Using an SEO hosting company that is up-to-date with the latest information is extremely important. As a case in point, Google recently announced that their new search algorithm will affect approximately 35 percent of all searches. This means that if your SEO hosting company does not accommodate for the changes, you may be losing out to your competition.
What Searches Are Impacted?
Google’s algorithm changes will be implemented in an effort to weed out stale search results by returning results that are more up-to-date. The official Google announcement says the following types of searches will be impacted by the update:
- Hot Topics – Topics that are currently trending will be given greater priority than before. The goal is to bring news on the current trends that is less than one minute old.
- Recent Events – Recent events will be given priority in much the same way as hot topics.
- Recurring Events – Events that recur on a regular basis will be impacted. Higher placement will be given to results for the most recent event rather than past occurrences of an event.
- Frequently Updated Information – Newly updated results will be given higher priority on topics that frequently change, such as product reviews and “best of” listings.
Freshness Ranking Not New
Google was quick to point out that freshness ranking was first introduced in 2007. The difference is that, now, content can be searched and ranked more quickly than ever before, so freshness ranking deserves an update and a higher priority than it had in the past.
Possible Spam
Some Internet search experts are worried that the new ranking system will invite spam based on fresh information. This spam may lead to less relevant results. Google responds to this by saying that freshness is not the single-most determining factor in results. Google did mention, however, that freshness results are to be based on new web pages and not simply on web pages that have been changed or updated.
Changed, Not Improved
It is important to note that change does not equal improvement. The 35 percent change does not mean results will be 35 percent improved. Website owners and SEO hosting companies should remember this distinction.