JUNE 2019 BROAD CORE ALGORITHM UPDATE: DOES IT CHANGE SEO?
When it comes to SEO, Google leads the way. The Google algorithm is the major factor that determines where websites end up in the search results, and most companies tailor their SEO strategies with Google in mind. Google recently announced its June 2019 Core Update, which changes the algorithm. What does this mean for SEO in Fort Collins and elsewhere? Will it impact your search results? The short answer is that the update doesn’t drastically change SEO and will still reward quality content and strategic keywords.
What is the Google Core Update?
A few times a year, Google makes changes to its algorithm to stay on top of new trends and technological advancements. Updates also help weed out low quality content and improve the relevance of search results. The last broad core update occurred in March 2019, although Google releases smaller changes to improve its results every day. The most recent update started rolling out on June 3.
Google announced the update on Twitter and said this particular update isn’t major. In a Tweet, Google said,
“Sometimes, we make broad changes to our core algorithm. We inform about those because the actionable advice is that there is nothing in particular to “fix,” and we don’t want content owners to mistakenly try to change things that aren’t issues…”
You can read more about Google’s statement here.
Although there have been larger changes to the algorithm in the past, the most recent changes are small and reflect Google staying ahead of trends and changes.
How Does the Update Impact SEO?
Any change to the Google algorithm will impact SEO and lead to some changes in search result rankings. However, because the June 2019 update is relatively small, most sites shouldn’t see a major change in their rankings.
Google has made it clear that just because a site drops in its search result placement doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the site. Instead, the update is designed to benefit websites that were previously overlooked or under-valued by the algorithm. Updates to the algorithm are always designed to create a better Google user experience and eliminate spam and low-quality search results.
Google’s official notice to developers and SEO professionals is that they don’t need to change anything about their current SEO efforts. However, the update is a good opportunity to re-evaluate SEO strategy. In order to stay competitive and achieve ideal SEO, companies should be aware of the change and can always improve their content and overall SEO strategy. The basic SEO principles don’t change, regardless of small updates to the algorithm. Quality content, links to reputable sites, and strong keywords still drive traffic and good results.
It’s important to note that the recent broad core update doesn’t target a specific niche of websites; hence the term “broad.” Everyone is affected equally, so don’t feel like a certain type of page is being targeted. If you’ve noticed a drop in your search results since the algorithm update, don’t overthink what you may have done wrong. Instead, consider why Google no longer thinks your page is relevant. Why are other pages ranking higher than yours? What could you do to make your page more relevant in the eyes of Google? Applying that thinking to established SEO principles could lead to an increase in your ranking and search results. Google also mentioned that over time, sites that have fallen in ranking could increase relative to other pages.
Learn more about Google’s SEO recommendations here.
So what does the broad core algorithm update mean for SEO? It means carry on business as usual. Maintaining strong SEO principles and sticking to a good strategy will continue to get quality results in the long term. Small slips due to the change will likely work themselves out with the right mindset and quality content.