Last week, there were murmurs of a Google update taking place after several SEOs reported an unusual fluctuation seen in rankings.
On Thursday, these rumours were addressed by Google’s Danny Sullivan on Twitter. Sullivan confirmed that the company continues to implement updates all the time and referred to advice that Google had provided in November, around the time of its last batch of several updates. Sullivan’s tweet can be seen below:
We do updates all the time. I would suggest rereading our general advice about this: https://t.co/aL4QObvvhH
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) February 13, 2020
Although this is a cryptic message, it has led many to believe that there was indeed an update, but this was not one of the major updates, known as ‘Core Updates’. Generally, the search company would give site owners warning when it is about to complete a major update, giving a pre-announcement. However, for smaller updates, there is no warning or announcement that it has been done.
This recent minor update did have an impact on some sites’ core rankings but this is not unusual when a change to the algorithm is made. Those that have suffered a dip in their rankings usually recover quite quickly.
Back in November, Google released a series of tweets to explain its update and to reassure site owners. This thread is below:
Sometimes, a particular update might be broadly noticeable. We share about those when we feel there is actionable guidance for content owners. For example, when our Speed Update happened, we gave months of advanced notice and advice….https://t.co/Nwi8I9rooP
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 12, 2019
The company said that with minor updates, there is generally nothing actionable and nothing to fix. This remains the case with last week’s update.
As Google has been cryptic over a potential update last week, it is not certain what has changed. The company may have pushed out a couple of updates on Friday and reversed them a few days later. The only change that SEOs can see is a dip and recovery in rankings around that time. What is certain though, is that there remains nothing actionable for site owners from Google.
When there is something to adjust with a minor update, Google will usually advise on an area to look at. With that said, it remains best practice to keep an eye out for what Google is asking for and to ensure your website is adhering to this. Keeping your website updated and relevant to your business is the first step. If you need help with this, then get in touch with our team here at Engage Web.
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