Google’s latest core-update has started rolling out from May 4, 2020. Google’s Danny Sullivan has confirmed the update, officially known as “May 2020 Core Update”. He announced the new update on 4th May 2020. In his words:
“Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the May 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before.”
Google is always one step ahead than the other search engines and SEO community when it comes to core updates. The company named the update using the Month/Year naming pattern as usual.
- The latest update has started rolling out at 3:52 pm:
The May 2020 Core update has started rolling out on 4th May sharp at 3:52 PM. Google officially tweeted about the new update after it starts rolling-out live. The company has also confirmed that it will take one to two weeks to fully roll out. - The Second Core Update in this year:
This update is Google’s second core update of 2020. The first one launched back in January.
From January 2020 to May 2020, it seems that the world has revolved completely due to the pandemic, named COVID-19. It seems Google is not going to pause its core update by the threat of coronavirus, and this is certainly not bad. - The purpose of Core Updates:
The Core Updates by Google are specially designed to produce widely noticeable effects across search results in all countries and languages. When the update rolls out, sites will experience noticeable drops or gains in their rankings.
The changes in search rankings are nothing but the reflection of content relevancy. That means, if the content has been relevant since the last core update, it will increase its rankings and vice versa. - So, what will happen to the newly published content that did not exist in the last update?
Well, all the newly published content has to be reassessed against previously existing content. In simple words, for the new content, the search rankings can move around quite a bit.
Being the very first update since the corona pandemic, the May 2020 Core Update is expected to be highly volatile. - The First Core Update Since the Outburst of COVID 19:
The core updates by Google is not new. Its last Core Update was launched on January 13, 2020. But the May 2020 Core Update is special because this is the very first core update after the outburst of the COVID 19 pandemic.
The world has completely changed as soon as coronavirus was declared a pandemic. The users’ search behavior has been shifted significantly. In an earlier blog, we discussed how Google’s corona results page has been evolving significantly every day. On May 4, while announcing about the latest core update, Google said, there has never been so many searches for a topic as it is for COVID-19.
According to Google, “Google Search has never seen as many searches for a single topic continue over a sustained period as is happening now with COVID-19. Many searches are for news about what’s happening in local areas, such as sheltering updates or the latest on testing. Here’s how we’re helping….”
COVID -19 has completely changed the way what people need from Google’s search results. It is now all about the coronavirus. Either it is about the virus itself, finding places offering remote services or finding places to buy required products online.
There are several things gaining relevancy that never even got searched before. On the other hand, high relevance search terms are not being searched.
For example, searches related to tour and travel, live entertainment, in-person events are not being searched as much. That means Google is going to face some unique challenges with its May 2020 Core Update to catch up with the search terms.
Now it is to observe if people can easily find the information they search.
- How will May 2020 Core Update affect the SEO job market?
If the May 2020 Core Update becomes successful as the other updates, it could be a good thing for SEO. There is no denying the fact that corona has already started engulfing businesses. As a result, companies are laying off staff and clients are pausing their services.The responsibility of SEO professionals increases every time an algorithm update occurs. The services become valuable depending on the volatility of the update. That means soon the SEO industry is going to experience a significant rise in demand for their work.
Now, it will be interesting to see how many companies are going to fix a budget for SEO after May 2020 Core Update fully rolls out.
- May 2020 Core Update: Things to Do:
Google’s guidance regarding this update is exactly the same as it is with other core updates. For earlier Core Updates (January 2020 Core Update), Google has always advised that there is nothing to “fix” if the ranking is down just after a core update. Instead, Google advised the site owners to make their content the best as possible.Basically, all you need to do is to wait and see what happens. However, make sure your content is relevant and maintaining the best quality.
- Worldwide update rollout:
Google’s latest Core Update is going to affect the search engine result pages worldwide. According to the report by Webmaster World, it indicates the volatility from the United States to Europe to Australia simultaneously.