Google is constantly changing and updating its algorithms to keep up with the ever-changing digital marketing landscape. This summer, they’ve released two major updates that will change how you do your SEO work. 

As we are in the second half of this year (2021), it’s essential to know about these changes so you can plan accordingly for your business. Moreover, part one goes into effect on June 2, 2021, and the next phase gets released sometime in July 2021.  Let’s get into the Google Core Update June/July 2021, what it means for your business, and how you can prepare yourself!

Image Source: Twitter

What is Google Core Update?

Google core update is a significant Google algorithm change focused on improving the quality of its search results. The primary purpose is to fight spammy SEO practices and web pages that cheat or manipulate their way to higher rankings from Google’s index. 

This Google core update has been created to make web search more valuable, which means that the ranking indicator will be based on the website traffic and popularity and its content.

The Purpose of Google Core Update

As mentioned above, the purpose of this Google’s algorithm change is for users to find high-quality content in their search results. 

Google is also trying to keep users on their platform longer because they can collect data and personal information about them, making the user experience better and more effective. 

By doing this, Google will detect fake news, low-quality content, or spam content that isn’t useful for users to find what they’re looking for. Even more, fake news and spammy content can harm businesses trying to catch quality traffic from Google.

What’s New In June 2021 Google Core update?

Google announced its very first core algorithm update for 2021 on June 2, following another in July. This latest update is geared towards improving the user interface of Google Search, focusing on promoting beneficial and informative results that drive website traffic.

Google said that this update is geared towards “helping readers find more high-quality content online.” It was created to improve the user experience by making it easier for users to discover new and beneficial information on the web. 

Impact Of June 2021 Core Update

Semrush, a search engine optimization company based in Moscow, has recently released data showing the fluctuation of Google desktop and mobile searches. The team at Semrush analyzed both platforms to determine if they felt any changes on Friday, June 4th, or Saturday, June 5th. 

They concluded an increase in volatility during these two days with health-related information experiencing the most change out of all categories researched by their analysts, including top-five higher than average increases: autos, pets & animals science, and travel. 

Yulia Ibragimova from SemRush teamed up with Olga Andrienko for this update report, revealing how various topics were affected during May 29 -June 6 when Google started launching its algorithm updates to fight fake news sites, according to Search Engine Land.

Image Source: Search Engine Land

Sistrix’s data shows that some of the biggest winners and losers have been websites with a regional or local focus in the past six months. Some people might think this is surprising because they would expect these sites to be affected by Google’s recent update on SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Some experts are still trying to figure out why many YMYL websites were not impacted as much. Still, it seems like regional or local businesses may only need an occasional push from search engines for higher rankings.

Here are some winning sites from the June 2021 Core Update

Some losing sites from the June 2021 Core Update: 

Google is ostensibly focused on YMYL content, but it punishes the thinner stuff like irrelevant directories and car news. The financial tips page “thebalance.com” (YMOYL) was hit by other Core Updates, too, a sign of this new crackdown from Google’s side against such pages that are only designed to serve its own self-interest rather than those of their end-users.

Before we jump to the July core update, let’s check out some other important Google updates that took place in June.

Page Experience Update

Google’s May 2021 Page Experience Update was delayed by one month and started on June 15. The rollout took till the end of August, as per Google. With this Page Experience Update, the most exciting part is that Google’s “Core Web Vitals” became an official ranking factor for websites across all industries, including retail/eCommerce stores, restaurants & bars, healthcare providers, and others! 

These metrics include real-world performance measurements such as website loading speed times, mobile-friendliness scores, text readability rates, etc. 

Google Spam Updates 2021

Google announced that their team would improve their search engine results in 2021 by automatically penalizing sites with low-quality and spammy content. The first Google Spam update was released on June 23, 2021, whereas its second spam update was followed the following week.

After June, the next major update is set to be implemented in July 2021.  Although Google didn’t expressly state what the focus of this update would be, there are many speculations that it might be related to Google Mobile-Friendly Update.

This is because a lot of sites were working on implementing changes to their sites to rank higher.  Although there is no 100% confirmation, it’s best to be prepared. 

Now Let’s What’s In July 2021 Core Update?

Google has delivered on its promise to release the second part of their June core update just in time, i.e., on 1st July. 

