An Intensive Analysis of Google’s Core Update

Like, I have said many times that Google updates its search algorithm after every few months. The most recent is the December 2020 Core Update which is still rolling out. Danny Sullivan also has confirmed to me on Twitter that Google Core Update is still rolling out. Danny wrote, “It’s still rolling out.”

If you deeply look at the search engine monitoring tools, they are still showing a massive spike over a 24-48 hour period, and then it died down in a big way. Previous updates seemed to have rolled out more gradually. So what things you need to take notice of and do the analysis of your website after the announcement of Google’s Core Update.

What is Google Core Update?

Google Core Update is an algorithm update that can impact the search visibility of a large number of websites. Each time an update is rolled out, Google reconsiders the SERP Ranking of websites based on expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness (E-A-T).

First, you need to know what the core update is about and read what is coming next. Then the most primary thing is you need to do your website audit. It will be:

• Content Analysis
• Backlink Audit
• On-page Analysis
• Technical Website Audit
• Competitor Analysis

The question is, why you need to do website audits? The answer is straightforward; you need to know about all things related to your website’s content, i.e., backlinks, on-page, technical, and competitor before any Google update rolls out. Once Google rolls out its update, then one should ideally wait for 7 to 14 days. Again, the question is raising why we need to wait for 7 to 14 days? As an SEO, we all know that Google rolls out its full update within 2 to 3 weeks and that is why it is best to wait.

After the completion of the core update, you need to do the same thing you have done before at the start of the Google update. Once you complete all the above-mentioned steps, the final task is to compare your website’s audit report from the previous one to the new one. Then you will learn how much your website is affected or not by this new Google Core Update and what effect your competitor has through this. After looking at the before and after analysis, you already know about the bugs and issues that need to be resolved. Hence, it will be straightforward to fix them.

Useful Tip:

If you don’t want your website hit by Google Core Update then you have to put in the work. Quality over quantity, relevancy over irrelevancy, keywords over intent, technical aspects, mobile responsive, Content, render time, and more.

Also Read: 

Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update 23 November 2020

Google Announced A New Core Update After Seven Months

Google is rolling out a new core update, called December 2020 Core Update. This is the third time that Google announced a core update in the year 2020. The first one was released in the month of January 2020 and the second one was in May 2020.

SEOs and Webmasters know that Google has released a core algorithm update after every few months. It has been just about seven months since the May 2020 core update, which took place on May 4, 2020. So this one took a lot longer than previous updates to roll out.

The Announcement:

Here is that tweet in which Google announced and said “later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the December 2020 Core Update.”

Previous Updates:

The previous core update was announced in the month of May 2020, which was big and broad and took two or three weeks to fully roll out. Before May 2020 Core Update, Google announced January 2020 core update, which was analyzed by many SEOs and Webmasters and said that it didn’t have a big impact like the previous September 2019 core update. Google also released an update in November 2020, but that was specific to local rankings.

What To Do If You Are Hit?

Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. There aren’t specific actions to take to recover, and in fact, a negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages. However, Google has offered a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update. Google did say you can see a bit of recovery between core updates but the biggest change you would see would be after another core update.

Why Do We Care?

Whenever Google updates its search ranking algorithms, it means that your site can do better or worse in the search results. Knowing when Google makes these updates gives us something to point to in order to understand if it was something you changed on your website or something Google changed with its ranking algorithm. Today, we know Google will be releasing a core ranking update, so keep an eye on your analytics and rankings.

Also Read: 

Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update 23 November 2020