Google Confirms Broad Core Algorithm Update: The Facts & Advice
Google’s Danny Sullivan confirmed today via a tweet that a new Google broad core algorithm update has rolled out.
The WebmasterWorld forum has been filled with discussion about the changes. Original SEJ article here.
Let’s explore what Google changed, will it last and what you should you do.
Google’s Official Statement
The purpose of Google’s official statement was to communicate four insights:
- Confirmation that an algorithm update happened.
- Confirmation that this is a major algorithm update.
- Communicate that the change was to improve how Google matches relevant results to search queries.
- Sites that lost rankings did not lose rankings because of poor quality.
Here is Google’s official statement:
This week we released a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. Our guidance about such updates remains the same as in March, as we covered here: https://t.co/uPlEdSLHoX
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) August 1, 2018
Google’s Follow-up Statements
Google’s Danny Sullivan followed up with an additional statement to answer a question asking for more specifics. Danny Sullivan declined to issue specific guidance on what to fix. And really, how could he when Google insists there is nothing to fix?
Sullivan’s first follow-up statement:
We tell lots of things to do. Improve site speed. Consider secure. Etc. But that’s not what this update was about. It’s broad. And respectfully, I think telling people there’s no particular thing to “fix” is indeed helpful. It means, hopefully, they think more broadly…
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 1, 2018
His second:
Want to do better with a broad change? Have great content. Yeah, the same boring answer. But if you want a better idea of what we consider great content, read our raters guidelines. That’s like almost 200 pages of things to consider: https://t.co/pO3AHxFVrV
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 1, 2018
Third:
To be really clear, it doesn’t work like that. Raters have no direct input into the algorithm. There’s no “rater score” or anything like that about the sample of pages they review.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 2, 2018
Fourth:
The data helps us understand how updates seem to be performing. It’s like having someone review the food in your restaurant. But they don’t go into the kitchen & make the food. Rater data isn’t a component of the algorithm.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 2, 2018
The Meaning of Google’s March Tweet
The purpose of the March tweet announcement was to draw a distinction between a daily improvement that targets a specific area and the more significant broad algorithm updates that affects the entire algorithm.
“Each day, Google usually releases one or more changes designed to improve our results. Some are focused around specific improvements. Some are broad changes. Last week, we released a broad core algorithm update. We do these routinely several times per year”
And more importantly, the guidance issued was in regard to how to respond to these updates.
Here is the text of the follow-up tweet from March explaining that a drop in rankings does not mean there is something to fix in the site that lost rankings.
“There’s nothing wrong with pages that may now perform less well. Instead, it’s that changes to our systems are benefiting pages that were previously under-rewarded….”
Presumably that statement was to head off opportunists in the SEO community who might use the update as a way to advance the idea that there are specific quality issues that explain the ranking drops.
I’ll need a few things to provide an accurate cost quotation:
- How old is the domain?
- How long ago was the website first launched?
- Have you had any previous SEO work carried out?
- When people use Google what search phrases would you like clients to use to find your website?
- Do you rank in Google already for any of these search phrases?
- What top 3 geographical areas are you wanting to target?
Hire Me for 1-2-1 SEO Sessions
Weston-super-Mare Office, Somerset
Registered Company no. 7579877
