Google just unrolled a Top Heavy algorithm update aimed sites too much above the fold advertising.
The update was announced via a typical Matt Cutts Tweet reading:
Minor weather report: Update of goo.gl/OpIDL launching today. ~0.7% of English queries noticeably affected.
The original Top Heavy update was unrolled back in January and impacted less than one percent of queries. Google says the update was created in response to consumer complaints about having to scroll down on pages to find content. (Don’t think about the pettiness of it or you will go insane.)
In his original Top Heavy blog post (the same one that’s linked on today’s Tweet) Cutts described the update as follows:
We’ve heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away. So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change.
According to an article on SearchEngineLand this is the fourth algo update from Google since September 27. That list includes updates to Penguin, Panda and EMD.
Have you been impacted by Top Heavy 2? Let us know in the comments section below.