This may have been one of the busiest months for Google SEO related topics we’ve seen maybe ever? We had several unconfirmed Google updates but also a big core update confirmed by Google on March 12th. Google keeps dropping features from the old Search Console and adding new ones to the new Search Console. Google doesn’t support rel=prev/next, stopped supporting the info command and is testing a new icon based search results design.
Besides for the core update, we saw fluctuations on March 29th, 26th, 20th and March 5th. The survey I did around the core update did not reveal much but added to the speculation.
Did you know the web spam team is sending fewer manual actions these days? But their advice on the rel=next/prev thing is upsetting to say the least. And then to drop the info command and say they replaced it in the URL inspection tool was upsetting also.
There was so much this past month, it is hard to summarize but I categorized the stories in importance order – I think, below. Here also was the March report if you missed it.
Google Algorithm Updates:
Google Search Console:
Google SEO:
Google Features:
Google User Interface Tests:
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.