It has now been well over a month since Google chose to roll out one of its infamous core updates to the search engine algorithm, which took place on September 24, 2019.
(In the wake of this update, another core update called “BERT” has also been released, something we intend to dive deeper into and explain in a future article.)
Google constantly makes small adjustments that usually go unnoticed, while a Google core update of this kind tends to cause significant turbulence in the SERPs.
For this reason, such updates naturally lead to extensive discussions and analyses among industry professionals and site owners worldwide, all aiming to determine which sites were affected, how they were affected, and perhaps most importantly – why.
In today’s article, we take a closer look at what has been observed both nationally and internationally, as well as patterns we ourselves have identified since the rollout.
National and international observations
Much indicates that the September core update was rolled out over a period of 2–3 days. This is somewhat faster than what is usually the case and is worth noting when trying to determine whether your site was affected or not (either positively or negatively).
Just like with the core update in June, sites within the money and health segments (YMYL – your money, your life) appear to have been particularly impacted. For many, this has meant a continued decline in rankings (and therefore organic traffic), but there are also plenty of reports of sites that recovered significantly following the September update.
This reasonably suggests that Google is still not entirely satisfied with the outcome of the June update and has therefore chosen to partially roll back certain elements in order to achieve a better balance.
Others have noted that sites with strong backlink profiles and/or outstanding content have seen increased organic visibility, which is hardly a groundbreaking insight with high wow-factor.
Our own observations
Here at Brath, we also believe that the September core update is closely tied to the previous “Medic” update, as well as similar updates of the same nature. The sites that have been hit the hardest once again seem to be associated with weak trust signals.
Within international SEO circles, this is often referred to as a lack of E.A.T. – which stands for “Expertise”, “Authoritativeness”, and “Trustworthiness”. However, the September core update appears to include more segments than those covered by the YMYL acronym – to a much greater extent than before.
This means that building trust with Google is now of significant importance regardless of what type of site you run. Naturally, this remains more critical for some sites than others (depending on niche), but the fundamental principle remains the same.
We also believe that insufficient content quality and high loading times may play a role for sites experiencing declining performance, even though these are already well-established ranking signals.
In summary…
If you can clearly see that your site lost significant ground shortly after September 24 (keyword drops / decreased organic traffic), it is highly likely that it was negatively affected by the September core update.
If this is the case, our recommendation is to start digging into your site’s content, trust signals, and site speed to identify any obvious issues within one or more of these areas.
Content is, as always, of utmost importance and the foundation upon which your SEO efforts should rest – whether you operate a commercial or informational site. Text length has long been a heavily discussed topic and its positive effects from an SEO perspective are well known. However, the focus has shifted significantly, and today it is primarily quality that should take precedence.
It is crucial to understand the search intent of the user and then create content that addresses this intent in the best possible way – to provide optimal conditions for ranking well in Google’s search results.
Trust signals / E.A.T. (“Expertise”, “Authoritativeness”, and “Trustworthiness”) are, as mentioned earlier, another critical puzzle piece and one of the biggest SEO talking points of the year. Use the tools at your disposal to clearly demonstrate that your site is a credible and trustworthy source online – whether you sell products, offer services, or provide information.
When it comes to site speed, you would be wise to ensure that your site is not unnecessarily heavy or slow-loading. Initially, aim for low-hanging fruit – simple actions that deliver significant impact relative to effort. Evaluate the results and then proceed with further optimization if performance still lags. Don’t forget to run checks for both desktop and mobile, as these often show different results and optimization opportunities.
Hopefully, the measures above will help your site move toward a brighter future – with a significant increase in organic traffic.
Good luck!
