Back in June, a core update finished on the 12th. Then, a second core update (the page experience update) rolled out on the 15th. The second core update will continue through to the end of August. There were also two parts to an update on spam management, and another core update in July. With so many rapid and sweeping changes, many marketers are struggling to identify the causes of fluctuations seen in rankings. While this may cause trouble, it’s unlikely that Google created this bottleneck intentionally. As a large company, Google tends to release an update when it is ready. Potential delays in development can impact their release windows, which leads to this condensed time frame.
Google offered advice on improving your website’s ranking statistics after these core updates. Any confused souls should review their materials to ensure that they are covering all their bases.
What Did Google Update?
BMM
As part of the core update, Google phased out BMM keywords in favor of a broader approach to phrase matching. In June, there were also two Google spam updates. The first part was released on June 23rd, with the second coming on June 28th. Both of these updates were considered global updates that impacted search results over many of Google’s services, including image results and web searches. If your rankings changed during this time, it’s possible Google’s spam-fighting efforts may have impacted your website.
Because spam updates are intended to occur only over a single day, it’s unlikely that changes after the 23rd or 28th were related to the spam update. However, if you do notice changes these days, Google’s algorithms may likely have interpreted something from your website as spam and excluded or dropped its place in rankings.
Cookies
A much-expected block of third-party cookies was delayed to 2023 back in June as well, but that doesn’t mean you should continue to use them. A growing concern for consumer privacy has emerged from a public that feels privacy and personalization are not exclusive concepts. Marketers agree, with nearly three-quarters of all marketers saying it is possible to deliver a personalized experience to a customer while maintaining their privacy.
Customers say they are more likely to purchase from companies that deliver them personalized recommendations, but a far larger number say they prefer companies that value their privacy. How can one do both? You can incorporate solutions such as first-party data or contextual ads to deliver content to your demographic. By respecting the best of both worlds, you reap the benefits of both fields. If your business can offer customers added privacy on top of a more personalized user experience, there is no reason not to do so.
In Conclusion
While we can’t say exactly what inspired Google to release so many important, extensive updates in such a short period, we can rely on context clues to factor in a guess and reassure ourselves that stability is coming. Some updates, which Google planned earlier, are releasing now. Additionally, those updates that Google planned to release now have delays of up to one year. As we adapt to the new phrase match methodology and watch new patterns emerge in our metrics, we should always be aware of when a change takes place that may explain unexpected anomalies in our data.
In Memoriam
Lastly, back in June, the SEO community lost one of its best and brightest with the passing of Russ Jones. Our prayers and deepest condolences are with his family and colleagues.