Google Broad Core Update - What Took Place And What To Follow

Every year, Google rolls out specific updates that they call “Broad Core Algorithm Updates”. In 2019, too, they rolled out a few, including the latest one - the September edition. The September 2019 core update was global and therefore took a few days to roll out fully. But once it did, there were some noticeable changes in the search pages’ algorithm; some websites surged in traffic while others lagged! 
But before delving into the September updates, let’s have a clear understanding of Google’s core updates.

What Is Google Core Update?

Google Broad Core Algorithm Update, or, the Google Core Update (as it is better known), is a significant change that Google allows to happen to its ranking algorithm a few times every year. It often causes tectonic shifts for a select few websites in Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SEO), as an after-effect of the updates. Still, some updates don’t wreak as much havoc. 
Generally, Google makes small-scale changes to its ranking algorithm almost every other day. Nevertheless, these Core Updates are the major ones. As a result of these updates, certain websites gain a lot more traffic than usual and get the better of lesser-fortunate sites.

Google Algorithm Update on September 2019

Like all other significant updates from Google, September 2019 (preceded by March 2019 and June 2019 updates) also favored a few websites over any other. However, this edition of the global update took just a couple of days to roll out, unlike the usual lengthy process. Websites like Daily Mail saw a visibility gain of over 300% after the update, while Devon Live experienced a 90% increase. Newspaper website The Argus and airline-related website Skytrax saw an almost 80% increase in their website visibility following the September update. 

Google rarely lets out the exact reason behind specific websites getting a favor over others. But in the recent one, sites with British domain were seen to be favored the most over other websites. The British news and travel sector got a considerable bump in their website traffic over others.

However, in the raw data that followed the roll-out, the plagiarism checking website, Small SEO Tools suffered the most with a 53% drop in visibility. Gaming website Gaming With and Flags Of The World (a website about countries’ flags) both had a reduction of over 40% in their respective visibility. On the better side of the drop in visibility, Pampers and Canada Goose suffered relatively lesser drop with only 23% and 21% drops respectively. 

European websites, especially the ones from the travel sector, saw steady growth in visibility. Meanwhile, all over the world, news and media sites and websites representing the health-care sector were affected by the new update.

Compared to the core update in June, September’s update had a negligible rise overall. And although September had more impact over a scattered period, June’s update was far more potent in a short-term period. For example, the top 3 results for the health sector in June had an overall rise of 36%, while that of September was only 21%. On the contrary, top 5 and top 10 results for the health sector in June had an overall rise of 47% and 84% respectively, while in September it was 50% and 92% respectively. 

Along similar lines, the top 3 results for the travel sector in June had an overall rise of 28% compared to just 17% in September. But top 5 and top 10 results for the same in June was 35% and 54% respectively, while in September it was 40% and 55% respectively. 

Latest Google Update In 2019

After three major updates within six months (March, June, September), some strange activities and varying visibility in websites have given rise to the rumor of a possible November 2019 update. In a survey across 50 websites, visibility had a hike of up to 25% in a few travel websites while some recipe websites had over 10% rise. Surprisingly, some skincare websites had a near 50% drop in visibility. There have been first-time casualties, as well as first-time winners due to the unannounced Google update.

How To Ensure A Rise In Traffic And Visibility?

How would you ensure a rise in traffic and visibility for your website? How would you be in Google’s good books? There is no guideline that you can follow, as such, for traffic improvement, but the following aspects are thought to be playing their part.

• Ensure that the content that you have on your website is high in quality, original and error-free. Publish engaging contents to rank higher up in the pecking order.
• Ensure your website’s presentation is exceptionally intriguing. If the viewers don’t want to stay on your website for more than just a few seconds, it is not a good sign for your website.
• Ensure that your website offers more than what your competitor websites do. As long as you're informative, engaging the readers and making them stay on your website, you have nothing to worry about.

Google core update is based on a strange algorithm that doesn’t always seem to stick to a single guideline. But, don’t let that hamper your website’s presentation and accountability. Make the changes that you would want to see as a viewer and keep those changes for long. Until the new updates roll out and the internet steadies itself, hang on to your changes and get the best out of them.