Picture this: You are the owner of a perfectly respectable business and your website performance for the last couple of years was more than acceptable. Your online visibility is great, your indexability in AI Overviews is growing and your core customers are happy with the services and products you sell. So, why have your SEO rankings dropped substantially after the latest Google algorithm update? Did you do something wrong? Have you broken any rule? It can be frustrating to figure out what went south.
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Google Core Updates
Core updates are changes to the ranking systems leveraged by Google that can either improve the SERP positioning of certain websites or lead to volatility in the digital space caused by losses in rankings. They often impact website performance, and they could introduce tools or modifications to the search medium with a substantial impact on the SEO industry. Are they always disruptive? No, and the history of the latest algorithm updates from 2009 to the present-day attests to that. But they can be impactful, and it’s important to know how to prepare for them.
What Is a Google Core Update?
A Google core update can be defined as a modification to the systems utilized by Google to determine the rankings of indexed websites. Unlike other types of updates, such as spam updates or helpful content guideline modifications, core updates don’t target specific websites and they are wide-scale changes that can impact sites and pages from multiple countries at once.
Google core updates are released a couple of times per year; they can affect the SERP rankings of millions of websites at once, and after their launch it’s somewhat normal to see substantial modifications in digital rankings, something that’s defined as “volatility”. A Google penalty, on the other hand, is when a particular website/group of websites is penalized due to policies that go against Google’s spam or webmaster guidelines.
What Is the Google Core Update Impact on Business Websites?
Well, it depends on the characteristics of the site and the industry in which the client is present; however, the Google core update impact, in specific scenarios, can be quite substantial. A Google Core update can affect how customers discover your indexed page and limit or enhance the interactions you can expect from clientele.
On top of that, core updates can change how Google evaluates the topicality of your content and leverages the AI-assisted indexing tools it has at its disposal. There are many things that can change when it comes to website performance after Google core updates. But let’s start with the most obvious possible modifications:
Why Rankings Change After a Core Update
Organic Traffic
Most business owners notice the Google Core update impact through modifications in organic traffic. A page that follows the basic principles of the E-E-A-T framework, that aligns with the CWVs and that features content alignment elements compatible with presence in AI-generated results, could, in theory, benefit from new algorithm updates and see a substantial increase in visitors.
Conversely, some websites, millions of them in fact, could also see their traffic reduced pretty much overnight. Is this the end of the world? No. Even the most in-depth core updates can be mitigated through modifications to backend data, link-building campaigns focused on quality, content changes and semantic modifications to already indexed posts. But yes, it can be a hard situation to handle. For some sites, Google updates can be a blessing, while for others they can be the ninth circle of hell.
Service and Product Page Rankings
Since the first thing that’s targeted by the most recent Google updates is the topicality of indexed content and search intent, it would make sense for the first pages to lose or gain places in the SERPs, to be blogs, right? But that’s not always the case. The truth is that core updates can impact all parts of your site, from service/ product pages to category pages, or even your main homepage. The important thing is for the content to demonstrate expertise and match user intent.
Local Search Visibility
If you are the owner of a small-scale business and you invested in localized keywords, with a core focus on “near me” searches, you might be excused for thinking that website performance modifications will not be applicable for domains focused on local SEO. But think again. Rankings for location-based websites, your page’s visibility in Google’s Local Pack, and organic visits from regional customers: all these can shift slightly or substantially after a core update.
Some updates have a more substantial impact on local searches than others. The March 2023 Broad Core Update, for example, generated some discussion online about its impact on local search rankings. Others, however, such as the August 2022 Helpful Content Update, largely hit content-heavy websites, with a broader audience base.
Check Rankings after Core Update
Why SEO Rankings Dropped After a Core Update?
A decline in rankings doesn’t necessarily have to indicate that you were targeted by a penalty due to black-hat or grey-hat SEO practices or thin content. In some cases, even though there is technically nothing strictly wrong with your pages, Google’s indexing bots could simply find some of your SERP competitors better suited for a boost in search visibility. That said, there are a couple of underlying reasons why SEO rankings dropped.