The July update has felt almost immediately after the announcement; most of its effects happened just within a single day. Although it was not as massive as June’s Core Update, this one is still worth noticing because these changes may have severely impacted some ranking metrics.

According to Ahref, Core Update has affected some metrics, with the most severe impact in the SEO world. However, not everything has decreased as some metrics saw a slight increase, including URL clicks and social shares. High-authority and authority sites have also seen their CTRs decline.

It seems like Google is focusing its efforts on pushing up high-quality content and driving down low-quality spam sites with the help of these core algorithm updates.

If you were impacted by one of these recent updates—you might be feeling overwhelmed as there seems like no way out with two major shifts happening at once! But don’t worry– we’re here now, so let’s see how to deal with these updates. 

Read: SEM vs. SEO: Which Is The Wise Choice For Marketers?

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

While Google was mainly focused on fighting fake news and spam in this update, it also means a lot for businesses trying to catch traffic from the search engine. Of course, Google wants to reward all those who publish high-quality content because it’s a win-win situation for both users and the business.

On the other side, if you don’t focus on creating high-quality content, you may lose some of your rankings and traffic. You should concentrate on creating unique and worthwhile content that your audience would love to read.

If you don’t publish enough new content, there is a high chance that Google will think of your website as spammy or low quality because the website doesn’t have much to offer, and it could be low in quality.

How Should You Prepare for Google Core Update?

1. Focus on ” Quality Content’’

Remember that Google is making an effort to promote high-quality content over low-quality spammy content. So if you are trying to catch traffic from Google, you should focus on creating high-quality content. This doesn’t mean that you should forget creating low-quality content, but rather that you should have a more significant focus on your high-quality content.

2. Prevent Spamming

You want to make sure that Google doesn’t think of your website as spammy or low quality because of the practice of “keyword stuffing.” Keyword stuffing is when you use your target keyword too often on a page to help boost rankings in Google’s search results, which Google frowns upon.

3. Look for Info-rich Content

Along with creating high-quality content, you also want to ensure that your website has info-rich content that will help users with their needs. Besides, it will help improve the user experience on your website or blog.

4. Focus on Your Audience

Google wants sites to focus more on their audiences, rather than just creating content to rank higher in search engines. So you need to make sure that what you are writing and publishing is of interest to your audience.

5. Check Out Your Competitors

You should do a simple check and see what content your competitors are creating to develop new ideas for the type of content you want to publish on your own website or blog. You can also try looking at other sites online that have managed to rank highly in Google’s search results.

6. Try to Be Original

If you can create original content and have not been published by someone else online, this will be a good idea for you to improve your rankings in Google’s search results. This also helps with the user experience on your website as users aren’t likely to find duplicate or similar content on other sites.

7. Go for Quality over Quantity

Google resides to rank you higher in the search results if they see that you publish many new unique, high-quality posts on your site. So instead of spending a lot of time publishing multiple blog posts per week, you should concentrate on creating one or two high-quality blog posts a week.

8. Use Schema Markup

If you are trying to catch traffic from Google, make sure that your website correctly uses schema markup. If your website uses schema markup correctly for different parts of your site, including your homepage and blog posts, to help Google understand the type of content on your website.

9. Use Structured Data

Along with using schema markup, you should also use structured data.   Google has structured data that helps search engines read your website more quickly and accurately. It lists specific types of information on your site to help the search engine understand the content and how it should be categorized.

10.  Look for Things to Improve

If you see an increase in traffic due to the Google Core Update, you might want to take advantage of this situation and look for ways to improve your website’s content even more. By looking at what other websites are doing, you can improve your content to be more search-friendly.

It is a good idea for you to focus on the overall delivery of the content. This means that the way you get your content to the public should be as effective as possible. If your content is published and distributed through social media sites, this will give you a greater chance of catching traffic from Google.

Conclusion

The latest Google core update June/July 2021, was to clarify that people trying to manipulate Google’s algorithm will be penalized by the search engine. These websites and web pages should follow a natural link profile, which means they’ve gained links naturally from different sources rather than setting up automated software or schemes to gain backlinks.

People need to be focused on creating high-quality content, including many research and case studies on your business field and target audience. They should also utilize their social media profiles such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – etc., but remember not to overdo it.