By SOPHIE LOWE
Google revealed last week that it has released another ‘broad core search ranking algorithm update’ which the search engine has named ‘March 2019 Core Update’ and thought to have been aimed at health and medical websites.
The update was confirmed on March 13 on Twitter by Google’s Liaison of Search, Danny Sullivan, who stated that ‘broad core search algorithm updates’ are slightly different to algorithm updates, which happen at least once a day and go unannounced. Broad core algorithm updates, on the other hand, happen ‘several times a year’.
Sullivan tweeted on March 13: “This week, we released a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before.”
He asked his followers to refer to previous tweets he had made about broad core algorithm updates, one year ago in March 2018 which stated that ‘some sites may note drops or gains’.
He suggested that there was ‘nothing wrong with pages that may now perform less well’ but that it was more about its systems ‘benefiting pages that were previously under-rewarded’. This will be of no comfort to sites who may been affected and whose organic traffic has decreased through potentially no fault of their own.
As per the advice back in March, 2018, Sullivan said there was ‘no fix’ for pages that were not performing as well as before other than sites need to ‘remain focused on building great content’. Sites ‘over time’ may then see their pages increase in rank again.
Unusually, two days later on March 15, Sullivan labelled the latest algorithm update in a tweet as ‘March 2019 Core Update’ as ‘useful’ for users looking to tell the difference between the various algorithm updates throughout the year.
Search Engine Round Table labelled the update ‘Florida 2’ and said it was targeted at the health and medical space which some users in the SEO community reporting ‘large ranking drops’ with some stating they had seen traffic ‘decrease my 50%’ and others ‘80%’.
As with many of Google’s algorithm updates there are always winners and losers. Other members of the SEO fraternity reporting increases in organic traffic ‘up to 50%” with some ‘not seeing real changes at all’.
If your site has been affected negatively by the ‘March 2019 Core Update’ contact the SEO team at SCS Marketing & PR for more information on 01252 621293 or email info@scsmarketingandpr.co.uk.
