More FAQ rich results being displayed in Google Search
Google Search seems to be displaying more FAQ-rich results in its search results over the past few days. Both RankRanger’s tracking tool and some SEOs are noticing this increase in the number of times a site is showing FAQ-rich results.
What are rich result FAQs? Web pages with a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) containing a list of questions and answers pertaining to a particular topic can markup the questions and answers with FAQ structured data. Google may then show those FAQs in the search results snippets as illustrated below:
More showing. Google is now showing these FAQ-rich results five percentage points more often according to RankRanger, who happened to be recently acquired by Similarweb. Here is the data chart showing the uplift:
Two links. As a reminder, Google recently limited the number of links you can see within an FAQ-rich result to two links. A couple of years ago, Google also tightened the guidelines around using FAQ schema on your site.
With more FAQ results showing up in Google Search, it may benefit your site if you gained those rich results but at the same time, if your competitor now shows up for these rich results, then it might have the opposite effect. Rich results generally lead to a higher click-through rate from the Google search results snippet to the publisher’s site but not always. In this case, if the searcher gets their answer from the FAQ rich result, they did not end up clicking over to your site.
Source: More FAQ rich results being displayed in Google Search
Google releases May 2022 broad core update
Google is now rolling out its first broad core algorithm update of 2022. It is named the May 2022 core update, Danny Sullivan of Google announced.
The most recent core update was the November 2021 core update, over 6 months ago.
The announcement. Google said “today, we’re releasing our May 2022 core update. It will take about 1-2 weeks to fully roll out.”
“Core updates are changes we make to improve Search overall and keep pace with the changing nature of the web. While nothing is a core update is specific to any particular site, these updates may produce some noticeable changes to how sites perform, which we’ve noted in previous guidance on what site owners should know about core updates,” Google added.
Rumors of core updates. The SEO community since May 16 through this week has been seeing signs of a potential Google algorithm update rolling out. Google has not confirmed those rumors
Any volatility prior to today is likely unrelated to those rumors. Maybe Google was testing this core update? John Mueller of Google specifically addressed this saying “when we announce core updates, we start the roll-out at that point, not beforehand.”
The rollout started this morning. Google started this broad core update rollout at about 11:30 a.m. ET. And Google will update us when this update is done rolling out.
Previous core updates. The most recent previous core update was the November 2021 core update and prior to that was the July 2021 core update before that it was the June 2021 core update and that update was slow to roll out but a big one.
Before that, we had the December 2020 core update, which was very big, bigger than the May 2020 core update, and that update was also big and broad and took a couple of weeks to fully roll out. Before that was the January 2020 core update, we had some analysis on that update over here.
The one prior to that was the September 2019 core update. That update felt weaker to many SEOs and webmasters, as many said it didn’t have as big of an impact as previous core updates. You can read more about past Google updates here.
Source: Google releases May 2022 broad core update
WordPress.com Announces New Starter Plan For $5/Month
WordPress.com announced a new “Starter” plan today for customers that bridges the pricing gap between the free plan and its $15/month Pro plan. The Starter plan is $5/month and includes a custom domain name, along with 6GB storage, and the ability to use payment collection blocks (Donations Form, Premium Content, and Payment Button).
When WordPress.com rolled out major, unannounced pricing changes on April 1, slashing free storage limits, users took to the forums to express their profound disappointment in the controversial update and the company’s lack of communication around it. After receiving overwhelmingly negative feedback, WordPress.com increased traffic and storage limits on the free plan before officially announcing it.
Seven weeks after WordPress.com began testing the waters with pricing changes, the company has responded to feedback about the wide gap between the free and Pro plans. Many customers were disappointed to learn that they would have to pay $15/month to have access to custom domain names, even though they do not need the commercial themes and plugins included in the Pro plan. Some users expressed that they felt “trapped in the net” with the pricing updates and planned to shift their sites to new platforms.
Source: WordPress.com Announces New Starter Plan For $5/Month
Google Launching May 2022 Broad Core Algorithm Update
Google confirms a broad core algorithm update, called the May 2022 core update, is rolling out today.
Core updates are designed to make search results more relevant for users. Though the update is launching today, it will take 1-2 weeks for this update to fully roll out.
Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liaison for Search, notes that changes to site performance in search results are to be expected.
When a core update rolls out, Google is known for pointing to the same guidance it published in 2019.
Nothing has changed there, as Google references the same document with respect to this update.
To sum it up, Google’s general advice regarding core updates is as follows:
- Expect widely noticeable effects, such as spikes or drops in search rankings.
- Core updates are “broad” in the sense that they don’t target anything specific. Rather, they’re designed to improve Google’s systems overall.
- Pages that drop in rankings aren’t being penalized; they’re being reassessed against other web content that has been published since the last update.
- Focusing on providing the best possible content is the top recommended way to deal with the impact of a core algorithm update.
- Broad core updates happen every few months. Sites might not recover from one update until the next one rolls out.
- Improvements do not guarantee recovery. However, choosing not to implement any improvements will virtually guarantee no recovery.
It has been six months since the last Google core update, which rolled out in November 2021.
Source: Google Launching May 2022 Broad Core Algorithm Update
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