Google search algorithm shake-up ‘hurts’ small business

Businesses are concerned about changes to Google’s search algorithm that they say disadvantage smaller organisations.

Google search landing page.

Businesses are concerned about changes to Google’s search algorithm that they say disadvantage smaller organisations.

These changes are nothing new for Google which has been accused of favouring bigger organisations in search for years. However, major changes can heavily impact where individuals and companies rate in a Google search, and hence their volume of business. An unfavourable change can lead to the loss of millions of dollars in revenue.

Brodey Sheppard who runs search engine optimisation (SEO) company sitecentre says that in the past days, he has been fielding phone inquiries by tradespeople, lawyers and others who have seen their rankings plummet while third-party search directory traffic such as Yellow Pages has increased.

Online publication Search Engine Roundtable yesterday reported on the change, saying “a big Google search ranking algorithm” was rolling out now. “ This is not a confirmed update by Google, at least not yet. But the chatter since 2pm ET today has been really high within the SEO community,” says the US publication.

It quoted concern by SEO professionals across the world. “Every niche I follow is messed up,” says one writer in Italy. “ Shops are gone, affiliate sites have disappeared, SEPS (search engine results pages) are full of Amazon, eBay and news sites.”

Mr Sheppard says Google is secretive about changes to its search algorithm. Engineers in the search engine team sometimes acknowledge updates rather than the company.

“They (Google) push out hundreds a year, there’s nearly one every day and some have greater impact than others,” says Mr Sheppard.

Some updates are given names such as “penguin” and “panda”. Mr Sheppard says earlier changes sometimes made it harder for users to manipulate the search engine by pushing out SPAM and fake articles, or trying to game search.

Some commentators say laudable changes can be coupled with self-serving ones.

In its preliminary report on digital platforms, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says: “This lack of transparency makes it difficult for advertisers to understand the factors influencing the display of their advertising to consumers and, in particular, to identify whether Google or Facebook are favouring their own business interests at the expense of advertisers.

“While the ACCC appreciates the significance of minimising the opportunity for businesses to ‘game’ the key algorithms, it is not clear that the appropriate balance has been struck between avoiding this risk and ensuring advertisers are appropriately informed,” the report says.

The ACCC is considering a regulatory approach to address these concerns.

Mr Sheppard says Google should be transparent about search engine updates, however he acknowledges there are legal ramifications.

“The ramifications of them admitting to having changed something, such as a business having lost thousands if not millions of dollars, doesn’t look good for the company which is why they don’t acknowledge it as such.”

Google wouldn’t comment however a source told The Australian that Google had identified a bug in its search engine and was pushing out a fix; it wasn’t a core update.

Mr Sheppard says a more substantive change is underway. “They are rolling out an update as we speak,” he says. “It could take days, it could take weeks, we don’t know.

“But it is happening. (Search) results are continuously fluctuating, from one search to the next,” he says. “It looks like a machine learning or AI (artificial intelligence) reset.”

He says bigger websites such as search directories Yellow Pages and Oneflare are getting huge increases in traffic, whereas local businesses aren’t. This had happened over the past 19 hours or so.

“If you search for a local business such as a plumber or electrician … you’ll find directories such as Oneflare. Across the board, directories are taking over.”