors’ pick in Google News being significant for publishers. There were efforts around dynamic rendering and lazy loading content, noteworthy in JavaScript SEO.
Personalization is Light. Following concerns over Facebook targeting and using personal data, Google stated their use of personalization in search is minimal, mainly for local results and context-specific queries.
Google Search Console and Other Tools
Google Search Console. It was a busy year for the Search Console team. They granted access to the new Console to everyone, removed the beta label, and redirected some old reports to the new version. Google started showing Search Console snapshots in search results and removed the public URL submission tool. They also enhanced accessing Search Console with automatic verification for Google Analytics account holders.
New slow site notices, domain properties for cross site reporting, and additional reports for event listings, AMP, links, mobile usability, and more were added. The new URL inspection tool provides a snapshot of how Google views your page.
Additionally, the Console now includes 16 months of historical data, and the API expanded to 25,000 rows of data. Google also updated the PageSpeed Insights tool and released version 3.0 of Lighthouse with a new SEO audit tool.
Google Local
Google Posts. Google spent considerable time refining Google Posts, testing various user interfaces, and updating the Google My Business console. However, traffic and engagement levels have declined recently.
Google My Business. Google My Business, the control panel for local SEOs and business owners to manage local listings, received significant updates. The mobile apps were enhanced, and more “insights” data was added, along with a new Agency dashboard for local SEO agencies. Google also added new attributes for women-led and veteran-led businesses and enabled setting open dates before business commencement.
Mobile Search and Voice Assistants
The spread of Google Home and Google Assistant devices remained a focal point for SEOs, considering how Google responds to voice queries. Google’s featured snippets play a significant role here. Competition includes Amazon Echo, Apple Home, and Microsoft Cortana.
Google released the Google Home Hub, a voice assistant with a display, and provided ways to trigger Google Assistant using Siri. Reviewing Google voice search quality raters’ guidelines is recommended.
Google UI Changes
Google made numerous user interface tests and changes. This included a new design for desktop search results, showing zero results for time, calculations, and conversions queries on mobile, and a Discover feed on the Google mobile home page. Google also alternated snippet lengths and expanded autocomplete predictions.
AMP
For AMP, Google released a preview showing publisher URLs in search instead of Google AMP cache URLs, launched AMP stories in search, and added other AMP-related features.
Other Big Google News
Ben Gomes replaced John Giannandrea, who left Google to work at Apple. Additionally, Google+ is closing down sooner than anticipated due to security incidents.
Bing
Bing was notably active this year, with efforts to improve crawler efficiency and addressing backlogs with Webmaster Tools. They also emphasized intelligent answers, AI improvements, and enhanced visual search capabilities.
Bing now supports JSON-LD for markup and viewing AMP content for news via mobile search. They also created a Bing entity search API for public use.