On this date in 2018, Google confirmed a type of update that eventually came to be known as a broad core algorithm update. Google informed us that for any sites impacted by these updates, there was nothing specific to “fix.” Since 2018, Google has rolled out three of these updates every year.
So, what exactly are Google core updates? How do they work? When did Google roll them out? Here’s everything you need to know about Google’s broad core algorithm updates.
What is a Google broad core algorithm update?
A broad core algorithm update is a change to Google’s “core,” or overall, search ranking algorithm and systems. Google’s core algorithm is actually a collection of algorithms that interpret signals from webpages (e.g., keywords, links, etc.), aiming to rank the content that best answers a search query.
For instance, in 2015, Google incorporated Panda into its core algorithm. On Sept. 23, 2016, Google announced that Penguin became part of its core algorithm. Therefore, Panda and Penguin are both components of Google’s core algorithm.
When Google announces a core algorithm update, it could mean they are tweaking an aspect of Panda, Penguin, both, or even additional components. As we all know, Google reveals as little as possible about its secret formula for ranking.
According to Google’s Gary Illyes, Google uses “probably millions” of baby algorithms that examine various signals. While there has been speculation about what a “baby” or “tiny” algorithm is, Illyes mentioned that a baby algorithm could cause a spike in crawl rate and that they look for specific signals in pages and content.
For context, core updates account for only three out of thousands of tweaks Google makes to its core algorithm each year.
In 2020, Google made 4,500 changes to search – more than 12 per day. In 2018, that number was 3,200. Google also ran over 600,000 experiments in 2020. These changes and experiments can impact ranking, traffic, and SERP visibility. This doesn’t account for competitors’ actions or other variables like seasonality, news, events impacting search, and more.
Some broad core algorithm updates rolled out quickly, while others took up to 14 days to fully roll out. This spread adds complexity to analyzing the data.
All these factors make it difficult to isolate ranking drops to any one particular change Google rolls out. Many of Google’s changes don’t directly impact ranking, so we don’t notice or hear about all of them. But some updates do impact ranking.
What is the purpose of a broad core algorithm update?
Since the first confirmed broad core algorithm update, and repeatedly since then, Google has said the primary purpose of a core update is to improve its search results. Google announced that the purpose was to benefit pages that were “previously under-rewarded.”
Like all Google algorithms, a broad core algorithm update isn’t a penalty. Think of it as Google hitting a refresh button on search results, based on a new set of “rules” for ranking. Your site may go up or down, or stay the same in the SERPs after the update has finished rolling out.
How to recover from a broad core algorithm update
Broad core algorithm updates impacted the rankings of many websites across industries. Though medical sites got a lot of attention, especially around the August 2018 Core Update (dubbed “Medic”), Google’s broad core algorithm updates affected more than health-related sites.
As with every Google algorithm update, there are winners and losers. For every website that goes up, another must go down. SEO is, and always will be, a zero-sum game.
Google’s advice is to build great content. While this may be frustrating to SEO professionals looking for specific insights, Google has given plenty of hints and guidance over the years on creating high-quality websites and content. The key is to create consistently great content over time. If you do that, your rankings may improve.
In August 2019, Google provided additional recommendations in a blog post, “What site owners should know about Google’s core updates.” (An updated version of the 23 questions they published for the Panda update.) Google broke the 20 questions into four areas:
Content and quality questions
• Does the content provide original information, reporting, research or analysis?
• Does the content provide a substantial, complete, or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does the content offer insightful analysis or interesting information that goes beyond the obvious?
• If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?
• Does the headline and/or page title offer a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
• Does the headline and/or page title avoid being exaggerated or shocking in nature?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopedia, or book?
Expertise questions
• Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it?
• If you researched the site producing the content, would you come away with the impression it is well-trusted or widely recognized as an authority on its topic?
• Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
• Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?
• Would you feel comfortable trusting this content for issues relating to your money or your life?
Presentation and production questions
• Does the content have any spelling or stylistic issues?
• Was the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to many creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
• Does the content have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
• Does the content display well on mobile devices?
Comparative questions
• Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
• Does the content seem to serve the genuine interests of visitors to the site, or does it seem to exist solely by someone attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
– Danny Sullivan, Google’s public liaison for search
Google also mentioned that content impacted by a broad core algorithm update may not recover until the next core update is released. However, in my experience, it is possible to recover rankings by updating, rewriting, or otherwise improving your existing content.
In that same blog post, Google indirectly discussed the idea of content freshness:
“One way to think of how a core update operates is to imagine you made a list of the top 100 movies in 2015. A few years later, in 2019, you refresh the list. It’s going to naturally change. Some new and wonderful movies that never existed before will now be candidates for inclusion. You might also reassess some films and realize they deserved a higher place on the list than they had before.
The list will change, and films previously higher on the list that move down aren’t bad. There are simply more deserving films that are coming before them.”
– Danny Sullivan, Google’s public liaison for search
One thing I saw following Google’s broad core algorithm updates was a varying degree of loss in traffic and rankings to outdated content. The solution was pretty clear: update and republish that outdated content.
In short: publish helpful, useful, and comprehensive content that meets user intent. Also, make sure to read Google’s quality rater guidelines, as they offer additional insights into how Google thinks about website and content quality.
A complete timeline of Google broad core algorithm updates
The first officially recognized (by Google) broad core algorithm update was on March 9, 2018. This date was confirmed by Google’s Nathan Johns, despite some confusion among industry algorithm history trackers.
However, these updates were not technically new. Google said they had done these types of updates “several times” per year already. In fact, in 2015, they confirmed a core ranking change. And the so-called Quality Updates also seem quite similar to what is now known as broad core algorithm updates.
Over the years, there have been several unconfirmed Google algorithm updates. Many seemed significant based on rank tracking tool data and SEOs’ analytics, but Google never confirmed these updates. Some were given informal names by SEO practitioners (e.g., Fred).
Here is the complete timeline of confirmed Google broad core algorithm updates up to the present day:
March 7, 2018: Broad Core Algorithm Update
- Google confirms core search ranking algorithm update
April 16, 2018: Broad Core Algorithm Update
- Google confirms rolling out a broad core search algorithm update earlier this week
Aug. 1, 2018: August 2018 Core Update (a.k.a., Medic)
- Google confirms broad search algorithm update is rolling out
March 12, 2019: March 2019 Core Update (a.k.a., Florida 2)
- No more confusion: Google gives core update a name and structure
June 2, 2019: June 2019 Core Update
- Google begins rolling out June 2019 core update
- Google advice on improving your site’s ranking for future core ranking updates
Sept. 24, 2019: Broad Core Algorithm Update
- Google September 2019 core update to roll out later today
Jan. 13, 2020: January 2020 Core Update
- Google January 2020 Core Update rolling out later today
May 4, 2020: May 2020 Core Update
- Google May 2020 Core Update rolling out
Dec. 3, 2020: December 2020 Core Update
- Google December 2020 Core Update rolling out
June 2, 2021: June 2021 Core Update
- Google June 2021 Core Update rolling out
- Google’s June 2021 core update was slow to roll out; here is what data providers saw
- Google June 2021 core update finished rolling out June 12
July 1, 2021: July 2021 Core Update
- Google July 2021 core update rolling out now
- Google July 2021 core update is finished rolling out
Nov. 17, 2021: November 2021 Core Update
- Google November 2021 Core Update rolling out today
- SEO community feels blindsided by November core update as Google defends timing
- Google’s November 2021 core update hit fast and hard; here is what data providers saw
- Google November 2021 core update is finished rolling out
