Danny Sullivan of Google has announced a new broad core update has begun rolling out – this one named the June 2021 Core Update. Google added that we should also expect another update next month named the July 2021 Core Update.
Historically, Google has released a core Google algorithm update every few months or so. It has been just about six months since the last core update, the December 2020 Core Update. Before that it was seven months since the May 2020 core update, which took place on May 4, 2020. So this one took a lot longer than previous updates to roll out but we are expecting another update in about a month from now.
Two core updates. Why is Google pushing out two different core updates one month after the next. Google told us that some of the company’s planned improvements for the June 2021 update are just not fully ready to be released this month. So Google decided to move ahead with the parts that are ready today and the rest will be pushed out next month in the July 2021 core update. Google will keep us posted on when that July 2021 core update is released.
Google said “some of our planned improvements for the June 2021 update aren’t quite ready, so we’re moving ahead with the parts that are, then we will follow with the rest with the July 2021 update.” “Of course, any core update can produce drops or gains for some content. Because of the two-part nature of this release, it’s possible a very small slice of content might see changes in June that reverse in July,” Google added.
What to expect. Like with any Google algorithm update, your rankings may go up, may go down or may remain stable. But if you are impacted by the June 2021 core update, it is possible that the impact can reverse itself with the July 2021 core update. Google has told us typically most sites won’t notice the updates but SEOs who manage a lot of sites will likely see a lot of changes in the Google search results. Also because of the two-part nature of this release, it’s possible a some content and sites might see changes in June 2021 that reverse in July 2021.
This update will be a global rollout, impacting all languages and will take about two weeks to rollout. Google will confirm when the rollout is complete, which should be before the page experience update that is slated for mid-June.
The announcement. Here is Google’s tweet announcing it, where Google said “later today, we are releasing a broad core update, as we do several times per year. It is called the June 2021 Core Update..”
Roll out started at 1pm ET. Google has updated us that Google has begun rolling out this June 2021 core update at around 1pm ET. With any core update Google says these updates typically take about one to two weeks to fully roll out.
Previous updates. The most recent previous core update was the December 201 core update, that update was even bigger than the May 2020 core update. Then we had the May 2020 core update, that update was big and broad and took a couple of weeks to fully roll out. Before that 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. Google did say you can see a bit of a recovery between core updates but the biggest change you would see would be after another core update.
Why Google releases these updates. Google also wrote a blog post to coincide with this June 2021 core update to explain how and why it makes these changes to search. Google said it “receives billions of queries every day from countries around the world in 150 languages.” It has to improve to stay competitive and serve its user base. “Delivering great results at this type of scale and complexity requires many different systems, and we’re always looking for ways to improve these systems so we can display the most useful results possible,” Google added.
The web is growing, sites are changing, content is being published constantly. Google said “as new sites emerge and the web changes, continued updates are key to ensuring we’re supporting a wide range of publishers, creators and businesses, while providing searchers with the best information available.”
With that, Google is always pushing out updates. In fact, Google said in any given week it may “implement dozens of updates that are meant to improve Search in incremental ways.” That is why the company cannot “share details about all” of the updates. But with broad core updates like these, Google said it does try to announce these updates.
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.
About The Author
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.