Is Google’s latest core update a bright comet signifying another upsetting turn for SEO experts attempting to navigate the ever-changing digital landscape, or does it represent a more hopeful and helpful future…?
Well, first impressions of this update are certainly more Van Gogh than Munch. That is to say, they paint a more positive picture for those worried about taking another massive hit to traffic (like the September 2023 update). The focus is on original and useful content, as dictated by Navboost, which tracks users’ time spent on sites to determine how useful the content was to the query posed by the user.
Why has this update been rolled out?
This update follows Google’s increased attention to smaller publishers since the last core update in March, giving these publishers a higher chance of ranking well in SERPs. The update creates a focus on sites and publishers that are creating useful and original content that users benefit from.
What changes can we expect from this update?
As with all updates, this may cause rankings to fluctuate for a few days before returning to the norm after the whole update has rolled out. However, in their post about the update, Google stated that most sites will not be affected by the changes, and no specific sites or pages have been targeted.
It’s also important to note that small changes like dropping up to two positions in SERPs are nothing to worry about. Google is actively dissuading people from acting too rashly and making major overhauls to their sites, such as deleting content, until the update has reached its conclusion. Google has stated that you may drop due to other pages doing a better job at helping users than you.
What should you do?
Nothing.
Well, not exactly nothing, but maintaining your usual approach to SEO should be satisfactory as, so far, there is no indication that the SEO best practices used up till now will change drastically with this update.
Google has said it may take several days for the changes to go into effect, so waiting for the dust to settle before making any decisions would be the wisest course of action.
If you are desperately looking for something to do, updating your content to be easier to navigate could make it appear more helpful to users and may reclaim your position from sites that are said to be more useful. However, once the update has taken effect, Google says that rankings can and will dynamically change, meaning you won’t have to wait till the next update to see the fruits of your labour.
Some sites and pages may see drastic drops due to the changes; those who experience this may need to wait until the next update to see any improvements from the changes they make as a result.
Why did Google change its wording?
The update post also included some new additions to their stock standard approach to these posts, such as explicitly stating that most sites will not be affected by these changes, explaining how to assess large drops in position, and explaining how to check Google Search Console for changes.
The most interesting change in this update is the wording around “How long does it take to recover?”; this has been changed to “How long does it take to see an effect in search results?”. Obviously, the change in question doesn’t raise many eyebrows, but the response provides some interesting discourse around dynamic rankings.
Previously, the answer stated that publishers would have to wait until core updates to see changes, but now they say that changes may take some time, between a few days to a few months, as Google will need to learn how your site is producing helpful content (if it wasn’t before you changed it).
This change in answers alludes to a chance that you can fix pages on your site that aren’t ranking well in accordance with the new update. However, if Google deems your site not helpful for a query, your rankings may noticeably drop.
So what does this all mean?
As Google has said, this update will not impact the majority of sites and will help smaller publishers be seen more regularly at the top of SERPs. For those sites negatively impacted by this update, all is not lost, as Google hints toward recovery paths available for those affected.
As long as you keep standard SEO best practices in mind and create thoughtful, original content for your site, you shouldn’t see a high variance in your rankings.