Google says there is no specific fix after a broad core update, and changing everything this week would hide what actually happened. Wait for clean data, check for ordinary faults, then review the pages that slipped.

What Google confirmed

Yesterday Google confirmed that it released a broad core update to its search systems last week, one of several such changes it makes each year.

Some sites gained and some lost. For those that lost, Google's message was unusually direct: there is nothing wrong with pages that now perform less well, and no fix other than continuing to build great content.

Its explanation was that the changes benefit pages that were previously under-rewarded, so a drop may say more about other pages than about yours.

That is uncomfortable if the phone went quiet last week. It is also, for once, advice to do less rather than more.

What a core update is

Google changes its search systems almost every day, mostly in ways nobody notices. Several times a year it makes a broader change to how its main systems assess pages overall.

That is not a penalty for a particular fault. Penalties for tactics such as bought links are applied by people at Google and appear as manual actions in Search Console, with an explanation.

A core update reassesses pages against each other. Yours can fall without anything on it getting worse, simply because something else is now rated higher.

Why changing everything this week is a mistake

The third does the lasting damage. Change titles, text, layout and links in the same week, and nobody will ever know which change helped, which hurt, or whether the update had anything to do with it.

Check the ordinary causes first

Before blaming the update, rule out the faults that look like one.

Check that the Analytics code is still on every page, since a theme change can remove it unnoticed, and that the site loads properly on a phone.

Look for pages accidentally set to noindex, which tells Google to leave them out, and for old addresses that stopped redirecting after a redesign or a move to HTTPS.

Then compare with March last year. Some businesses simply have a quieter March, and an update in the same week makes a convenient explanation for something seasonal.

Reading Search Console properly

Once two full weeks have passed, open the Performance report in the new Search Console and compare them with the two weeks before the update.

Look at pages first. A drop spread evenly across the site tells a different story from one concentrated on three pages.

Then look at the queries behind the pages that lost most. Sliding from third to sixth for your main service matters far more than from twenty-fifth to fortieth for something you barely offer.

Write down what you find, with dates. It is the record you will compare against next time.

A worked example

A stone countertop fabricator in Coquitlam saw its quartz countertops page slip to the second page of results after a large ranking shift in December.

The owner's first plan was to rewrite every page, change all the titles and buy a new theme, in one weekend.

Instead the company waited two weeks and looked at Search Console. Overall clicks were close to normal, and the granite and repair pages had held their places. Only the quartz page had dropped.

The pages now above it showed the slabs in stock, explained thickness and edge choices, set out the steps from measuring to installation, and showed finished kitchens. The company's page had a hundred and fifty words and a form.

They rewrote that one page in January, with their own photographs, slab list and timeline. Whether it climbs back depends on later updates. Either way, it now answers what somebody choosing a counter needs to know.

What a sensible review looks like

For each page that dropped, look at what now ranks above it and compare honestly: not which looks nicer, but which answers the question better.

Check whether yours is current or still mentions prices, staff and services from three years ago. Check whether it shows who stands behind it: a real address, real people, real reviews.

Check whether it says anything specific, or offers a few generic paragraphs that could describe any business in your trade. Pages repeating the same text with a different town name deserve particular attention.

Work slowly, starting with the pages that matter most to the business, and note the date of every change.

Offers that arrive after an update

Every update is followed by emails promising to restore your rankings, often within days.

Google has said plainly there is no specific fix, so anyone guaranteeing one is guessing, or planning changes that carry risks of their own.

The useful kind of help is a careful review of the pages that slipped, by somebody who knows your site and your trade, with changes made one at a time and recorded.

Recovery takes time, if it comes

Google suggested that pages may rise again over time, relative to others. Over time is the important part.

Improvements may take months to show, and some may only be reflected after a later update. That is one more reason to avoid any change you would not make for its own sake.

Meanwhile the business still needs enquiries. A modest AdWords budget, a well-kept Google My Business listing and a note to past customers can carry some of the load while the review happens.

The counter-case

Sometimes acting quickly is right.

If the checks turn up a genuine fault, such as a page set to noindex or redirects missing after a move, fix it today. That was never the update.

If the page that dropped is plainly thin or out of date, improving it now is sensible regardless of timing. And a site that gained should not relax, since the same reassessment runs both ways.

For everything else: wait for clean data, rule out ordinary faults, then improve pages slowly, one at a time.

Over the next month

  1. Note the update's date in your records.
  2. Check tracking, indexing and redirects for faults.
  3. Compare with last March for seasonal patterns.
  4. Wait two full weeks before comparing.
  5. List the pages that lost the most.
  6. Compare them honestly with what now ranks above.
  7. Improve one page at a time, noting each date.

Step four is the hardest, and the one that keeps every later step honest. Two weeks of settled data shows what actually changed; two days shows mostly noise.

The change Google did announce in advance, with specific advice attached, is covered in Google will use speed in mobile rankings from July.

Frequently asked questions

What is a broad core update?

A broad change to how Google's main systems assess pages, which Google makes several times each year. Rather than penalising a specific fault, it reassesses pages against each other.

Is there anything to fix?

Google says there is no specific fix for pages that perform less well, other than continuing to build great content. Ordinary faults found along the way still need fixing.

Why not change everything this week?

Rankings keep moving after an update, a week of data is noise, and several changes at once make it impossible to tell which helped and which harmed.

What should I check first?

That tracking still works, the site loads, no pages were set to noindex by mistake, old addresses still redirect, and whether last March was quieter too.

How do I see which pages dropped?

In the new Search Console's Performance report, compare two equal periods before and after the update, then look at the pages and queries that lost the most.

What about offers promising a quick recovery?

Be wary of guarantees, since Google says there is no specific fix. A careful review of the pages that slipped, by somebody experienced, is the useful kind of help.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Rankings dropped last week?

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