Google 3 June Core Update Analysis

Google is working hard to improve its search quality and […]

Google SEO Updates

Google is working hard to improve its search quality and provide much better content to its users. That’s why Google continually improves its algorithms and adopts new technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence).

Google made around 3234 changes to the search system only in the last year. Some of these were to add new features (FAQ-How to’s-Q&A Rich Snippets, MobileFirst Indexing, Google SERP Layout, Latest Googlebot version, etc.) to Search Engines while others were to improve search results and fix issues. Most of these updates were minor changes but some of them were major updates like Medic Update (August 2018) which affected many sites.

This year (2019), Google released various updates. Google March 2019 Core Update and Google 3 June Core Update are the major updates of this year. These updates badly affected many sites.

{Webmasters also noticed another Google Algorithmic Update on 19th July 2019. Many of them have noticed massive fluctuations. This is the time when Google released three updates in one week}.

Many SEOs & webmasters noticed the negative impact of Google 3 June Update and saw dropped rankings for their sites. But some webmasters noticed the positive impact of Google 3 June Core Update and saw a boost in the rankings. That’s why SEO Community thinks that Google 3 June Update has both the negative and positive effect. But that is not true! Reality is far away from that (will explain later In this guide).

Marcus Tober says that it looks like Google has rolled back (reversed) some parts of March Core Update. Dr. Pete (Moz) and Marcus Tober (SearchMetrics) both noticed that few major medical sites regained their visibility that lost their significant rankings during the previous update.

It is also noted that websites affected by Medic Update have been impacted again. Some websites saw further ranking drops during this update and some webmasters saw recoveries for their sites. 

Google 3 June Update was a wide update, almost every niche-industry has noticed the impact of this update. And there is no doubt that it is one of the biggest Broad Core Update. Many top-tier publications like the Daily Mail, Vimeo, CCN, Neil Patel, Shoutmeloud, and many others were negatively impacted during the Google 3 June Update. But many other top publications like Mirror, The Sun, HuffPost, Metro saw a significant boost in their rankings. And during March 2019 Core update Cars.com saw a boost in their rankings. While 30% of keywords drop has been noticed for CarsGurus.com.

Websites like Daily Mail have no lack of Authority (EAT). Daily Mail is one of the most popular newspapers in the UK and according to Wikipedia, it is one of the most visited sites in the world with more than 100 million users/month. Then why did Daily Mail lose its visibility on Google?

Before going further, we need to understand a few things. These are the basics but most of the SEOs are unable to understand these or simply ignore them. But these are most important to analyze Google Updates and to be an SEO Pro.

What is Google Broad Core Update?

Google Broad Core Update is a change to the main search algorithm to make the Google search engine smarter to provide much more relevant content to users. Google improves itself but doesn’t target anything with Core Update.

It could be anything like providing more data to RankBrain or changing the weight, importance, order of ranking factors.

As we read books, listen to the pros, and attend conferences to improve our IQ level, decision making & other skills to be better human beings, entrepreneurs, digital marketers, etc. (whatever you want). You do all these activities to improve yourself. As a result of these, you can make better decisions and can choose between good and bad more easily than before.

Google Broad Core Update works in the same manner. Core updates make Google’s search engine wiser. Core Update improves the ability of the Google Search Engine to find and show more accurate results to users. Google doesn’t target anything like spam, LQ Links, thin content, PBNs, keyword stuffing, etc. with Google Broad Core Update. 

When Google becomes smarter then Google can easily find better and more relevant web pages to satisfy users. As a result, some sites notice ranking drops and some boosts.

On the other side, Google penalties like Panda, and Penguin had been released to target thin quality content and low-quality links. This is the same as you want to change the color of your site and you learn & try for that. (you are targeting (solving) a specific problem).

This is the reason that Google always says that there is no fix to recover from Google Broad Core Update. And if your rankings dropped during the Google Core Update, it doesn’t mean that your site has issues. That’s why Google always advises Core Update to improve your content and provide a better user experience.

