Nearly anybody could guess that since Google’s inception in 1998, the company has made many updates to the process by which they determine what websites to rank. This is done through their highly complex and ever-changing algorithm. Chances are, you have googled the same thing twice, and got slightly (or completely) different results. It’s all in the algorithm. Google is frequently making updates to provide users with the most relevant and high-quality results possible.
Some of these updates are larger than others. There are different kinds of updates Google does, the largest of which are referred to as “core” updates. In May of 2022, Google rolled out one of the largest core updates we have seen in a while. So, this begs the question, what did the update do?
Well, the truth is… we don’t know. Yet. We love to pride ourselves on our technical knowledge about SEO and keep up with the latest trends in digital marketing. But the fact of the matter is, Google does not release specific details on their updates, at least not initially. If they released specific updates, people would cheat the system merely to rank their site rather than provide users with a quality web browsing experience.
The only true way to figure out what the update has changed is through trial and error. Over time, SEO professionals, and journalists who report on SEO learn more and more about updates through seeing trends over time. There are people who dedicate their time to learning how the algorithm works by seeing what ranks and what doesn’t through consistent experimentation.
Ok, you might be asking yourself, if they don’t know what the update does, why am I still reading this? If your site traffic or keyword rankings have seen large dips in the past two months or so, don’t fret. At Mediaura, we like to think of ourselves as algorithm chasers. You have probably seen or are at least familiar with the concept of storm chasers. They know storms are coming, but they don’t know how they will behave, where they will go, or what damage they may cause. That’s how we are with the Google algorithm changes. We chase them to learn more about them. Only through investigation and analysis might we unravel the scientific mysteries that lie within.
One thing about the update we can say confidently is that one area of business seemed to get hit the hardest: e-commerce. Google continues to value long, thorough, and informative content. E-commerce often doesn’t fit that bill, sadly. Our e-commerce clients, particularly those that use Shopify, seemed to see the largest volatility in keyword rankings. Our other clients saw more stability, and some were all over the place. But e-commerce clients we work with consistently saw massive dips (and increases) in rankings on Google.
Obviously, increases are good, but when optimizing your site for keywords, stability is a priority. It’s disheartening when you see a keyword you worked hard to optimize a page for suddenly completely fall off the map in your rankings. This can hurt your web traffic and business overall. But over time, things will stabilize, and at Mediaura, we will continue to adapt our SEO strategy to the latest Google updates and trends.
Is your site struggling to rank after the Google core update? Maybe even before the update, you haven’t seen your site ranking. We’d love to help. Contact us today if you want to make that first step in improving your SEO strategy. Let us help get your business to the first page of Google where it belongs.
