Why?
Because obviously Google is always changing. Statistics tell us that Google changes things hundreds of times per year. Some are big some are small.
If you go with an SEO firm that “chases” changes, you are going with the wrong type of marketing firm. Gotcha Local never chases updates…
A good firm knows where Google is GOING before they go there.
Example: We had been designing mobile friendly websites for 3 years before google dropped the “mobilegeddon” update.
The other thing that is funny is when BIG companies have account managers that talk like their company knows everything and has “inside” channels with Google on Google updates or search algorithms etc.
NO, I repeat no SEO company has “insider” info. That does not exist. Example we had a client that got sold this “awesome” and CHEAP package from a BIG company Web.com and the day their new website went live they lost all first page rankings we had achieved and now they are hiding on page 3 for ALL their main keywords.
So the question you should have now is: Where is Google going?
Google is an ad agency they get paid by advertisers for having their site visitors click on the ads. So Google wants to have the max number of people using their “free” search engine because those are the people that click on ads and create Googles paycheck.
So how do they get or keep searchers?
Great question. By giving a very user friendly search experience and that includes giving the searcher what they are most looking for.
How do they give searchers what they are looking for?
This is where AI or artificial intelligence comes in. Google studies data collected in Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools on all sites where they use those services or not. They study heat maps which show where people click, time on sites, whether or not the search leaves fast, etc.
All these are factored in. Rumor is they will compare data for a truth score. But I think that is simply a calculation on the above statistics. The longer more engaged a visitor to your site is the more likely it is what they were looking for.
Web design is getting much more important but not for beauty but for usability purposes.
Do you know what your bounce rate is?
Do you know your average time on site?
You should. And you should work to improve these.
Google is going the way user experience, and eliminating spam.