The Featured Snippet is the official SEO newsletter of Performics and is dedicated to keeping you up to date with the latest SEO industry news, trends, and events—all in an easy-to-read, summed-up format. See below for the latest version of The Featured Snippet:
In the December 2020 issue of The Featured Snippet:Â
On December 3, 2020, Google rolled out its third and final broad core algorithm update of 2020 called the December 2020 Core Update—the first was the January 2020 Core Update and second was the May 2020 Core Update Here is the official announcement from Google:
The December 2020 Core Update rolled out over several weeks and finished on December 16, 2020. Here is the official announcement from Google:
As a reminder, core updates are bigger and more significant than other daily changes Google implements. These core updates tend to produce wider gains and losses for sites and are designed to ensure that Google is providing the best content for its users.
If you were affected by the December 2020 Core Update, Google recommends following these guidelines on core updates, or you can check out Performics’ blog post on the core updates with advice if you have been affected by a broad core algorithm update.
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In May 2020, Google announced that page experience will be a ranking factor that takes into account Google’s Core Web Vitals and other page experience signals. This update will go into effect in May 2021. The page experience signals that will be incorporated into this ranking factor are listed below:
Prior to this update, Google published an FAQ article around the page experience update and Core Web Vitals. The significant announcement of this article: the page experience ranking factor will only apply to mobile search results. Here is the FAQ from Google’s official documentation:
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As of December 14, Microsoft Clarity and Microsoft Bing Webmaster Tools have been integrated. Microsoft Clarity is an analytics program that allows users to explore and visualize the ways customers interact with content on webpages. Some key features include click and scroll heatmaps as well as replays of user sessions. Bing Webmaster Tools users can sign up for the tool directly in their dashboard and non-users can visit Microsoft Clarity’s official site. Here is the official announcement from Microsoft Bing:
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In July 2020, Google announced that it would be depreciating the Structured Data Testing Tool. Following feedback from users, they have decided to refocus and migrate the tool instead of retiring it entirely. In April 2021, the tool will move to the schema.org community. Following this migration, users will be able to test both the currently accepted Schema markup as well as those not explicitly accepted yet on the new, refocused tool. Here is the official announcement from Google:
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On December 22, the Google announced that the “Request Indexing” option had officially returned to the Google Search Console URL Inspection Tool. This feature allows users to request indexation of URLs. Here is the official announcement from Google:
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