In a series of tweets yesterday, Google has announced the roll-out of its September core update. The pre-announcement was tweeted via the Google SearchLiaison Twitter handle 8 AM CST. It says:
“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.”
In true Google style, the company has not given away any information about what the update is all about. The initial tweet just contained a link to a Google Webmaster blog from August which explains what people should know about these core algorithm updates.
The announcement quickly attracted the attention of webmasters, with some expressing their obvious agitation – over the possible effects of the algorithm update – through memes and gifs.
While Google claimed time and again that these updates are necessary to improve search, website owners have grown skeptical of them. Core updates are usually followed by complaints from site owners negatively affected by the changes.
As of writing, Google has already confirmed that the September core update is now live and will continue to roll out in its data centers in the coming days. No one knows yet how it will impact websites, but the company has shared a couple of tips in case it turns out bad for some site owners.
What to do if Your Website has Been Affected by a Google Core Update?
As Google emphasized, a core update is designed to improve search results. While most of these changes are not noticeable, they help the search engine giant “incrementally continue to improve.”
If an update requires an action on the side of webmasters, content producers, and other stakeholders, Google releases notification months in advance. A good example was when the company pre-announced the “July 2018 Speed Update” in January last year.
Google rolls out broad core updates several times a year. Referring to these updates, the company said:
“They’re designed to ensure that overall, we’re delivering on our mission to present relevant and authoritative content to searchers.”
Google noted that if pages start performing less following a core update, it doesn’t immediately mean they violated the webmaster guidelines or have been subjected to a manual or algorithmic action.
In fact, the search engine giant said that a core update doesn’t target any specific website or page, but instead enhances the way Google’s systems analyze content.
Meaning, sites and pages that saw a significant drop in their ranking don’t have to fix anything. What they need to do is to focus on producing the best content which the search algorithms seek to reward.
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