Google "broad core" algorithm update now confirmed

[Robert Charlton]

Google's search algorithm update, discussed widely today, has been confirmed as a "broad core" update by Google.

Barry Schwartz posted about the update on seroundtable early in the day, and later about Google's confirmation. Members here were posting in our July and August Updates threads... spread over two monthly threads because of time-zone differences as the months changed. The "official" date of the update is Aug 1, 2018

July - [webmasterworld.com...]
Aug - [webmasterworld.com...]

SERP movements and Barry's announcement were noted among others by our new member yollo03, who was watching activity closely and first posted about Barry's announcement.

seroundtable also noted Google's Twitter confirmation from Danny Sullivan, posting as Google SearchLiaison, later in the day....

Twitter thread here...
[twitter.com...]

Each day, Google usually releases one or more changes designed to improve our results. Some are focused around specific improvements. Some are broad changes. Last week, we released a broad core algorithm update. We do these routinely several times per year....

Google had posted additional explanation in Twitter in March to explain what these broad core updates might mean to webmasters....

As with any update, some sites may note drops or gains. There’s nothing wrong with pages that may now perform less well. Instead, it’s that changes to our systems are benefiting pages that were previously under-rewarded....

There’s no “fix” for pages that may perform less well other than to remain focused on building great content. Over time, it may be that your content may rise relative to other pages.

Barry's SER article, updated to include the official announcement, also contains some interesting screen captures from the various update tools....

Google Search Algorithm August 1st Update Rolling Out Now; Might Be A Big One
Aug 1, 2018 - 7:31am - by Barry Schwartz
[seroundtable.com...]

[tangor]

Okay, (see mine above and remove the ads part, keep it focused on content only) Why? What is the diff that lifted this new category of "under rewarded" over the existing?

We won't know that for a few months while all this shakes out. We can (empirically--you folks know that that means, right?) determine what g just did, but it will take months or more to figure out. All I can say is somebody got screwed to elevate the "under rewarded" and quite a few are already seeing that. What the heck does "under rewarded" actually mean? I so detest mealy mouth bs, but we have to live with it and figure out what they did NOT say while actually telling us exactly what they did say. :)

[EditorialGuy]

We do pretty well in Google, but we've noticed a slight decline in average rankings (for queries and pages) since the beginning of August. (Also a slight drop in traffic, but that isn't surprising now that the vacation season is in full swing).

One thing I've noticed is that our average rankings have improved for many queries and pages involving our most important topics, while slipping a bit for more tangential topics. This isn't true across the board, but it does look like a possible pattern.

To illustrate, let's say that our site has sections about:

Topic A (big section)
Topic B (big section)
Topic C (smaller section)
Topic D (smaller section)
Topics E-Z (general "catchall" section about a lot of things)

We've seen improvement (mostly) for topics A and B, and possibly C and D, with less Google love for topics E-Z. This leads me to wonder if "subject authority" or "subject expertise" hasn't been cranked up a bit.

Also (and this is just a guess) answer boxes and rich snippets could be coming into play. If Google takes your answer box and gives it to someone else for "history of fuzzy blue widgets" or whatever, the other guy will be getting clickthroughs from the answer box that used to benefit you.

[Sally Stitts]

My simplistic, unscientific observations tell me -

Whatever I lost on March 8, 2018, seems to have returned on August 1, 2018.
Down 30% on everything, instantly, then up 30% on everything. Instantly.

1. I felt strongly that the March action was heavily flawed.
The August upswing, I attribute to fixing the overshoot.

2. I forget the genius here who I just read over and over, "Have Patience." Patience is where it's at.
Nobody wants to hear it. Everyone expects instant success. Me, too. D@mnit. HEY. C'MON. GET GOING!
But the expression really tells the truth. JUST ... HANG ... LOOSE.
Don't force yourself to lose your mind.
Just keep going with what you have determined to be the very best practice in each situation,
and hope it all shakes out.
.

[rakhikaur]

I have also lose my rank and Traffic after this update. I was not aware about this new Google Core Search Broad Algorithm update. How can I improve my traffic to overcome this new Google update.

