blog home Search Engine Optimization MozCast Google Algorithm Review – August 2018

August was scorching hot! Google made some major changes in its Hummingbird algorithm, and our friends over at Moz recorded temperatures and storms that were almost off the charts!

Every month, SLS Consulting compiles data from the MozCast (which posts the temperature every day on Twitter based on the top 10 results of 1,000 hand-picked keywords), AccuRanker (which notes a daily “Grump” rating based on the search engine fluctuations in 100 top keywords), and Algoroo (which tracks the Google algorithm with a volatility rating known as “high roo”). Let’s dive in to see what’s happening in the SERPs…

How “hot” was it in August 2018, according to MozCast?

We haven’t seen weather this stormy since last year! August 2018 saw an almost-unprecedented 23 days of storms, which seemed to level off around the end of the month. The average temperature in August was up about 5 degrees from July (which was already a sweaty 90)! Google admitted to some of these updates later on Twitter—between the 31st of July and 2nd of August, which by itself was a scorching 119°—that accounted for huge changes in both organic and local rankings! This has been dubbed “the Medic update,” but we believe it impacted legal websites strongly. If your website slid up or down, this is the reason for it.

August 1 – 114° stormy
August 2 – 119° stormy
August 3 – 100° stormy
August 4 – 95° stormy
August 5 – 93° stormy
August 6 – 94° stormy
August 7 – 104° stormy
August 8 – 101° stormy
August 9 – 98° stormy
August 10 – 95° stormy
August 11 – 93° stormy
August 12 – 0° sunny
August 13 – 96° stormy
August 14 – 97° stormy
August 15 – 96° stormy
August 16 – 0° sunny
August 17 – 103° stormy
August 18 – 94° stormy
August 19 – 92° stormy
August 20 – 94° stormy
August 21 – 96° stormy
August 22 – 96° stormy
August 23 – 93° stormy
August 24 – 90° stormy
August 25 – 95° stormy
August 26 – 89° rainy
August 27 – 83° rainy
August 28 – 87° rainy
August 29 – 88° rainy
August 30 – 86° rainy
August 31 – 86° rainy

Average temperature: 95.41
Storm index: 23 days
Storm index change from July: +11 days

Commentators noted a fraction of the changes now in effect, such as updates to Google My Business that allow customers to see more of your business’s presence, and the ability to view previous posts on GMB. There are lots more that we’re still waiting to discover as we become familiar with the “new and improved” functioning of Hummingbird and its parts.

How “grumpy” was Google in August 2018, according to AccuRanker?

Just when the AccuRanker Grump had settling into a prickly-but-relatively-static state, here came August to rile him up again! The Grump had nine days of fury, most of them toward the beginning of the month—when Google admitting to performing a “broad core algorithm update” on Twitter! It’s wonderful to look back and see that his moods are validated and not the ranting of a hungry tiger who spends his days looking through 30,000 keywords. (It’s enough to make anyone hungry.)

Days of fury: 9
Change of fury since July: +6

How “high” did Google SERPs bounce around August 2018, according to Algoroo?

That Roo jumped “high” twice at the beginning of August! This followed the MozCast prediction from last month, which detected some cackling from the Google engineers as they fiddled with the core algorithm, showing a bounce heading into August. Like Moz and AccuRanker, Algoroo also saw a spike of activity around August 22nd—a bug fix for the core update, perhaps?

Days of high roo: 3
High roo change index since July: +3

Forecast for September: it’s all the same, so keep up with SEO best practices!

We expect September to continue August’s ups and down, highs and lows. Sure; we could say that about every month, since we haven’t managed to plant spies at Google headquarters (yet), but we really do believe Google will keep up the pattern of serious tweaking, since it has to test its core algorithm in real-time.

Believe it or not, it’s a comforting thought that Google continues to update its algorithms to deliver better service to users. After all, as an attorney, you’re trying to attract the right clients, not just anyone browsing the Internet. As long as you have your website tailored to your ideal client, Google will catch on, and as its search functions grow more sophisticated, it can serve in the role of matchmaker, conducting your target audience directly to you.

Of course, tailoring your website to your ideal client isn’t as simple as it sounds. In fact, it’s a whole industry—one that SLS Consulting takes pride in navigating. If you want to talk about a website redesign, best content practices, or anything to do with legal Internet marketing, please give us a call at (323) 254-1510.

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