Just over a week into Google’s latest core update, the SEO and digital marketing communities are abuzz with speculation and analysis. Unlike previous updates, this one seems to be playing out differently, with several key points of interest emerging from the data and reports circulating online.
- Update Rollout: It’s been 10 days since the update began, marking a period of close observation and analysis.
- Deindexing and Penalties: A significant number of sites have been either completely removed from search results or partially penalized.
- Lack of Recovery Reports: So far, there are no stories of websites recovering from their losses from past updates.
- Absence of New Websites in Discover: Unlike previous updates, this time around, we’re not seeing new sites make their debut in Google’s Discover section.
- Combination of Updates: This update appears to be a blend of several updates, reminiscent of the sequential updates seen in late 2023.
- Subdued Impact: The effects observed to date are less pronounced than those of previous updates, suggesting the main changes may still be forthcoming.
- Spam and Content Focus: Early indications suggest a focus on combating spam and improving content quality, as if Spam and Helpful Content updates are the only ones who rolled out till now, as evidenced by the increase in spam-related manual actions.
- Anticipation of More Significant Changes: The consensus is that the most substantial shifts in search engine results pages (SERP) are yet to come, likely within the update’s full rollout period.
In short, we see that the “actual” core update has not yet started; it is just waiting for spam and helpful content updates to finish. Then, a tremendous change in SERPs will be obvious in the next few weeks, we expect.
