Google has commenced rolling out the first broad core algorithm update of 2022 – as officially announced by Google on May 25th 2022.
Google has said that the new broad core algorithm update will take 1 to 2 weeks to fully roll out – so we can expect changes to roll out until around mid-June 2022.
The last core updates were the November 2021 core update and the July 2021 core update. There was also a June 2021 core update – so we could see more algorithm updates rolling out in the near future. The June 2021 update was a fairly sizable update which had a bigger impact on the search results, so it could be that the first of 2022 is equally seismic. However, that is yet to be seen.
What is a broad core update?
Core updates to Google’s algorithm are essentially just adjustments Google makes to it’s search algorithm which improves the Search experience and presents more relevant results to searchers. There are no specific aims or targets for the update, but it can impact the performance of your website and the volume of your organic traffic.
Google puts it this way:
We confirm broad core updates because they typically produce some widely notable effects. Some sites may note drops or gains during them. We know those with sites that experience drops will be looking for a fix, and we want to ensure they don’t try to fix the wrong things. Moreover, there might not be anything to fix at all. There’s nothing wrong with pages that may perform less well in a core update. They haven’t violated our webmaster guidelines nor been subjected to a manual or algorithmic action, as can happen to pages that do violate those guidelines. In fact, there’s nothing in a core update that targets specific pages or sites. Instead, the changes are about improving how our systems assess content overall. These changes may cause some pages that were previously under-rewarded to do better.
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/05/may-2022-core-update
If your website is negatively impacted by the May 2022 algorithm update, then there are no specific actions to take. As always, if you want to get ahead in the search results, you need to focus on ensuring your website is up-to-date, follows SEO best practice, and that you provide timely, high quality content which your audience will find interesting or useful.
Ensure to keep an eye on your organic traffic through the end of May and into June 2022. If you see a change following these few weeks, it could be down to the algorithm changes rather than any actions you have taken.
If you need any help in growing your organic presence or identifying areas to improve your SEO, get in touch with the team at Xanthos who would love to help.
