December: Google and SEO updates

As 2019 drew to an end, SEO experts across the world reflected on what had been a year full of Google algorithm updates, The effects of Bert and begin to slowly raise their heads to look forward into 2020 to try and predict what the world of SEO will bring throughout 2020.

2nd December – Local Search Algorithm Update

Originally started off in November, this Google update throughout November saw a number of changes to the rankings of local business in the Google search result map pack.

The aim of this update was to give more exposure to relevant businesses based on the intent of searches regardless of specific keywords potentially giving businesses more exposure in the Google search results where they may not of previously appeared.

It’s believed this update is about relevancy and not proximity.

9th December – BERT rolled out worldwide

The Google update known as BERT was rolled out worldwide in December to cover approximately 72 different languages across the globe.

This update should help bring in better quality global traffic – especially if you are targeting an international market.

The effect of this isn’t clear yet, but when BERT originally rolled out it was reported to affect around 10% of all website – This could have a similar impact globally.

16th December – Google Search Console bug

Google reported an issue in Google search control with a bug that affected data reporting between 8th December – 13th December.

Google stated any data after 13th December would be accurate.

This was due to an “internal issue” Google had and Google reported the issue has been resolved and data should be collecting fine now, but show a small drop for 8th-13th December.