The Google Search Algorithm Evolution of 2017 – Vertical Measures (blog)

What We Can Expect in 2017

This leads us back to 2017 and what we think Google has in store for us. The reins were loosened on backlinks thanks to Penguin 4.0, but we dont know for how long. Google has said they are not planning on announcing any new updates to their Penguin algorithm, but I would expect them to eventually tighten up the reins again. People in the SEO community will see how far they can test the limits, which will eventually lead Google towards placing more control on the issue.

We can certainly expect more updates that emphasize a positive mobile experience for Google users. I suspect its going to expand the use of AMP and place greater importance on those pages. Also, the growing trend is to enhance the search results page with search features that include carousels, rich cards, knowledge graphs, and answer boxes. With Google favoring these types of search results, this will place more emphasis on adding structured data. Google keeps adding more types of rich cards and if you have a website that applies, youll want to mark up your site. In 2017, your goal could be to rely less on ranking #1 and more on showing up in other search feature areas on page 1.

An example of rich cards for hotels.

Movie rich cards in the SERPs.

There has been a surge of fake news sites lately and Google had to remove 200 sitesfor promoting misrepresentative content from its ad network. Facebook is doing the same. Removing these publishers from the ad network is only the first step. If this continues,I would expect to see a new Panda update that targets fake news site as low quality websites.

The other side of the search algorithm is paid search advertising. Google AdWords now takes the top four spots, when it used to only be the top three spots, further pushingdown organic search results. At this rate, organic search results will soon be pushed to page two. Ok, Im being dramatic again, but if that ever happens I predict the end of Google and rise of Bing. I, for one, welcome our new search robot overlords.

4 spots are now dedicated to Adwords, pushing the organic results further down the page.

Being #1 on Google is now less visible, and we all will need to adapt or risk losing out on valuable organic traffic. Google will continue to add new features for their advertisers to entice the searcher to click on their ad, lessening the need for people to scroll down to find the organic search results. Google gets most its revenue from AdWords, so expect them to keep adding features and manipulating the search results page to do whats best to drive paid clicks.

Keeping up with Google sounds exhausting but if you keep at the fundamentals, your site will thrive. In the end, Google just wants to give the searcher what theyre looking for. Its just good business. This means creating quality content that searchers are looking for. This is the best advice I can give you on future-proofing your SEO because it all comes back to that. In all honesty, the only Google update Im really looking forward to is when that Google self-driving car comes out. I look forward to texting and not driving.

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The Google Search Algorithm Evolution of 2017 - Vertical Measures (blog)