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December 2019 was mostly a quiet month in the SEO world with Google and the other search giants largely holding back on any major updates. Most changes were isolated to minor tweaks to current services, including Google News, Search Console, and GoogleBot.

Google News Just Got Easier to Use

Google’s BERT update from back in October has paved the way for Google News to start automatically including articles that meet their content guidelines. Previously, sites had to submit their articles for inclusion via a sitemap specifically for articles or with the index API. Now, as long as you meet Google’s content guidelines for Google News, your article will be considered for inclusion without having to submit it to Google News. Keep in mind, inclusion does not mean it will rank for a given search.

While November 2019 only saw one major event happen in the form of Google’s “Bedlam” update, that singular event left the SEO community far from quiet. This update caused several shifts and swings in rankings and traffic, although its exact application is still up for debate.

What’s was the Bedlam Update?

The Bedlam update was an unannounced update to Google’s core algorithm. While Google has a small streak of announcing updates recently, like the BERT update back in October, this update was not named or announced by Google and wasn’t even confirmed until the 13^th of November. The update was dubbed “Bedlam” by Joy Hawkins for the panic and confusion it caused.