COREUPDATESYT - Made with Clipchamp
===
[00:00:00] Hi there, it's Olga Zarr from SEOSLY. So the Google core update is currently running, and I thought I would record a quick video telling you a little bit about core updates, how to approach them, what to do and what not to do, because I can see a lot of SEOs, a lot of business owners, website owners do a lot of mistakes when the update has to be So the first thing to understand is that Google core updates, whether your site loses traffic or gains traffic, especially if it loses traffic, Google core updates are not like punishments, penalties.
[00:00:48] These are simply algorithmic adjustments, Google simply making their core algorithm better, more sophisticated, updated. So that it can serve its purpose better. And the purpose is to serve as the best information, the best results to users of Google so that they are happy and they come back to Google. So this is basically the goal.
[00:01:16] And Google releases core updates a few times per year. Like some time ago, we had like a longer break. Usually core updates take, like, used to take up to two weeks. Recently they have been taking a little bit longer. I, I think the last update took a couple of weeks. Google August 2024 update is supposed to take like, I think, up to a month.
[00:01:42] We'll see. So, they now take a little bit more. Probably this is because Google now has to deal with not only all the things it used to have to deal with, like tons of spam, right? But now we have, like, A ton of AI generated content, which is like created at such a fast pace because you can automate it and you can have a website with thousands of tens of thousands of pages created within like seconds.
[00:02:14] So Google really has way more work to do now than it used to have. in assessing that content, those websites. So that may be one of the reasons why they now take a little bit longer. This is just pure speculation on my part. Anyway, if your website loses traffic during an update or gains traffic during an update, this means that there is probably some deficits in your strategy.
[00:02:45] I learned that by using Quora and, uh, Listening to Ted Kubaitis, Kubaitis, who is like a genius in SEO. He talks a lot about, Ted is the creator of Quora, SEO tool, which I talk about a lot. Which like allows you to track your website, to compare your website to all the other pages that rank for a given keyword and tell you what factors you have, which ones you don't.
[00:03:14] Uh, it measures. Like thousands of factors, built in factors and correlates them statistically. And one of the things that I learned from TED and from using Quora is this thing called factor diversity. So in your SEO strategy, you shouldn't be focusing on just one aspect of SEO, because if you do a lot of that, it may stop working or it may simply stop bringing you any results, or it may even like revert to something else.
[00:03:43] What it helped you achieve at the start. So an example Ted often gives is you build some links. It works. You build more, it works. You build even more, it works. Now you build even more, your site tanks. And then there are other aspects of SEO you haven't taken care of, like on page. And if you take care of those aspects, Then those things may get back to work and vice versa, there's on page.
[00:04:14] If you only do on page and you have never touched off page, you may want to take a look at that as well. So, so this is something you, you always have to have to keep in mind. core updates, Google, as I said, uh, improves its algorithm relevance. of search results and sometimes after a core update you can see that the search intent slightly changed and Google now shows different types of websites for a given query and you also have to be aware of that because if this is, if this type of change happens then you probably have to adjust what you have on your website if you want to rank.
[00:04:56] So, for example, something I think that happened with a lot of affiliate websites, you had a query, best, I don't know, gaming headset, headsets. And in the past you would only have like affiliate websites, roundup reviews. And now you have something different. You have Amazon, you have like e commerce websites, and there is like one affiliate website within those search results.
[00:05:23] And this is like one of those top players, uh, top, um, top news websites, which now also happen to review, uh, stuff. So, so this is also something you have to. account for you lost traffic and it doesn't mean you have been penalized. It may simply mean that the relevance kind of of your website went down because the intent changed.
[00:05:52] So whenever checking, analyzing the, the loss in rankings traffic, you need to take into account what used to rank and what ranks now, what, what websites you were replaced by. And if these are like the same, exactly the same types of, um, websites content, so blogs only ranked and uh, you are a blog and you are replaced by a different blog, but the same type of content, then you should probably just take a look at that blog versus your, and compare what they are doing better than you.
[00:06:30] Maybe they are more detailed, maybe they have more, more EAT, maybe they provide like real experience and you are just taking. Things from the internet and rehearsing them, whatever. So those are the considerations. And Google also updated their documentation. And I strongly recommend you, you take a look at that documentation because, because they, they provide a lot of like interesting tips.