Content Does Not Match Search Intent
With every core update launched in the last ten years, Google has expanded on its ability to detect semantic structures in the indexed pages, match that content with the intent of core customers, and understand the information crawled by its AI agents. A site with thin content that doesn’t present rich E-E-A-T signals might lose visibility compared to competitors with more up-to-date content structuring frameworks.
Competitors Improved Their Website
Sometimes, it’s not even about something that’s relevant to your site. Maybe your SEO rankings dropped due to modifications to your rival’s websites. Even if your pages haven’t changed, and you are confident in your site’s ability to follow the CWVs and the E-E-A-T framework, stronger competitors can push your pages lower in the SERPs if they somehow get ahead of the curve.
With a qualitative content writing framework and plenty of patience, the likelihood of this happening drops substantially. But it’s not impossible, as the ranking elements introduced by new core updates are somewhat unpredictable.
Weak E-E-A-T Signals and Thin Content
Perhaps this is the most pivotal element that can impact SEO ranking. After the launch of AI-Overviews and the push towards other generative results such as Featured Snippets, Google has increased the value it places on websites with strong signals related to Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trust.
Websites that lack credible authors, that don’t provide real-life expertise for the subject matters presented in the posts, or that miss reputational backlinks from websites with strong ranking signals, are likely poised for a SERP downgrade.
Thin/ low-quality content is incompatible with modern search engines, and contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t really matter if that content was generated with the help of AI tools, as long as it’s qualitative. In fact, around 88% of all content used as a reference for AI Overviews presents at least some indicators for AI edits.
Changes in Search Patterns and Backend Problems
Core updates primarily target content and its semantic relevancy for certain queries. That said, there are instances in which a weak backend infrastructure could have a direct impact on the indexability of your page’s content, and thus on its visibility to core audiences. Slow pages, weak schema markup implementation, H2 and H3 structural issues, broken internal/external links, or problems with following the CWV metrics can all escalate to a decrease in SERP visibility.
Moreover, sometimes the SEO rankings dropped because of modifications in the way Google handles search itself. The introduction of AI overviews, for example, resulted in a CTR decrease of no less than 58% for sites in the first position in the SERPs.
That’s an average, sure, and the situation is not the same for all queries, but you get the gist. The SEO industry has undergone significant modifications in the last couple of years due to AI and nowadays, even though your SEO rankings look great on paper, the actual traffic on your pages could be suboptimal.
Check Rankings after Core Update
How Can We Check If Your Website Has Been Affected?
Sometimes the effects of core updates are quite noticeable. Have you seen a drop in organic traffic, and both Ahrefs and SEMrush give you the same type of data? Then, if those SERP modifications appeared after a core update, chances are that your site was affected by some new ranking factors or a technical issue. What should we do? For starters, we will use the tools developed by Google.
We’ll Look at Pages, Queries, Devices, and Countries in the GSC
First things first, when suspecting a traffic drop caused by algorithm updates, our team will leverage GSC and compare your website performance before and after the core update has finished rolling out. We will look mostly at these five dimensions:
Pages:
- This tells us which URLs have lost the most traffic, and helps us determine if only parts of your site were affected or if it’s a more general issue
Queries:
- This dimension is used to compare search terms before the update and after it. Some keyword groups could have remained SERP-stable even after the core update, while others might have declined
Devices
- It’s possible for rankings and traffic to decrease only on desktop/mobile devices. However, if something like this happens, it would be more indicative of a page experience issue rather than the effects of a broader update
Countries:
- This dimension can tell us if your ranking dropped internationally, or the modifications only impacted certain markets.
That’s GSC, but our team will also inspect Google Analytics and look for changes in:
- Conversion from organic users
- Total engagement rate
- Organic visits
- Revenue
Some updates are more consistent with modifications in organic conversion than others. The May 2026 Google broad core update, for instance, had a noticeable impact on the digital space and led to fluctuations in SERP rankings.
