Google Core Update June 2019 - What you need to know for SEO

The Google Core Update June 2019 was announced via the Google SearchLiaison Twitter account on June 2nd and was implemented the following day.

A broad core update is made when Google alter their search ranking factors, but not in a specific technical way.

That means there is no specific action webmasters should take in order to avoid losing out in terms of search rankings – or is there?

‘Pretty big and scary’

By June 5th, Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz had started to see some of the fallout from the Google Core Update June 2019 edition.

Despite Google’s suggestion that these broad updates do not require specific action, Mr Schwartz wrote: “This Google update that began rolling out on Monday seems like it was pretty big and the scary part is, it isn’t done rolling out yet.”

He added that there are signs that this latest update reverts some of the changes made back in March, with some websites that were severely hit in the spring recovering their first-page rankings overnight as we move towards the summer.

Noticeable impact

In a tweet on June 4th, Danny Sullivan, Google’s public liaison of search and the man behind the SearchLiaison account, clarified that core updates are by definition noticeable.

“Those are definitely noticeable,” he wrote. “That’s why we confirm them.”

Mr Schwartz’s article echoes this, as he claims that many webmasters he spoke to in the first days following the update saw their traffic change by around 30%.

How to recover from Google Core Update June 2019

Google SearchLiaison’s own guidance on how to react to core updates reiterates that there is no one specific technical response to this kind of broad ranking adjustment.

“We understand those who do less well after a core update change may still feel they need to do something,” SearchLiaison tweeted in October 2018.

“We suggest focusing on ensuring you’re offering the best content you can. That’s what our algorithms seek to reward.”

And that is the best advice in terms of SEO for Google Core Update June 2019 – make sure yours is the best content available for your primary SEO keywords.

If you’d like a brief, analytical chat regarding how best to market your content with the relevant SEO optimisation markup – don’t hesitate to contact us.

Calling time on multiple first-page rankings?

Finally, if you currently occupy multiple first-page rankings for a specific keyword, your website traffic could be in for a further hit.

On June 6th SearchLiaison tweeted that a ‘site diversity change’ is being implemented to ensure that in most cases, any given website will only rank twice at most in the top search results.

The move is not part of the Core Update, but follows close behind it and will likely impact websites that have achieved multiple top rankings up until now.

Perhaps even more so than the broad Core Update, this means it is a good time to target a broader range of keywords, to achieve 1-2 first-page results across a wider range of queries and retain as much of your historic search audience as possible.