On June 2nd Google released a core update, which will be followed by an update in July. Google makes up to 280 algorithmic changes per day, but a Core Update is a major change in how the algorithm works.
The update rolled out and there didn’t seem to be much change. About a week later sites started to see the effects of the core update.
We manage a lot of sites around the world with different audiences who have different search habits. This lets us see trends happening quickly and make changes as necessary.
Here’s a few things we’ve seen.
Content Length
You might have seen articles written about a certain word count you need to hit to have your content classed as valuable. While this may have been true in the past, it is now apparent that Google just want’s the best answer as quickly as possible.
That means if you can answer a question in 400 words properly then go for it. There is not needed to extend past that.
This falls in line with the consumer habits we and our partners have been seeing.
User Experience
There is still lots of data to go through as the update continues to roll out but from what we can tell Google has optimised for User Signals. Optimising for what Users want. That’s why we are seeing websites that have content that get to the point doing really well. This is trend that will continue so it’s worth going through and updating some of your content to be more user friendly.
User Experience is also playing a big part. How the website works, how fast it is, how quickly and easily it is to navigate, the colour contrast ratios all are playing their part moving forward.
Conclusion
Simplify. Think about your website visitor. Understand how they are getting to your site, what they are looking for and the friction or pain points they are coming across. At the moment that’s the best advice we can give.