The new Google Core Update from Google has made such a fuss this month. And if that wasn’t enough, the very next update is coming our way next month.
Definition – What is a Google Core Update: The term ‘core update’ refers to a fundamentally new version of an update and is used, for example, when the operators of a search engine put online a new algorithm for ranking web pages.
That there is a core update from Google is nothing new. There have been several updates in the past, but this time Google took a full six months to get this update rolling and decided to spread the Core Update over two months. One half was released this month and the other is scheduled for July 2021. Google decided to do this because they are not completely done with the changes for the Core Update for June, but still wanted to roll out the changes that were already done.
Google justifies their update by saying, “As new sites emerge and the Web changes, continuous updates are key to ensuring that we support a wide range of publishers, creators, and businesses while providing searchers with the best information available.”
What does this mean for us now? Every time Google makes updates to its search ranking algorithms, we are affected because it either makes us perform worse or better in search results. So there are winners and losers with this update from Google. But Google has already warned before the update in July, as it can lead to a redistribution of search results again and thus will have an impact on the visibility of the website.
Now who are the winners? The websites that ranked best under the Google Core Update are old websites with long-form content. Most of the time, not much has been changed on these in terms of content and they were only showing borderline good search results before. These pages are now showing continued success in their visibility index.
The losers of this update were mostly websites in YMYL and travel industries. YMYL pages include e.g. online stores, financial pages, health pages, pages with legal information, tutorials with high risk factor (e.g. instructions for electrical installations, parenting guides, etc.). These pages, which actually have very strong content, are currently suffering the most from the Google Core Update. That so many websites with strong content are affected is unusual. Such as aboutyou.de a website that is actually always one of the top pages.
The websites that haven’t done so well in the updates over the last couple of years are coming out winners this time. One reason for this could be that the Google Core Update June 2021 differs from the others in the following ways:
- Google has removed certain factors from the 2019 update in whole/part
- Stronger consideration of domain age, backlinks, classic SEO factors
Now, however, one should not simply sit back since the July update is already around the corner and Google has already announced that the current changes will be reviewed again for accuracy.
But what can you do if you are one of the losers? If a sharp drop in visibility is noticeable on your website, it could well be that they have been negatively affected by the Core Update. There’s only one thing you can do to fix this: perform! If you just continue to take care of your performance and pay attention to it, even a Google Core Update can’t hurt you. And if you ever need help, you can simply contact us and our Performance Buddies will be happy to assist you!