[00:06:59] I think the most important tip, tip number one for Google updates and when the Google core update is running is never take any action until the update has been finished. Because being reactive, like a few days after the update started, will probably, will, will in most cases only result in problems and will only make, make it more difficult for you then to assess what's really made you lose traffic and what can make you regain that traffic.
[00:07:33] Google also recommends not doing anything. And of course you have to be 100 percent sure that this is actually the core update that caused you to lose traffic. Maybe there was like a migration going on at the same time. Maybe a technical issue of your, on your website, which caused you to lose traffic.
[00:07:54] So those are the things you always need to take into account as well. So summing up my, my rant, what we, what you need to know about this current update, Google August 2024 core update is that it's going to take about a month before we. rollout. This time Google is emphasizing that they want to show more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made to perform well on search.
[00:08:28] So this is more or less what they have wanted to achieve recently with a lot of recent updates. Important thing in this specific update is that they say they took into account the feedback they received. and we know that there was a lot of feedback regarding small sites, small independent sites being simply destroyed by those updates while those big sites with a lot of authority were outranking them and they say that they aim with this one to connect people with a range of high quality sites including small and independent sites.
[00:09:06] So this is our hope that actually a lot of smaller websites will see recoveries. And this also, I think, relates to recoveries after the Google Helpful Content Update that happened some time ago and most of the sites I know of that were negatively impacted didn't recover. And at the same time, Google also updated their guidelines on core, on core, um, updates.
[00:09:38] And this one is, it holds true for like any core updates, whether this is this one or whether you are watching it in the future and regarding the traffic drop, they share important info and I, and my, my perspective on that is similar. So if you see a traffic drop after the update has started, wait until the update has finished rolling out before taking any action before trying to fix it.
[00:10:10] However, You want to make sure that, uh, the loss you are seeing actually relates to, to the Google Core update, because it is possible that at the same time you had a technical issue and no index tag was added to your pages, or A migration was done exactly on this date, so, and this isn't a successful migration, that's why I always recommend waiting until the update is finished, and even waiting a little bit more, because we can see that even if the update is finished, the volatility sometimes continues for even for weeks.
[00:10:48] If it is core update, you need to wait and you need to have like a strategic plan of what to do, how to try to improve, where you actually are lacking, which is like what I just talked about. You need to see what you were replaced by, but at the same time, as soon as the drop starts, you should investigate to know whether this isn't caused by something else.
[00:11:14] Because if it is a technical issue and you think it is a Google update and you do nothing for a month, Then probably this is not going to be a good, um, move and it will not turn out well for you. So that's an important thing. A lot of tools to let you overlay exactly your traffic with Google core updates, any Google updates date.
[00:11:38] So you can exactly see what's there and what else could I, could I add to that? So they also, they also like talk about things to keep in mind when making changes. Thanks. avoid doing quick, quick fix changes. So this is especially true for you saw the traffic drop during the update and you start fixing things and the update is running and you keep fixing and seeing what happens.
[00:12:03] So this is not a good idea. In most cases, a quick fix will not help you, even if it is a core update and it has finished rolling out. So that's something you have to keep in mind. Usually, You have to look at your entire SEO strategy and think of ways to improve it. And deleting content, they talk about it.
[00:12:26] It is okay to delete content, to prune content, but when you do that, you need to really be strategic about it and you really need to know how to delete content so that you won't, so that you don't kill the website. This is very important. So you need to always check the pages you are going to delete.
[00:12:47] where they are in the structure of the website. Do they have external backlinks? Do they have any impressions positions? Do they have backlinks, as I said? Do they have any organic traffic? So there are a lot of considerations before you want to remove content. This is something that has to be done always in a very careful way.
[00:13:10] So that's, I think, all regarding, regarding my rent, regarding core updates. Be strategic, try to calm down and do not make any, any, any like quick moves. Make sure to investigate and make sure that you know exactly what caused the drop. There are a lot of SEOs that can help you do that. And good luck with your, with your rankings, as Mary Haynes often says.
[00:13:41] And I hope these updates and all future core updates turn out well for you. So that's all from me. Bye bye.
