Google May 2020 Core Update rolling out

Google announced it is rolling out a new core update, the May 2020 core update, Monday. This is the second core update of the 2020 year, the first one was the January 2020 core update.

Historically, Google has released a core Google algorithm update every few months or so. It was just a bit over 3-months ago since the January core update.

The announcement. Google said “Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the May 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before.”

Now rolling out. At 3:50pm ET, about an hour after posting this story, Google said the roll out has begun. It can take “about one to two weeks to fully roll out” Google said.

Previous updates. The most recent previous core update was the January 2020 core update, we had some analysis on that update over here. The one prior to that was the September 2019 core update. That update felt weaker to many SEOs and webmasters, as many said it didn’t have as big of an impact as previous core updates. Google also released an update in November, but that one was specific to local rankings. You can read more about past Google updates over here.

What to do if you are hit. Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. There aren’t specific actions to take to recover, and in fact, a negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages. However, Google has offered a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update.

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Why we care. Whenever Google updates its search ranking algorithms, it means that your site can do better or worse in the search results. Knowing when Google makes these updates gives us something to point to in order to understand if it was something you changed on your web site or something Google changed with its ranking algorithm. Today, we know Google will be releasing a core ranking update, so keep an eye on your analytics and rankings.

Data on this update. On May 7th we wrote a story named Google’s May 2020 core update was big and broad, search data tools show. Check it out to learn more about this update.

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.