Google has just released its latest algorithm changes in its core update. These changes not only impact your SEO but also your local search results.
Overview of the update:
- It is labelled as the ‘Google September 2022 Broad Core Update’
- It was first released on September 12, 2022
- It will take one to two weeks to complete
- Recovery time is estimated to be between 4-8 weeks
- It is not a penalty; it promotes or rewards excellent web pages
- This is a global update impacting all regions and all languages
- Google refused to disclose further information regarding the number of inquiries or searches that have been affected by this update. It appears to be a regular core update with a broad reach and an immediate impact
During the predicted 2-week roll out, your website could see massive ranking fluctuations. Here at LeftLeads, we have seen significant changes in 30% of our managed SEO clients, and approximately 40% of our clients have seen minor changes.
Since this is a significant update, it may take up to 4 to 8 weeks till your website stabilizes.
Similar to previous updates, the core update is intended to shake up the SERP rankings and benefit sites which Google finds offer better value to the users’ search intent.
There is no cause for panic, however, if your site experiences significant ranking drops. According to Google, a simple revision of content and keyword optimisation will be all that is needed to turn things around. Ensuring your content is relevant and high quality is the only way to wriggle out of the impacts of this update.
Google has stated the ranking drop isn’t happening because of link quality or other SEO issues. Instead, Google’s algorithm may have found new sites with underperforming content and pushed these pages to the top of the search results.
By asking a few fundamental questions about your content, you can assess whether your content strategy is aligned with Google’s recommendations for outstanding content and better performance.
Twelve content quality questions to ask if Google’s core update hit you
- Do you consistently put in time and effort to ensure your content is unique and updated?
- Do you explore topics deeply or only graze the surface of them?
- What makes your content better or different than everyone else’s, especially your competitors?
- There is such a thing as over-optimising, i.e., throwing target keywords haphazardly in your title, description, and site content to attract bots, not users. Are you guilty of this??
- Is your strategy to attract users based on clickbait?
- Is your content worthy of achieving natural backlinks?
- Is the content written by someone who has extensive knowledge in the field?
- Do you focus on a niche? Or do you write about anything and everything?
- Does your content show disregard for generally scientifically proven facts?
- Is your content well-formed, i.e., follow grammatical best practices?
- Is your content syndicated?
- Does your content provide a stellar mobile experience?
