Every year, Google makes several changes to their massive search engine and internet complex. Some of the thousands of changes are simple while other changes and updates can be more complex in an effort to better link searchers with material they are looking for. In fact, the company averages about 9 changes a day to their algorithms and influence of web traffic, with fewer major or ‘core’ updates occurring every few months or almost quarterly.
The company has recently announced on their Twitter platform that they were rolling out some new core updates, branding this series of updates with the less exciting title of the ‘September 2019 Core Update’, unlike previous ‘Penguin’, ‘Pigeon’, or cleverly titled changes. The tweet included a link to a blog post with more information and guidance about the update and the potential impact on consumers. A follow-up tweet was posted notifying the public that the updates began rolling out on the 24th of September 2019.
Core updates are one of the larger updates Google makes to its system, hence the announcement and heads-up to those parties impacted by algorithms and web traffic. These core updates impact how Google completes its ranking of websites and determines which websites should populate at the top of specific queries. Often, a lot of the core updates that we hear about are designed to remedy or troubleshoot specific faults or issues, such as eliminating spam and redirecting internet traffic to more useful websites that better meet consumer needs.
While these updates may be routine and have little impact or significance for consumers and users of the Google search system, massive updates can be of critical importance for companies and businesses who rely on keywords, relevancy, and optimization to link consumers to their products, services, and webpages. The company has kindly provided notice and guidance regarding their updates, reminding users that all core updates are ‘broad’ and do not specifically target anything or specific subjects or contents, but are rather used to improve their search system as a whole.
Notable effects are to be expected following the completion of the update, which is anticipated to take a few days to complete and will result in potential changes to search rankings and unique page visits. The company states in their linked guide that websites that may experience a drop in their rankings are not being penalized but rather reorganized and reranked based on content in the new update. Webpages impacted by this latest update should focus on updating content to remain relevant and as a top query of the search engine. Unfortunately, one of the downfalls of releasing a core update is that it may negatively impact the amount of traffic certain websites are currently receiving. These consequences are unintentional results of updates aimed at improving user experiences of the Google search engine.
Again, not all webpages or specific searches are going to be impacted by this current update to Google’s algorithms. Webpage publishers should monitor their content and publications and respond accordingly to any changes should they occur. Search engine marketers should be ready to monitor how organic traffic flows to their sites are potentially being impacted by this next round of core updates. Past core updates have also greatly benefited certain websites and publications who were not receiving the recognition and attention their content rightfully deserves–according to Google’s update algorithms.
Unfortunately, the company cannot come right out and tell us exactly what they are tweaking and changing without giving away the secret ingredients of their powerful Google algorithms. After all, it is the foundation and most important part of their business. The best guesses for this current round of updates is that they will mostly impact the values of specific keywords. This means that the company is changing the way they calculate the weight of specific keywords or search terms on pages to connect searchers with the most specific results quicker. Sounds pretty simple right? In some cases it is pretty simple and can redirect relevant traffic to lesser known content.
These changes are most likely based on ratings of search results, not necessarily ratings of specific web sites or web content. The idea behind the engineering would be to provide more quality search results while maximizing relevant keywords and content descriptions. The core update is likely a combination of new weighting for specific keywords and search teams that were also rated as quality search and relevant results.
Again, if your published web content is already receiving a decent amount of traffic and you are utilizing advice from top SEO and web engineering blogs, then you’ll most likely not see any major impacts from the September core updates. Still, because websites are weighted against their competitors, or others websites relevant to your content or query, it can be challenging to understand the reason your website has either increased or decreased in rankings.
One thing is for sure and that is Google will not come out and say the reasons some web content is being differently impacted by the updates because the answer is going to be different for all queries and sites. Much like any other products in a market-based system, your website is going to have to compete with the rankings of all other content and queries. If the query which best matches and values your content is hot in the current market, you will most likely benefit from any algorithm changes the company has made. The bottom line is you will have to continue to work hard to market your content and publications to compete in an ever changing and evolving market. Take care to continue to polish your content and optimize whatever it is you are publishing to take advantage of how Google and other popular search engines work.
Just like in the pre-internet days, you’re going to have to evolve and get creative in your business to stay afloat in a changing and competitive market. The September updates of Google are just another market change that will either make or break your content and traffic depending on your ability to make quick changes and stay relevant.
