Google Core Update May 2020
With unusual times comes the unusual decision taken by Google by announcing the second core update of 2020 in the midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Many industries are rocked with this decision and have bewildered many webmasters. On May 4th they announced the update, calling it the "May 2020 Core Update''. The rollout continued for two weeks and ended on 18th May. First because of the current Coronavirus crisis many companies are near to close, as we have seen decrease in traffic and sales across many industries, and with this new update let us look how things will turn, because most updates come with minor changes along the way. But this update is different. This post covers information and analysis about this May 2020 Core update.
Why is this Update Causing Resentment?
The timing of the May 2020 Core update is being criticized by many webmasters and SEOs. Most of the businesses are facing new challenges during this pandemic, the current restrictions that are imposed have already led to decline in traffic and online sales with uncertainty of the future. That's one of the reasons many criticisms were shared via Twitter and in the Webmaster World Forum. The most affected areas by this new update are health related sites, local search businesses, tech and even finance.
Why Updates Cause Ranking Fickle?
Google brings these updates to make search better for the users but because of which the ranking of the companies fluctuates. The reason for the decline in the organic ranking is not because the website has SEO issues, but it is the result of Google finding better results for the search query.
One of the top reasons the SERPS become uncertain because it takes time to roll out the changes to all the data centers globally. So, when your browser hits a data center it could be receiving old data or the new data. Another reason is the constant change of multiple factors. What commonly Google follows is that an update rolls out followed by a period of relative calm that is then interrupted by more changes that sometimes reverses the losses. Even Google was clear about its update "We know the sites that experience will be looking for fix, and we want to ensure they don't try to fix the wrong things. Moreover, there might not be anything to fix at all.”
Impact of the Google May 2020 Core Update
Some of the SEOs and Webmasters have shared their experience on the effects of the Google Core Update. There are a few specific industries and page types that were the major victim by these new changes. From health to tech, recipes or finance or local search businesses has been impacted. Several recipe website owners noticed significant losses, with the main reason being the disappearance of URLs as well as the disappearance of rich snippets for recipe results.
A webmaster shared her views as “We lost in May 2018, we lost in August 2018 (Med). But this update is the worst update (for us) I ever saw in my years of SEO. We lost everything again. At this moment we got hit harder then 2018.” Sofie77 via WebmasterWorld Forum.
Even in Finance & Health a similar scenario can be seen - “Okay, now I am seeing crazy swings. Monitoring KWs in various verticals, and so far, the volatility appears massive. Some major national brands that were ranked at the top for very competitive financial KWs dropped 10+ rankings. Seeing massive swings in health as well. This looks big so far.” HereWeGo123 via WebmasterWorld Forum
Options for Webmasters & SEOs
As per Google, who has lost their rankings due to an update have neither violated Google Webmaster guidelines nor undergone any manual or algorithmic action. These changes could see websites that previously ranked lower suddenly rank higher and vice versa. So they recommend focusing on delivering the best possible content and also conducting a website audit.
In an audit check, if the website offers original, and valuable content rather than copying? Meta titles and descriptions must be appealing and designed to match the content. Is the content trustworthy? Are there too many ads? Does the content look well researched and produced or does it seem more like mass production?
However, it is also important to wait until search results settle down before making any changes. Also keeping an eye on the websites that have come up as winners with this update is a good idea before making changes to your site. Here is everything about Google's new update. As most of the people have suffered due to this but still there are a few who were benefited because of it.