What is a Google core update?

Google updates its algorithms several times a year. Joey Armstrong explains that usually Google puts out updates to its algorithms to improve specific categories of search results. These changes seem smaller and are done more frequently than core updates, which involve broader improvements to Google search itself. Google does core algorithm changes less frequently.

What do people normally expect in a Google core algorithm change?

Joey Armstrong recognizes that updates can create big changes to Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and many companies and marketers worry that each change to Google’s algorithm will negatively impact their standings on SERPs. It usually takes a few days to a few weeks for companies to see if their content’s ranking on SERPs is showing either improvement or moving down in the rankings.

Do changes in SERPs mean a company’s content marketing strategy must change?

Changes in a company’s rankings after a core algorithm update are not the result of what each company has or has not done with their marketing, but rather their SERP positions change because of the way Google now evaluates their content. It really just means what searchers considered relevant when doing Google searches has changed. Google changes its search algorithms to reflect what searchers now value in content or what their search intent is.

The effects of June 2021’s core algorithm changes are now beginning to be felt a week after the change. Additionally, more changes will be felt in mid-July because Google was not able to release all of the core algorithm changes in the June 2021 release. More changes are ahead as Google will release another core algorithm change in July 2021. It’s unusual for Google to roll out two core algorithm changes so close to each other, but that is what will happen this summer.

What changes have marketers noticed one-week post core algorithm update?

New York Times best-selling author Neil Patel, whom many consider a top marketing influencer on the web says his company has noticed some changes that will require some rewrites for much of his content.

Patel says he usually creates stories with a hook to draw readers in. Much of his content begins this way, but he has noticed those content pieces have dropped in the SERPs. He believes Google’s users may want more facts and definitions straight at the top of the article and less as he calls it, “fluff.”

He will see how all of the articles continue to rank on the SERPs and wait for the changes in July prior to rewriting them all, but he believes this may be one way searcher intent has influenced June 2021 Google core algorithm change. Joey Armstrong sees value in this idea as well.