Google is now rolling out the March 2023 broad core update.
This is the first broad core update of 2023. It has been just over six months since Google’s last broad core update, the one from September 2022.
The announcement. Google announced this on Twitter and updated its search updates page as follows:
- “Today we released the March 2023 core update. We’ll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete.”
The rollout may take up to two weeks to complete, Google said.
What to do if you are hit. Google has previously provided advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update. There aren’t specific actions to take to recover, and a negative rankings impact may not necessarily indicate that anything is wrong with your pages.
However, Google has offered a list of questions to consider if your site is affected by a core update. They mentioned that you can see some recovery between core updates, but the most significant changes will likely be noticed after another core update.
Why we care. Whenever Google updates its search ranking algorithms, it means that your site can perform better or worse in the search results. Knowing when these updates happen helps us determine whether changes in performance are due to actions taken on your website or adjustments Google made to its ranking algorithm. For now, keep an eye on your analytics and rankings over the next couple of weeks as Google releases this core ranking update.
Product reviews update. As a reminder, the February 2023 product reviews update just finished rolling out. It started on February 21 and ran for 14 days, ending on March 7. This was a significant update.
Previous core updates. The most recent core update before this one was the September 2022 broad core update, which was less impactful than previous updates and finished on September 26. The May 2022 broad core update was significant and rapid.
We also had core updates including the November 2021 update, the July 2021 update, and the June 2021 update, which was slow to roll out but substantial.
Before that, the December 2020 core update was very significant, even bigger than the May 2020 update, which was also extensive and took a couple of weeks to fully roll out. This was preceded by the January 2020 core update.
Earlier, the September 2019 core update appeared weaker to many SEOs and webmasters, reportedly having less impact than prior core updates.
You can read more about past Google updates elsewhere.
