Helping you diagnose and keep on top of algorithm update impacts.
In this Ebook, we’ve highlighted five of our favourite tools that we’ve found most useful during the most recent Google algorithm updates. Continue reading to learn more about the updates, what effects they had on certain industries and how you can help your site recover if you were hit badly.
Google is always watching. They’re ever-tweaking and updating their algorithm, therefore positions of webpages change in the search engine results page (SERP). Small changes are being made constantly in any given month of any given year. Perhaps even right now.
A few times a year, though, Google rolls out a major algorithm update, the latest of which was named the June 2019 Core Update. The June update was significant in that Google gave it a name, and in a rather unprecedented move announced the update in advance.
Algorithm updates essentially mean Google is making alterations to how they assess the rankings of websites based on a multitude of factors, therefore after an update, rankings may change and organic traffic to said sites could be affected as a result.
Think your website may have been hit by the latest update? Our advice remains not to panic and not to immediately react, but having a plan in place to diagnose if you’ve been affected is the important first step – and that’s where this guide will come in handy!
But first, some takeaways from the June update so we know what we’re dealing with.
Tomorrow, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the June 2019 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before. Please see this tweet for more about that:https://t.co/tmfQkhdjPL
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 2, 2019
Google rolled out the June 2019 Core Update approx. 24 hours ago (after the unprecedented move of announcing an #algorithm change in advance!) – have you or your clients felt any rumblings yet? #SEO #SEOtips #googleupdate #digitalmarketing https://t.co/S3Zs6lFgRW
— Salience Search Marketing (@salienceuk) June 4, 2019
It’s very early but there has been chatter of recoveries from Medic including positive movement in the health/medical niche.
But not everybody has been so fortunate: “Seeing drop of 25% organic traffic, website is related to the health industry…”#SEO #SEOtips #googleupdate
— Salience Search Marketing (@salienceuk) June 5, 2019
.@sistrix on Google’s June 2019 update: “…the field of affected domains seems to be wider in this [update] than in previous…”
“…many #YMYL websites… classical news sites, retail & many others.”
“…significant changes after just 24hrs…expect more as the week goes on.”
— Salience Search Marketing (@salienceuk) June 5, 2019
Effects of the #Google June 2019 Core Update have been felt by YMYL sites, news sites, retail and others. UK news media was said to be “on alert” and @DailyMailUK have just confirmed losing 50% of their search traffic, says @rustybrick: https://t.co/fN2EoMFkwd#SEO #googleupdate
— Salience Search Marketing (@salienceuk) June 6, 2019
#WWE puns ahead: “You Can’t See” @DailyMailUK after their “Phenomenal” 50% drop in traffic since #Google‘s June 2019 #algorithm update hit!
It’s a #smackdown of speculation as to why (https://t.co/wDKCNvLqAK): “…the ads, the site speed, the content, the political slant.”#SEO https://t.co/jQdCQL3TSi
— Salience Search Marketing (@salienceuk) June 6, 2019
Not an update but a “change”. Separate from the June 2019 Core Update, #Google has launched a ‘site diversity’ change, impacting how search results are displayed. In theory it means that in search results you won’t see more than 2 listings from the same domain, from now on.#SEO https://t.co/vHFt7Dcu6v
— Salience Search Marketing (@salienceuk) June 7, 2019
Confirmed: #Google‘s June 2019 Core Update was rolled out between the 3rd and 8th of June, so finished up last Saturday after around only 5 days. @rustybrick reports “…some sites got devastated by the update.” https://t.co/H8TVqgElbD#Googleupdate #SEO #SEOchat pic.twitter.com/Z2fdum39J1
— Salience Search Marketing (@salienceuk) June 11, 2019
The early announcement of the June 2019 core update apparently wasn’t a one off – Google “probably will” continue to pre-announce algorithm updates, says @dannysullivan
Is it for transparency in the community, or just a way to control what we’re naming the updates? #SEO #SEOchat
— Salience Search Marketing (@salienceuk) June 12, 2019
Sistrix reported, just two days following the update, that “the field of affected domains seems to be wider in this update than in previous”. Their very early analysis saw news sites, retail sites and others classed as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life – those involving financial transactions or health/lifestyle).
A significant impact was felt by certain websites – after just 24 hours of the update being rolled out, the UK news site Daily Mail revealed they had “lost 50% of daily traffic”. Similarly, CCN.com, a bitcoin news site, reported their traffic dropped 71% on mobile, resulting in a 90% decrease in daily revenue! In the same industry, CoinDesk also reported a significant drop but to a lesser extent.
These are examples, particularly Daily Mail, of ‘high authority’ websites that traditionally performed well with Google (therefore expected to be regarded to be a quality and trustworthy source) yet clearly lost rankings due to this update.
Conclusions are still being drawn, but the principles of EAT – expertise, authority and trustworthiness – seem to be a factor again which played a large part in the Google update from August 2018, also known as “Medic”. It could be that Daily Mail was no longer deemed to have the same level of trust, or it could be that this update is broader again.
When a major algorithm update like this one has rolled out, watch and wait. It’s better to be proactive than reactive where SEO is concerned, even if Google is now pre-announcing the updates.
A recent tweet from Danny Sullivan, Google’s public liaison of search, sums it up for us:
The old questions about improving after Panda are useful because at their core, they’re about improving content — not that they are Panda-specific. Our algorithm is designed and gets improved to better reward good content.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 17, 2019
Be prepared with your website and deliver what the user wants and (so the theory goes) the algorithm update will reward the sites in the SERPs that do just that.
Naturally, people still ask, “how do I fix my site after a Google update?”.
So are there any fixes? As ever, the concentration of a site owner should be delivering great content and at the same time considering the trustworthiness factors we’re now all thinking about since “Medic”.
John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, recently made reference to three things Google may see as NOT trustworthy (avoid these):
They’re just quick examples, and Mueller can’t reveal too many specifics. Again, it’s being proactive with content and EAT factors, but no time like the present to implement a new strategy if you are concerned. Think about the overall ‘image’ of your site – ask for opinions (from unbiased sources) about how people view the site and if they trust it.
Danny Sullivan and John Mueller are two SEOs useful to follow on Twitter for insight around algorithm updates as they happen.
Review the questions that came about with the Panda update and the almost 200 pages (eek!) of the Quality Raters Guidelines, both good reference guides for creating quality content – yes, these are not exactly fixes if your website was affected by an update, but these guidelines will need to be reviewed and implemented sooner rather than later.
If you’re concerned about your rankings since the update, let us help.
