If you've been following the stats for your website lately, you may have noticed a sharp drop in traffic around May 15. And if you own a business like many others, you might be curious about what happened and whether your website was impacted.
Well, Google released the May 2022 Core Update that significantly impacted how websites were ranked. This update caused many sites to lose traffic and rankings, with some completely disappearing from the search engine results pages (SERP). While the full effects are still being analyzed, it is clear that this update was one of the most significant compared to previous broad core updates.
In this article, you'll learn,
- What is a core update, and how it works
- The impact of May 2022 core updates on the SEO community
- How to recover your website from the core update penalty
Table of Contents
If you have been affected by the Google March 2022 Product Reviews Update we have an article with tips to recover traffic.
What Are Core Updates?
A "core update" is a big change that Google makes to its ranking algorithm that affects a lot of web pages that have already been indexed. On average, they happen once every two or three months.
Core updates are meant to make Google's search results better and more relevant by changing the search rankings of indexed web pages. However, some websites seem to have a negative impression of core updates as their websites lose traffic and rankings, with some completely disappearing from the SERP.
Google changes the way it ranks web pages with each core update. After a core update, web pages that ranked high for their target keywords may rank low. On the other hand, web pages that didn't rank well for their target keywords before the rollout may rank well after it.
Types of Google Update
- Minor updates - These are more common than core updates. Google does them every day with the help of its team of engineers and search specialists.
- Name updates - These are rare and aim to fix specific problems with Google's algorithm.
- Broad core update- These updates are released about four times a year and, on average, might affect 5 to 10% of all searches. They don't focus on a certain problem or issue. Instead, they are put out to help improve Google's search algorithm.
The Impact of May 2022 Google Core Update on the SEO Community
Google released a core update that significantly impacted websites across the internet. Some saw their traffic and rankings increase, while others saw a decrease.
Here are some signs that the core update hit your website.
- A significant drop in traffic from Google organic search
- A decrease in average position in Google search results
- A drop in impressions or clicks for specific pages or queries
- An increase in pages with zero impressions or clicks
- A decrease in the number of pages appearing in Google search results
These are just a few potential signs that the core update may have hit your website. Taking action immediately is important if you've noticed any of these changes. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to recover from the penalty.
How to Recover Your Website From the Core Update Penalty?
Check Out the Damage
You must first check your analytics to see how much traffic you've lost. This will give you a headstart in helping you figure out how big the problem is. Once you know how much traffic you've lost, you can start to make a plan to get it back.
Look for Technical Mistakes on Your Site
404 errors, broken links, and duplicate content are all examples of these. Fixing these mistakes can help your site get crawled and indexed better, which can lead to better rankings in the long run.
Create High-Quality Content
Google will punish a site if it has little or bad content. If it is the case, you need to start working on improving the quality of your content, including the Meta title, Meta descriptions, and the content as a whole.
Ensure your grammar and spelling are perfect and give your readers more to think about. It will take time and work to improve your content, but that is the only way to get out of the penalty.
Promote Your Site Through Different Platforms
Once you've changed your content for the better, it's time to start promoting it! Share your articles on social media, submit them to directories and forums, and do anything else you can think of to get people to reread your content.
Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Many people use their phones to connect to the internet, so it's important to have a website that works well on phones. Make sure your website is responsive to be seen on all devices.
You should also consider adding Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), so mobile devices can load your pages faster. If your website is compatible with mobile devices, its overall quality will go up, and it will have a higher chance of not getting penalized.
Monitor the Progress and Make Changes as Needed
As your traffic improves, it's important to keep an eye on things and make changes as necessary. If you try something that doesn't work, don't be afraid to try something else. The most important thing is that you keep working at it until you start to see results.
Quick Facts About May 2022 Google Core Update
- The Google core was updated last May 4, 2022.
- This will be the third time that Google has updated its search algorithm in the past year.
- The last two previous core updates, nicknamed "Medic" and "BERT," were designed to improve the quality of search results.
- The update was expected to be a minor one, focused on security and bug fixes rather than major changes to how Google ranks search results.
- As with all previous updates, it is unclear exactly what will change with this one until after it goes into effect. Some speculate that this update could affect how Google interprets keyword search intent, which would have implications for both organic and paid search campaigns.
- Another possibility is that this update could include changes to how Google handles answer boxes and featured snippets, often pulled from the content of web pages ranked in the top positions of the SERP (search engine results page).
Leverage your Website with SEO Leverage
With the ever-changing digital marketing landscape, it is important to stay up-to-date on all of Google's latest changes. The Core Update in May 2022 was one such change that shook up the SEO world.
While there is still much speculation and unknowns about this update, we wanted to take a closer look at what may have caused it and how you can prepare your website for future updates.
If you are feeling lost in all these changes or simply want an overview of what has happened so far. Don’t worry, just make sure to check SEO Leverage App often because it has a feature called "Update Impact Report" that shows any changes or news about updates.
Book a demo of our app to get more SEO tips for your website.
