Google has recently introduced a new update, after user’s complained about seeing many domain links from the same site in their search results. In an attempt to diversify their results and domains shown, they are now only allowing up to two links from a domain per page.
This is a general rule, so there will be exceptions in their results if the user is searching for something specifically niche. So in most cases, the results will be more mixed, with multiple suggestions from a variety of domains, but this does not apply for everything.
Will this effect subdomains and root domains?
Generally, Google will keep subdomains and root domains the same. Subdomains will be treated as part of the main root domain- however- there are times when google won’t consider them as part of the same domain, such as in cases of hosting platforms using subdomains to host unique sites.
Is this a part of their core update?
Quite a big confusion has been made due to the date they released this diversity launch coinciding with their June 2019 core update. Google have released a statement explaining that these are two separate updates which have no relation to each other.
How has this affected business’s?
Not everyone is happy with these new updates though. Many people have hit out against this, suggesting that the update has affected their website ranking and analytics negatively, due to the less slots being awarded to particular domains, and as a result of less opportunities to get your domain listed on their page, increases the completion from others in your field.
High authority websites are said to have suffered as a result of this update, with even the daily mail contacting the google support forums to find a solution to the 50% loss in traffic after the update. Although the daily mail has become infamous with their fake news stories in recent years, reports from mediabiasfactcheck.com say that these statistics are completely true.
Even more serious, a news site, CCN.com has had to shut down solely because of the update, stating that ‘our daily revenue is down by more than 90%.
However, google has dismissed these claims, stating that although it could potentially affect traffic to a site, there is no reason for your rankings to be lowered if you have a good quality landing page and relevant content, and it just means that your domain won’t come up as much.
Will they correct their problems?
Google have admitted that the new update does come with its flaws, and it’s a process of time and elimination in order to rectify any disruption that the update may have bought along with it.
Whilst google are working on making the update secure and in everybody’s best interests, there is no doubt that tension has been caused from this, and that it has definitely caused damage to some companies.