Normally the month of December is not that busy because people take off for the holidays and such. But the past month was really not that calm at all. We had huge Google ranking volatility most of the past month, we had a confirmed three-week rollout of the December product reviews update, Google confirmed a local update and much more.
Google Search Console went down and offline for many SEOs, earlier Google accidentally sent incorrect redirect errors that threw SEOs for a loop, and Google also by accident posted a new announcement bar in Search Console. Google updated several reports in Search Console and added GA 4 support.
Google also had a serving issue in Google Search, the Log4j security issue came out, we had tons of other SEO news as well - scan those below.
Google moved the local pack up and map box to the right and also released a number of other local features - scan those below. Plus, we had Google roll out more full width designs, the new top stories layout and test an edge to edge design - plus many more user interface changes to share below.
So it was busy, very busy, like the December 2021 Google webmaster report.
Here is what you may have missed this past month:
Google Algorithm Updates:
- Google Search Ranking Tracking Tools Continue Showing Major Volatility
- Google Search Ranking Algorithm Tremors Continue & It's Big
- December 27 & 28 Google Search Ranking Algorithm Jolt?
- Semrush: December The Most Volatile Month For Google Search Of 2021
- December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update Rolling Out - What We See So Far
- December Google Product Reviews Update Is Lit
- Google December 2021 Products Reviews Update Will Roll Out Until Right Before Christmas
- It's A Wrap: December 2021 Google Product Reviews Update Done Rolling Out
- Google Product Reviews Update Likely Will Expand To Other Languages
- Confirmed: Google November 2021 Google Local Search Update
- Google Local Maps Spam Big Cleanup Or Big Mess?
- Google Local Search Ranking Algorithm Update Last Week
- Google Search Console Still Down For Many SEOs
- Google Investigating Mass Notices From Search Console Coverage Issue Redirect Errors
- New: Google Analytics 4 Supports Google Search Console Data
- Google Search Console Announcements Bar Test
- Google Search Console Performance Report Updated For Google News - Impression Changes
- Google Search Console Products Rich Result Report Updated
- Google Search Console Review Snippets Report May Show Fewer Objects
- Google Search Console's Link Report Not A Priority For Google
- Google Seems To Be Not Indexing Or Serving New Content This Morning (Update Confirmed)
- Google SEO Tips On Taking A Site Offline To Fix Log4j Security Vulnerability
- Google May Finish Mobile-First Indexing Switch Over By July 2022
- Google: Most Of Google's Search Algorithms Work For All Languages But Not All
- Google Keeps Track Of Algorithm Changes But It's Hard To Use Even Internally
- Google: You Can't Tell Which SEO Efforts Led To Ranking Success
- Advice: Don't Migrate Domains & Drop Google AMP The Same Time
- Google Search Won't Rank Sex Toy Companies For G-Rated Brand Names But Google Ads Will For The Money
- Google Search Efforts On Inclusive Language
- Google: Relevancy & Core Updates Factors Are More Than Just Text On A Page
- Google: We Look At Language On A Per Page Basis, Not Site Wide Basis
- Google: Quality Of Your Languages On Your Multilingual Site Can Impact Each Other
- Google: Site Duplicated With IP Address Won't Lead To Your Site Being Removed From Search
- Google SafeSearch Filter Removed After A Month & New SafeSearch Notice
- Google On How To Handle Changing An Author's Names
- Google: No Difference In SEO Value Between Nofollow, UGC Or Sponsored Link Attributes
- Google: 100,000 URLs Usually Won't Impact Crawl Budget
- Google: The Number Of Links Is Not A Useful Metric
- Google: Links Are Not Mandatory For Ranking In Google Search
- Google: We Won't Penalize Your Site For Not Nofollowing Affiliate Links
- Official: Google Moves Local Pack Results Higher & Map On Right Side
- Google Business Profile Video Verification Now When You Add A New Profile
- Google Business Profile Products "Mark As Special" For Top Placement
- Google Maps Dock To Bottom Feature
- Google Maps Busy Area Now Live
- Official: Google Now Allows Hotels To Use Google Posts
- Google Local Results Displays Bike & Car Charging Icons In Local Results
- Google Search Testing Empty Design Search Box; Called Edge To Edge
- Google Full Width Autocomplete Search Suggestions
- Google Search Full Width Image Pack Results Interface Live
- Google Rolling Out New Top Stories Layouts
- Google Top Stories Won't Show AMP Logos In Dark Mode
- Google Top Stories Logo May Use Structured Data For Non-AMP Pages
- Google Search Interactive Quizzes Test?
- Google Tests New Suggested Clips Video Feature Snippets Layout
- Google Image Search Tests Latest Section For New Images
- Google Search Tests Blue Header
- Google Christmas Decorations With Special Pagination Bar Now Update For Holidays
- Google Kwanzaa Decorations With Special Pagination Bar Now Update For Holidays
- Google Winter Season Doodle
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
