Well, January was a super busy month probably because of the code freeze as Matt Cutts explained. We had tons of Google updates earlier this month but all were part of the core algorithm. Google told us Panda is part of the core ranking algorithm now but it doesn't change much of anything.
Google also updated their webmaster guidelines and we documented the changed. Google updated the Google webmaster home and added features to the Search Console. Plus we covered tons of ranking questions answered by Googlers.
The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread is pretty quiet with some small chatter around fluctuations, but nothing yet significant.
Here is the break down of webmaster related changes with Google over the past month:
Google Algorithms:
- Special Report: Massive Google Fluctuations Continue; Is It Penguin?
- Google Confirms: Core Search Ranking Update Took Place But Not Penguin Related
- Extreme Google Search Fluctuations Continue; Not Penguin But Core Update
- Google Testing New Search Ranking Algorithms In The Wild?
- Wow: Google Panda Is Now Part Of Google's Core Ranking Algorithm
- Google: Nothing Has Changed Now That Panda Being Part Of Core Ranking Algorithm
- Google: Panda Both Manual & Automated But Data Roll Out Unaffected
- Google: Real Time Penguin Algorithm Should Launch In Weeks
- What's The Diff Google? Now That Panda Is Part Of The Core Algorithm?
- Google Panda Score Are Not Generated In Real Time
- Google's John Mueller: I Suspect Panda Updates Will Be More Regular & Faster
- Google: Panda Is Part Of Core, But The Weekend's Core Update Didn't Have Panda In It
- Google: Why It Is So Hard To Confirm All Algorithm Updates
- Will Google Release Penguin 4.0 In January 2016? Gary Hasn't Seen It Yet.
- Google: Recent Spammy Content In Search Results Unrelated To Other Google Updates
- Google: Webmasters Likely Won't Notice Future Panda Updates
- The New Google Webmaster Guidelines Are Now Live
- What Changed In The Google Webmaster Guidelines
- Google Revamps Webmaster Home With New Design & Three New Tools
- Google Shows AMP Error Report In Google Search Console
- Google Crawl Errors For Apps Report Now Updated In The Search Console
- Google: Some Of Those SEO Weather Tools Pick Up Wrong Signals
- Can SEO Tools Track The Google Weather?
- Google: Featured Snippets Don't Result In Less Search Traffic
- Does Google Care About Businesses & Webmasters? Listen For Yourself.
- Google: 302 Redirects Pass PageRank
- Google: HTTPS URLs Even That Aren't Valid Still Get Ranking Boost
- Google: Google News Publishers Don't Get A Ranking Boost
- Google: Keywords In URLs A Very Small Ranking Factor
- Google: Local Reviews Are Not A Web Search Ranking Factor
- Google: Outbound Links Are Not A Ranking Factor
- Google: Nofollow Unnecessary For Related Post Blog Links
- Google: Valid HTML Not Required For Ranking But Can Hurt Structured Data & Mobile Friendliness
- Google: Write Your Reconsideration Requests In Your Web Site's Native Language Or Else...
- Google: Do Not To Worry About Unique IP Addresses Or C-Blocks
- Google: We Pick Shorter URLs For Canonicalization
- Google: Links In Footers Or Sitewides Are Not Given That Much Weight
- Google: Title Tags Are Not A Critical Ranking Signal
- Google: Title Tags Are A Ranking Factor But Is It A Critical Factor?
- Google To Add JSON-LD Support For Rich Snippets
- Google: Updating Images Can Take Months; We Don't Index Them Frequently
- Google News May Ignore Your Sitemap's Timestamp To Avoid Abuse
- Google's FAQ On HTTP To HTTPS Migration
- Video: Google AMP Technical Detailed Overview
- Google To Step Up Structured Data Support Over The Year
- Google May Prevent Sites From Passing PageRank When Links Get Bad
For last month's recap click here.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
