In today’s digital age, businesses rely heavily on their online presence to attract customers and generate revenue. One of the most important aspects of any online marketing strategy is search engine optimization (SEO), and Google Search is the dominant player in this arena. To stay ahead of the competition, it’s essential for businesses to keep up with Google’s core updates, which are significant changes made to the search algorithms and systems several times a year.
What Are Core Updates?
Google’s core updates are broad changes made to the search algorithms and systems designed to improve the overall quality of search results. These updates are not targeted at specific pages or sites but are meant to ensure that searchers receive helpful and reliable information. When a core update is released, Google gives notice on its list of Google Search ranking updates.
How Do Core Updates Work?
It’s important to note that pages that may perform better after a core update have not necessarily violated spam policies or been subjected to manual or algorithmic action. Instead, the changes aim to improve how the search algorithms assess content overall. These changes may cause some previously under-rewarded pages to do better in search results.
To understand how a core update operates, consider it a movie list refreshed after a few years. Some new and wonderful movies that didn’t exist before will now be candidates for inclusion. In contrast, some previously higher-ranked movies might move down the list. Similarly, after a core update, some pages may rank higher. In contrast, others may move down, not because they’re wrong but because more deserving pages provide helpful and reliable information.
Assessing Your Own Content After a core update, if your website’s ranking drops, it doesn’t necessarily mean that something is wrong with your content. However, you may still want to assess your content and ensure you’re offering your audience the best possible information. Google’s algorithms reward websites that provide high-quality, helpful, and reliable content.
To assess your content, you can ask yourself questions like:
Does my content provide helpful and relevant information to my audience?
Is my content up-to-date and accurate?
Does my content offer a unique perspective or add value to existing information?
You can also consider auditing the pages most impacted by the core update. Analyze the types of searches affected and look closely at the pages to understand how they can be improved. You can also seek feedback from trusted sources to assess your content honestly.
How Long Does It Take to Recover from a Core Update?
It’s essential to remember that content impacted by a core update may not recover until the next broad core update is released. While smaller core updates are released more frequently, they may not be noticeable, and recovery may not happen until the next broad core update. Additionally, improvements made by site owners are not a guarantee of recovery, and there is no static or guaranteed position in Google’s search results.
In conclusion, staying up to date with Google’s core updates is crucial for businesses that rely on their online presence to attract customers and generate revenue. By creating high-quality, helpful, and reliable content, businesses can improve their chances of ranking higher in search results and attracting more website visitors. With the right strategies and ongoing effort to stay updated with Google’s algorithm changes, businesses can ensure their online success for years to come.
How We Help
As a marketing agency, we are committed to helping businesses stay ahead of Google’s core updates and ensure that they don’t lose out on potential customers or revenue. We offer a range of services designed to help businesses create high-quality, helpful, and reliable content that meets the standards set by Google’s algorithms. Our SEO specialist, Jamie, provides our clients with regular updates on core updates, so businesses can stay informed and make necessary changes to their content. We also offer content audits to assess the impact of core updates on a website’s search engine ranking and provide recommendations for improvement. With a focus on creating people-first content that meets the needs of target audiences, Stu Lane can help businesses stay ahead of core updates and maintain their online success for years to come. If you are concerned about your businesses SEO position and how the latest Core Update may have impacted you then please feel free to get in touch.
Key Takeaways:
- Google makes significant changes to its search algorithms and systems several times a year, referred to as core updates.
- Core updates aim to improve the overall quality of search results and don’t target specific pages or sites.
- Pages that don’t perform as well after a core update may not have violated spam policies or been subjected to manual or algorithmic action.
- To assess your content after a core update, focus on offering the best possible information to your audience.
- Improvements made by site owners are not a guarantee of recovery, and there is no static or guaranteed position in Google’s search results.
Tips for Website Owners:
- Stay up to date with Google’s core updates and make necessary changes to your content to ensure it’s helpful, reliable, and relevant to your audience.
- Analyze the pages that were most impacted by the core update and seek feedback from trusted sources to get an honest assessment of your content.
- Remember that there is no guarantee of recovery after a core update and focus on offering the best content you can to improve your chances of ranking higher in search results.
- Benefits of Staying Up to Date with Core Updates:
- Improved search engine rankings and visibility for your website.
- Increased traffic and engagement from your target audience.
- Greater credibility and trustworthiness for your brand and website.
- Long-term online success and growth for your business.