[mirrornl]

@Sally Stitts
Exactly, i have a simplistisch view also, and frased it as "g just fixed a mistake" , the other day

[keyplyr]

Each day, Google usually releases one or more changes designed to improve our results. Some are focused around specific improvements. Some are broad changes. Last week, we released a broad core algorithm update. We do these routinely several times per year

[twitter.com...]

Important to understand that this is routine and happens "several times a year."

[mirrornl]

Could it be, g fixed the decline in ranking after a site was updated to https, what some webmasters reported?
In my case it looks really evident

[Rameez Ramzan]

My website ranking almost disappeared from Google (Search Engine) after Google Medic Update (Core board Aug). Is there any solution I can do for getting back my keyword ranking? and Secondly, I have a lots of redirection from old website to new website.

[leebow]

I’ve took a big hit from this aug update - 30% traffic drop.

I can only assume it’s this update - because if I compare analytics this year / last year — the two lines run on top of each other. Then staring august - 30% drop.

No drop in Adsense earnings - it looks like it’s removed my inner/deep/sub pages - and left my main pages. (No drop on index, top 100 pages, etc)

Webmaster tools also reports my indexed pages have dropped from 300k to 170k

[keyplyr]

Webmaster tools also reports my indexed pages have dropped from 300k to 170k

We're still in transition to the Mobile-first Index. If you have not received the email from Google indicating your site has completed this process, then it's likely your GSC indexed page count is still in flux.

[mirrornl]

Welcome to the forum Rameez Ramzan.

Is there any solution I can do for getting back my keyword ranking?

If the drop is caused by this update, there is nothing you can do to fix it, as by Google words

[martinibuster]

>>>there is nothing you can do to fix it...

I think the emphasis is on the word "fix." The word fix means that something is broken. This is usually applied to a spam problem, a quality problem with thin pages, etc.

In the next breath Danny Sullivan advised to check the quality raters guidelines to see what kinds of things Google improved.

So while there might not be something to fix with a site (like spam or thin pages), there may still be things to improve. I published two articles exclusively about that.

Good luck!
;)

Roger Montti

[Neveragain646]

There's nothing you can do to fix it = google is looking at the metrics and consumer behavior after the update reshufle. Now things seem to come back to previous rankings (before august 1 update).

[Neveragain646]

The "under-rewarded" phrase spooks me. Why was that content under rewarded in the first place and why is it now elevated over existing content? Inquiring minds want to know.


It seems to have been a test to see how underrewarded pages would perform, but things seem to go slowly back to normal now and pages that were hit by the august 1 update seem to come back. Anyone noticed this?

[Neveragain646]

But Google seems to play a dangerous game here. I ave mouths to feed and lost 10.000 dollars in 15 days compared to previous year (although now an important page is back). You can't just hit hard working people and just delete an important webpage from the first google page with this update (which happened to me). At least explain why these other pages were under rewarded? I have been building the link profile of this page for years, and suddenly i saw pages that had no links topping this page, while mine drop o the second page on different search terms. Now it seems back to normal, but Google almost gave me a heartattack.

[Selen]

By "under rewarded" Google means "pages that have few or no links despite the fact their content is as good as those that have enjoyed top rankings for months or years." In other words, link-chasing efforts have been diminished (which is good news).

[Neveragain646]

Not good news for the ones that put time and energy in accumulating links for years, because google told us to do that. But now google seems to need more money and they give sites that don't have a linkprofile at all - basically done nothing - the chance to climb above the ones who didn't it.

[keyplyr]

There's not just *one* thing happening here. Not everyone sees the same search results.

[Sumeet]

Hey Folks

I am working on 1 website and "direct traffic huge drop", anyone know why this happen please let me know

Direct Traffic - Aug 20, 2018 - Aug 26, 2018 ------------- 5686 - users
Direct Traffic - Aug 13, 2018 - Aug 19, 2018 ------------- 19703 - users

Thanks in Advance