How to Handle Google Core Updates

Core updates aren’t designed to target specific sites but rather adjust Google’s entire system to reflect new content trends and ensure search result quality.

Google tried to explain the changes using a restaurant analogy:

“One way to think about a core update is to imagine you’ve asked a friend for their top restaurant recommendations. While you might have a list of your 20 favourite restaurants, things have changed since you originally wrote it in 2019. Some new restaurants that didn’t exist before have become candidates for your list. You might reassess some restaurants and realise they should move higher on your list given how many positive experiences you’ve had there, or because your friend prefers dog-friendly establishments. The list will change, and restaurants that move down aren’t necessarily ‘bad’; there are simply other restaurants that now belong in your top 20.”

What to Do When Your Traffic Drops

If you notice a ranking decline, particularly after a Google update, follow these steps:

1. Check Search Console: Verify if the traffic drop correlates with a core update. Look at the Search Status Dashboard for the update’s start and end dates.
2. Wait a Week Post-Update: Before diving into data checks, allow at least a week after the update. Then compare traffic before and after to gather proper data for analysis and ranking changes.
3. Review Top Pages and Queries: Look at your best-performing pages and queries to determine if the drop is minor (e.g., position 2 to 4) or significant (e.g., 4 to 29). Small drops may not require immediate action, but larger ones suggest the need for detailed analysis.
4. Search Type Breakdown: Segment performance by search type (e.g., Web Search, Google Images) to identify affected areas.

Addressing Major Position Drops

If your site experiences a significant and persistent decline, Google recommends these strategies:

• Objectively assess whether your site provides reliable and useful content for users. Consider getting feedback from trusted individuals.
• Focus on the most affected pages. Use this to understand how they compare to similar pages online.
• Avoid quick fixes, superficial changes, and hasty conclusions.
• Focus on meaningful content improvement to enhance user experience and search relevance.
• Content removal as last resort: Deleting underperforming content should be a final option. Removing content created solely for search can improve the performance of truly useful pages.

Building a Long-term Search Strategy

In e-commerce, it’s better to focus on sustainable content improvement rather than reacting to every update. Some changes may improve rankings within days, but most adjustments can take months to reflect in search results.

If you haven’t seen progress after several months, you may need to wait for the next core update.

Remember that Google search is dynamic, and rankings can change even without algorithm updates. By prioritising quality, user-focused content, your site has a chance to maintain its position even as search continuously evolves.