If you notice a slight change to your rankings over the next few days, it could be because Google is currently implementing its latest core algorithm update.
The search engine confirmed on Twitter that it was rolling out its September Core Update yesterday.
Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the September 2019 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before. Please see this blog for more about that: https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) September 24, 2019
Just a few hours later, a second tweet confirmed that the update was now live.
The September 2019 Core Update is now live and will be rolling out across our various data centers over the coming days. pic.twitter.com/DhJQ8AFUYL
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) September 24, 2019
Google’s major updates often used to come with names like ‘Hummingbird’, ‘Panda’ and ‘Penguin’, and a wealth of advice on how to make sure your site isn’t stung by them. More recent ones have simply taken their name from the months in which they were released, with Google issuing no updated guidance. The Google SearchLiaison Twitter account directs webmasters to this blog dated August 1, which urges them to ask themselves a range of content-related questions.
Going by the comments on a Search Engine Roundtable article on the update, the immediate impact of the change varies from some webmasters saying they have been completely unaffected, to others complaining that all their keyword rankings have dropped. Those who are in the latter position are reminded that Google’s updates can take a few days to straighten themselves out, but also to revisit their pages to make sure they are offering value.
That hasn’t reassured everybody though, with some seemingly frustrated at the short notice and lack of clear advice given by Google before such changes are made.
Google says it makes such updates “several times per year”. Historically, the times at which they occur has been fairly sporadic, but Search Engine Land’s timeline shows that the last one was in June, and was also pre-announced on Twitter. The one before that was in March (nicknamed ‘Florida 2’), so perhaps Google is settling into a pattern of performing them quarterly. Expect the next one around Christmas, then?
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