Algorithms
Lots of talk about an update around 7th/8th January, not seen anything myself though.
A BIG core update from Google was rolled out around the 12th of January. These happen several times a year and can be big, like this one.
It can take up to two weeks to completely roll out.
27th January looks like another update occurred, hard to tell as there are a lot of changes happening at the moment.
Text on page
Even if your websites page is to promote a non textual product, like a podcast for example, you will still next text on your page to help it rank.
Quite obvious really but nice to get a reminder.
Old style m. Pages
If you have some old versions of your page, say you have converted from m.yourdomain.com to a reponsive site. You should delete the old versions.
Google could still read the old versions and act on them.
Keyword Research
Bing this month said in the near future you should not optimise for keywords but for keyword intent.
Google on the other hand said that keyword optimisation isn’t going away anytime soon.
Whichever it is I recommend analysing intend keywords if you are not already, search engines are very clever and know about intent.
Structured Data
Nice quick one, structured data doesn’t affect rankings.
Featured Snippet
Google have made an update (23rd January) that could affect a lot of sites. Google will now not show the same site again if they are part of the Featured Snippet on the first page.
I have read a lot on this subject and heard from a lot of SEO’s that there can be a higher CTR from the first position after the featured snippet compared to the link in the featured snippet.
I have also seen this with my clients too.
So, now we have to optimise for that position instead! 🙂
.GOV
Another quick one, links from a .gov domains don’t give your site more of a ranking boost compared to another TLD like .com.