Improving your content is not the solution to recover from Core Update drops. It is a generic Suggestion because ultimately Google wants HQ content.

What Does Google Core Update Actually Target?

Many SEOs don’t know what Google Core Update exactly is and how it works. Many SEOs think that Google targets thin content with Core Update, others have their own guesses. But in reality, the Core Algorithm update targets nothing.

That’s why Google is also unable to provide specific instructions to recover your site from a Google Broad Core Update.

How to Understand a Google Update?

SEOs always have difficulty understanding a Google Update if Google doesn’t announce what the update is. It is difficult for SEOs because SEOs examine the wrong metrics such as: 

  • Why are E-commerce sites affected?
  • Are sites with too many ads affected?

These wrong metrics make things more complex and SEOs become confused. SEOs try to analyze an update with lost rankings which is the wrong method to understand a Google Update. For example, if Google improves its algorithm to better understand what a web page content is about then how can anyone understand that update just by looking at those pages or sites which lost their rankings.

Here are some reasons why it is the wrong method:

  • Every Google Update is not to target low-quality sites.
  • Maybe a web page that lost its rankings has no issues. 
  • A site could have lost its ranking due to other technical issues.

You can’t figure out anything if you are just looking for negatively impacted sites. You can’t understand an update if you are just looking for what kinds of sites are penalized.

Sometimes, there is no issue with a page or site. That site sees a drop in its rankings just because others (competitiors) have more quality than you. Or simply because it is not the right page for that query according to search intent.

What is the Right Way to Analyze a Google Update?

It is clear from some recent Google Updates that now Google doesn’t care much to penalize LQ-Spam sites with Algorithmic Updates. These days, Google is focusing on improving its algorithms to identify high-quality pages. Spammers go to the dark automatically.

The better way to understand any Google Update is to analyze both sides; winners and losers. Why a site lost its rankings is not more important but why a site boosts its rankings is more important to analyze. Because ultimately you are doing SEO to rank higher on Google. 

Also, you should read Google Patents, research papers, etc. then it will be clear to you that the science of search engines is to understand and use data as humans. Also, spend your time to understand how to satisfy users. Meaning, you should learn how to understand and handle search queries.

What about Google’s 3rd June Update?

It is a Broad Core Update that affected many sites in every industry. It is clear from some recent Google updates that Google is working for the future of web and SEO. And I believe that Google’s 3 June Update is also one step ahead of that. Luckily, we have not seen any ranking drops for our and our clients’ sites. There were some fluctuations during the update but in the end, everything was normal, and saw ranking gain for some of our sites. 

I have analyzed hundreds of sites to analyze Google’s 3 June Update. I have found some interesting things that can help you to recover the site (if affected) and future-proof it. Here’s an SEO strategy so that you can get the positive impact of future Google Updates. 

Why did Big Sites Ranking Dropped During Update?

Sites like Daily Mail have lost their 50% organic traffic during Google’s 3 June Update. I have not analyzed these top sites to figure out why Google penalized those. But according to Marie Haynes, Daily Mail has a bad user-experience (too many ads) and also has issues with trust. And CCN could also have issues with authority as compared to other crypto sites which got a boost during the update.

For Daily Mail, I don’t think there is any issue with EAT as many SEOs and Google Webmaster Forum Experts are saying. Daily Mail is the second-largest newspaper site of the UK and with millions of users.

If the Daily Mail is not trustworthy then why more than 150 million users are visiting it? And why you want backlinks from Dailymail? 😛

Daily Mail has Wikipedia page with their history, achievements and around 150 references. Daily Mail is a trustworthy newspaper according to Wikipedia.

Daily Mail officials had mentioned that During Google June update they lost their rankings more in the UK rather than the USA. But in the past updates, major drops were in the USA. If they are dropping before the June 3 update then chances are that there will be other issues.

