Google Broad Core Algorithm Update And Its Effect On Website’s Rankings

Google Broad Core Algorithm Update And Its Effect On Website’s Rankings

Core updates occur to ensure that searchers are receiving helpful and reliable results. The updates don’t target specific pages, but rather are broad changes. The updates happen so that Google can better understand page quality and relevance.

Google expects to serve the best results possible, so it often updates its algorithm to change what the SERP shows. Types of algorithm updates Google makes:

• Targeted updates
• Unconfirmed updates
• Core updates

Google makes hundreds of algorithm changes per year, often more than one per day. Many of the named updates (Penguin, Panda, Pigeon, Fred, and the much-talked-about Helpful Content Update- which has since been integrated into core) are implemented to address specific faults or issues in Google’s algorithms.

What is a broad core update?

Core updates do not target specific websites or pages; instead, they are designed to improve how Google evaluates content overall. However, these changes may cause some pages that were previously under-rewarded to do better in search results, or have the opposite effect on others.

Following an official announcement, the November 2023 Google Core Update was rolled-out on 2nd November, and was expected to take about two weeks, as have previous core updates. Therefore, site owners and webmasters could expect to see some movement, whether large or small, in analytics for keyword rankings and engagement data anytime soon.

Google stated that this core update involved an improvement to a different core system than the previous update, but suggested that its guidance about core updates generally is the same.

Core Updates always play an important role in how websites are ranked and displayed in SERPs (search engine results pages).  But these changes usually focus on finding and prioritising the best and most relevant information, so even if your website is seeing a drop in rankings after an update, it's not necessarily a reason to panic.

Latest Google Core Update -

• Targets all types of content, including blogs and images
• Impact all Google SERP features like Discover & Featured Snippets
• Not seen as a ‘penalty’ but rather as a ‘reward’ for good web pages
• The November 2023 Broad Core Update is global and affects all regions and languages

If your site is affected by the latest core update, then it is probably time to review your website as a whole, to determine whether the drop-off is caused by the core update alone or by some other issues in the website. As with any update, whether minor or core, recovery is not guaranteed. A holistic approach to continuous website improvement is a must, making it important for SEO professionals and webmasters to keep an eye on how your website performs following this and any future core updates.

Google advises site owners to regularly assess their content, as the focus of organic search should always be on delivering relevant answers and resources to users.

Recovering from a Core Update

Despite Google releasing core algorithm updates at a predictable rate of two or three times a year, each update can introduce volatility to the search rankings, creating winners and losers. If your site traffic is adversely affected by a Google core update, there are ways to bounce back.

Recovering from a core update is about systematically evaluating and enhancing the site to meet Google’s evolving quality expectations after an organic traffic decline. Instead of scrambling for immediate fixes, treat it as a chance to strengthen the website’s content, structure, and authority.

If rankings are down after a core update. Then firstly, figure out if there are any patterns in the pages that dropped. Were they all the same template? Same intent? Same private blog network of paid links? Google is good at patterns; we should be good at spotting them, too.

The next step is to gather intel on the pages that are ranking where your site used to be. Conduct a SERP analysis to find out positive correlations between pages that are ranking higher for queries where your site is now lower. Pay attention to the content itself.

Google aims to serve content that provides the best and most complete answers to searchers’ queries. Relevance is the one ranking factor that will always win out over all others. Take an honest look at your content to see if it’s as relevant today as it was prior to the core algorithm update. Get the idea about what needs improvement.

What about AI?

Google’s Senior Search Analyst John Mueller confirmed that core algorithm updates impact search engines’ AI-powered overviews. The sources used in AI overviews seem to change after major algorithm updates.

As Google keeps integrating AI into search, publishers are required to be more clear around how core algorithm updates impact features. There are still many questions about what makes content show up in AI overviews and whether it’s different from what makes websites rank high in regular search results.