As part of Google’s ongoing work to improve its searchability and how it displays information, the company releases algorithm updates throughout the year. Some of these updates make significant changes that impact users and website owners in positive ways. Others have less of an impact, perhaps, but could have broader implementations.
One such example is broadcore algorithm updates. which often result in major impacts on many website rankings, whether positively or negatively, depending on the change in question. Which brings us to a recent update from Google.
May 25th, 2022
On May 24, 2022, Google confirmed that on May 25, it would begin roll out of a new broadcore algorithm update, lasting until June 9, 2022. The most recent core algorithm update before this was in November 2021, over 6 months prior, and the third core update was released in July of 2021.
When we consider the timing for the November release, it came as some surprise to many website owners, including SEO managers and digital marketing experts responsible for managing organic marketing for their clients. Serious algorithm updates are usually avoided or at least put off to be rolled out during the holiday shopping season. But, in 2021, it took place right before Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Numerous websites across multiple industries were hit hard by this update. At the time, Google offered to provide advice to those who were negatively impacted. And they needed it.
“On a daily basis, Google releases one or more changes designed to help improve the information displayed on search results. Some aren’t noticeable but help us incrementally continue to improve our work”, said John Mueller, a webmaster trends analyst at Google.
According to Google, whenever more significant updates come into play, they feel responsible for site owners to have the actionable information they need to lead them in the direction Google intended with their newest updates. By way of an example, when Google released their Speed Update, it gave site owners a month’s advanced notice, as well as advice on how to better optimize their website’s performance in order to be compatible with the new coming update. This is a mutually beneficial relationship, where Google greases the wheels for their update by catching site owners up to speed long before they’re ready to roll out.
No Hand-Holding
That said, it is actually rare for Google to give advice on what to consider if you are negatively affected by the core update, at least in this way. It’s up to site owners to stay current with their updates and ranking standards, and correct as corrections are needed. Case in point, their most recent update. This time there is actually little-to-no information regarding the specific measures site owners need to take to recover from the impact.
Google has officially confirmed that if pages are performing less well after the release of the core update, it doesn’t mean that there’s anything actually wrong with the pages themselves. In most cases, they haven’t violated Google’s webmaster guidelines nor been subject to manual penalty or algorithmic action, as this can happen to pages that violate rules and guidelines.
No New Additions
So, the good news? It has officially been confirmed that there is nothing in the latest core algorithm update that specifically targets certain pages or websites. Instead, changes strictly focus on improving how Google’s system accesses the overall content it helps users find. Per their goals, the goal of this would be to improve the information displayed in its search.
The following is the official announcement made by Google regarding the May 2022 broadcore algorithm update:
“Core updates are changes we make to improve search, overall, and keep pace with the changing nature of the web. While nothing in a core update is specific to any particular site, these updates may produce some noticeable changes to how sites perform”.
Rumors of a potential algorithm update have been circulating the web across various SEO forums, Telegram groups and Facebook communities. These rumors started one week before Google announced any actual dates for release.
The Results?
In the wake of the recent update, what SEO experts are noticing is that websites that had relied on AI generated content were hit with ranking drops. Indicating how content (and type of content implemented) on the website is carefully monitored by Google’s artificial intelligence systems, this update makes complete sense. It’s also a welcome reprieve for website owners who have “played the game” for the past few years and steered away from AI content like their competitors.
Based on recommendations provided by Google’s team, content creators and SEO professionals can best invest their time and energy into ensuring their website is offering the best content they can possibly offer in the industry they are trying to position their rankings in. Good content – not cheap, fast or easy. Just good.
What this means is:
providing the most original information, reporting, research or detailed analysis possible
a substantial amount of complete or comprehensive information surrounding the topic, and insightful analysis or information that might be interesting beyond obvious
While some websites experience a positive impact in terms of increased rankings, keep in mind: if you are in that category, you probably already exhibit the content practices Google aims to achieve with its latest update. If your rankings have dropped, you likely need to switch up your strategy and work on developing your content to a level where you are favored by the algorithm.
Focusing on E-A-T (expertise, authority and trust) which is the acronym Google uses to describe the best practices for content optimization, when considering ranking content in their search results. Websites with well established E-A-T content are viewed by the SEO communities as positively impacted by the May 2022 update.
The Best Route Forward
Ask any successful YouTube influencer, SEO blogger or forum community contributor, and they’ll suggest that if your website content demonstrates expertise in your field, comes from a position of authority and captivates readers, your website will be recognized. Google will consider higher ranking in the search results.
As of now, though, there is no set-in-stone agreement as to which ranking factor is exactly the influencer to boost rankings, Google did confirm multiple ranking factors as far back as 2019. One of the principles took the form of so-called “E-A-T” content.
Having examined data from the websites that were negatively impacted by this update, we see strong indications that quality of content is what this new algorithm focuses on. When Google rolls out a major algorithm update, it means that your site will either do worse or better in the search engine ranking results. Knowing when Google implements these updates gives us an edge and points us in the right direction to understand whether there was something you changed on your website that impacted your rankings on Google.
In Closing
From previous experiences when Google announced algorithm updates, the update itself normally starts to roll out before the announcement is made. The time-frame to see any sort of movement or results is around 3-to-4 weeks. As these are developing updates in progress, our team of SEO experts and forecasting analysts will continue to keep a close eye on changing data, so that we can continue to bring you the most accurate information on what’s happening across the web.
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