In the latest in SEO news and Google updates, the search engine giant announced on June 3rd that it had officially launched another core search algorithm update. While it is taking some time for the update to reach all of Google’s data processing centres around the world, people are already seeing the effects and discussing the meaning of the new system changes.
Implementing search algorithm updates is not new for Google; they have had many algorithm changes throughout the years in an effort to improve the quality and relevance of users’ search results. They work to understand user intent and to understand the content that sites offer, trying to match the two together as best as possible. Instead of searching for keywords in search results, Google tries to understand what the user is truly trying to get to based on how they ask their question, their other searches, and other factors.
Some speculated that the update this month was a sort of rollback, an idea that was quickly squashed by Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes in a few tweets posted on June 3rd.
What was remarkable about this month’s update was that Google announced it prior to the actual launch, something it has never done before. They prepped content creators with a tweet on June 2nd letting them know about the upcoming changes.
In the past, the SEO giant would implement core algorithm updates without alerting the online community at all. Website owners would be confused and, understandably, frustrated when they would suddenly lose many site visitors without explanation. This time, Danny Sullivan, who leads the Google Search Liaison Twitter account, said that they wanted to be more “proactive” about letting people know when changes were happening.
Google explained in a 2018 twitter thread that they make small changes to their algorithm every day that are usually not noticeable and for which they do not do updates. However, when they make changes to the core search algorithm the effects are noticeable and far-reaching, as they have been with this last June 2019 update.
What exactly the search engine changed about its algorithm and ranking process, it will not say. According to Google, there is nothing for content creators to do in response, and they should not try to change things that are not really issues—meaning there is no “fix” if the content creator’s site has been negatively impacted in Google’s rankings. Their advice? To focus on “building great content.”
Although some have reported changes in their visitor statistics, it is still too early to tell what the effects of these most current changes to Google’s search algorithm will be. It is not uncommon for site activity to fluctuate immediately following an update, and then return to normal a few weeks later.
One thing is sure, though, and that is that content creators will work hard to figure out the new core search algorithm and try to outsmart it to improve their rankings. Meanwhile, Google will continue trying to thwart these efforts with their daily and broad core algorithm updates to provide query makers with the most appropriate web pages and information for their queries.