A change in the algorithm boosts the visibility of Catalan
Catalan has managed to overcome the difficulties and is gaining ground on the Internet. From August 2023, Google began to apply an algorithm change that has reversed the downward trend in the visibility of content in the Catalan language. The effects of this change are already being felt, with an 18% recovery in the visibility of Catalan in the search engine over the last year.
A joint report confirms the improvement of the Catalan language on the Internet
A report carried out by the .cat Foundation and the Alliance for the Digital Presence of Catalan has noted a general improvement of the Catalan language in the digital environment. At the end of 2022, the relative weight of Catalan content in visits from the Google search engine had fallen below 34%, a worrying situation that remained for almost eight months of 2023. After being challenged by the ‘Alliance with this data, Google applied the algorithm change, ensuring that it better interpreted the intentions of the users.
An increase in the traffic of content in Catalan
After the implementation of the algorithm change, the traffic of Catalan content has increased significantly, reaching 52%.
Perspectives futures
The promoters of the study plan to update the research in about six months to analyze whether the upward trend remains stable after the Google update that began to apply last March.
Reactions to this change
The change in Google’s algorithm coincided with the viralization of a campaign where hundreds of people demanded that Google stop discriminating against Catalan and solve the problem. This campaign could have contributed to the algorithm change, demonstrating the importance of public participation in this type of issue.
