8. Links still matter
We’ve heard a lot from Google about how links matter less and aren’t a top ranking signal. Well, it turns out that 96% of websites ranking in the top 10 of Google had more than 1,000 backlinks from unique domains – at least according to a study by Internet Marketing Ninjas.
7. Mobile-first indexing (the end?)
Google told us in June that, starting after July 5, Google would crawl and index sites with only Googlebot Smartphone. That meant Google would no longer index or rank any sites that were not accessible using a mobile device.
6. New zero-click search data
Zero-click search results are not new. But we got some new data from the latest Rand Fishkin zero-click search study. Of note: Google searches end without a click 60% of the time; almost 30% of clicks go to Google’s properties; and about 36% of clicks go to the open web.
5. Semrush acquires Search Engine Land
Semrush, the leading online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform, acquired Third Door Media, our parent company, on Oct. 16. In addition to Search Engine Land, Semrush acquired all of Third Door Media’s brands (SMX, MarTech, and Digital Marketing Depot).
4. Google Search penalties
One day after releasing its new search spam policies, including the March 2024 spam and core updates, Google began penalizing websites. Some sites were completely or partially de-listed from Google’s search results.
3. Google AI Overviews: Rise, fall, and rise again
Google started testing AI Overviews (formerly known as Search Generative Experience) in March. AI Overviews officially launched in May. What followed was a bit of a PR scandal, as Google’s AI-generated answers told searchers to eat rocks and drink urine, among other things. That led to a massive but temporary pullback in the presence of AI Overviews in search results. Google has since expanded the presence of AI Overviews in many sectors.
In June, Google announced it would bring back paginated results. The continuous scroll user experience, where Google loaded more results as you scroll past the first page of the search results, would become a thing of the past. Continuous scroll launched in Google mobile search in October 2021 and on desktop in December 2022.
1. Google’s Content API Warehouse leak
The biggest story of the year – and perhaps the biggest SEO story of all time. Michael King and Fishkin broke the news of a huge leak that gave us a glimpse into how Google’s ranking algorithm may work. Of note, the documents revealed how Google Search is using, or has used, clicks, links, content, entities, Chrome data and more for ranking.