Others, however, such as the November 2021 core update, have been generally viewed by the SEO community as one of the less disruptive algorithm modifications in the last five years. It’s a lottery really. With Google, you never really know if the next core update will make your website tank its rankings or improve its SERP positioning.
Core Update checklist
Rule Out Technical Problems
It’s less common, but if your SEO rankings dropped, the issue might be caused by an error in the site’s backend operations. To check for technical errors, our team will:
- Investigate the Page Indexing report in the GSC
- Review crawl data and look for spikes or fluctuations consistent with core updates’ launch periods
- Investigate the cause of redirect issues or bugged hyperlinks
- Check your robot.txt files for misconfigurations that block certain pages.
- Inspect your XML sitemaps for URLs that weren’t previously indexed by Google
- Determine if the pages follow the LCP, CLS and INP metrics
- See if your pages follow the latest encryption protocols
- Review the implementation of schema markup in the page’s HTML
| Area to Check | What to Look For | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
|
Organic Traffic |
Sudden changes in visits, engagement or conversions |
Compare performance before and after the update |
|
Pages & Queries |
URLs and keywords that lost visibility |
Prioritize the pages with the largest declines |
|
Devices & Countries |
Drops limited to specific devices or markets |
Investigate device or location-specific patterns |
|
Content Quality |
Weak intent match, outdated information or E-E-A-T signals |
Improve relevance, depth and trust signals |
|
Technical SEO |
Indexing, redirects, robots.txt, CWV or schema issues |
Fix technical problems before making major content changes |
What to Check After a Google Core Update
Final Thoughts
The rollout of a Google Core Update is not necessarily a reason to panic, as it can be a way to evaluate the indexability and SERP visibility of your website and implement modifications with repercussions for future algorithm changes.
Google core updates are somewhat unpredictable, but the most resilient websites are those that successfully built topical authority, keep their content accurate, and obtain qualified leads. Google core updates are not designed to hurt specific websites, but rather they are broad-scale algorithm modifications that are intended to bring value to users over a longer period. What should you do after a core update?
Well, for one thing, you should:
- Publish content centered around your core services, with a strong focus on topical authority
- Update your pages to keep in touch with recent statistics or current informational data
- Keep your technical SEO signals strong
- Earn backlinks from high-authority websites
- Strengthen your E-E-A-T signals.
What you shouldn’t do, however, is:
- Delete a significant portion of your indexed content thinking that thin content is the reason for why your SEO ranking dropped
- Invest in keyword stuffing practices
- Try to copy other websites
- Buy backlinks or use manipulative SEO strategies
FAQ:
1) What Is the Google Core Update Impact?
AA core update can increase or decrease your site’s SERP ranking, impact your organic traffic, change your CTRs and lead to conversions or lead modifications.
2) Why Have My SEO Rankings Dropped?
AThere could be many reasons why your SEO rankings dropped, but one answer can be that your content is no longer helpful for certain queries or that your website’s relevancy has decreased compared to competitors.
3) Is a Core Update the Same as a Penalty?
ANo. Core updates are modifications to the algorithms used by Google to evaluate the ranking of indexed websites. Penalties, on the other hand, are sanctions applied to websites that violate Google’s spam/webmaster’s policies.
4) How Long Does Recovery Take?
AIt depends on which parts of the website got affected. For updates that only impacted certain keyword groups or specific pages, recovery can take weeks. However, for wide-site SERP modifications, the same process can take months.
4) Should I Update Every Page After a Core Update?
ANo. Instead, you should focus on those pages that lost rankings/traffic. As the old saying goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
About Author
Mihai C. Tudorache
I am the president and co-founder of GAMIT. My business administration background is important in understanding our client’s necessities, so my expertise includes building comprehensive and all-inclusive SEO strategies for lead results. Our advanced SEO solutions are developed through extensive analysis and complete SEO improvement audits.