These (Daily Mail, CCN, CoinDesk, etc.) are large publications so there could be some technical or other issues with those sites. There could be anything for those sites. I can’t tell you the exact reason but I can share with you what I have found after analyzing some recent updates.

What Is the Future Of SEO?

Here are some insights that I found during my study of updates.

Natural Sites

Sites that are more natural have seen ranking boost after Google June Update. Natural means no over-optimization (or interference for SEO purposes) just for rankings. Or sites having naturally written HQ content and normal (non-over-optimized) link profiles.

I noticed that sites with more branded anchor texts (overall site ratio) have noticed a boost in their rankings. And mostly sites with keyword-rich anchor texts have seen ranking drops.

There is a reason for this. More branded anchor text shows that you are genuine and trustworthy. It is a sign of organic links to Google, I believe. like this:

Branded anchor texts
Natural + Branded Anchor Text Example: SearchEngineJournal has linked TheGuardian

Google prefers those web pages that have natural content and meta-data. Over-optimized or keyword-rich webpages are not ranking higher mostly.

Actually, this is not the whole picture. It is much bigger than you think. Google is improving its algorithms to identify quality pages and using AI technologies like RankBrain and Neural Matching to understand a query and web page more effectively. That’s why things like keywords, rich anchor texts, etc. have lost their weight. And Now these things can’t rank you on Google.

Maybe Google reduced their values or just able to judge a page more effectively. But it is clear that normal old SEO techniques are not enough to rank you on Gooogle. 

SEO has gone, now is the time for natural SEO. Natural SEO means what looks genuine and will be genuine. No efforts to manipulate Google Search. For example, you build links & use natural anchor text. But if you will use your own anchor text then it will not be Natural.

You should not care much about keywords. You can’t get success in SEO if you’re just thinking around keywords.  

Google Wants Brands

Brands are the Solutions

Google also thinks so!

That’s why Google says;

Google shows popular, Google doesn’t make you popular

If you want to rank on Google for longer or want to make your SEO strategy future proof then you should focus on branding your website and business.

Recently, Google employees said that Google is increasing the weight of the authority to remove spam and fake content. Google wants to show relevant and genuine content to users and Google is continually working for that.

EAT or branding doesn’t mean that there must be a Wikipedia page for you or coverage on top media publications. Also, not as SEOs are saying that mention author details, About Us page, etc. 

You can’t make a fool out of Google just by a detailed author bio or about page. Google wants the most useful content for the user, not a well-written author bio. These things could be helpful but in a very small amount. This is not the whole EAT as SEOs are talking these days.

Google looks at more than 200 factors to rank a webpage and considers many factors to count the EAT of a site.

You should focus on everything which can help you grow as a brand. Also, try to increase brand-queries for your business. When people will start searching for you in Google, Google will treat you more like a brand.  

Links 

These days, Google releases more broad core updates means Google is focusing more on improving its algorithms. So it can identify and differentiate high-quality webpages and better understand user search queries.

Same with links. Google love HQ links but doesn’t care much about low-quality links. Google has improved its ability to figure out good links from bad links.

Many SEOs are still judging a site from its DA-PA, DR-UR, etc. which is not the best way to choose a site to get a link. These metrics are not accurate it’s just a metric from an SEO tool.

Anyone can manipulate these metics very easily. Instead of checking these metrics, you should analyze the backlinks of a domain and the overall quality of that site. 

SEO-Content, Keywords are the Things from the Past

The SEO content that you were publishing till now and the keywords you were using on your site will no longer work.

Now, Google looks at the search intent and then finds the most relevant results for that query. No matter how much longer, well-written content you have and how many times or where you use keywords in the content if it doesn’t satisfy the search intent then you can’t rank.

Search intent is an important and hidden ranking signal. With the help of AI, Google can easily understand the intent of a query. Before creating your webpage content, you need to understand the intent(nature) of that.

All Google Searches are not the same. Some users want to buy something, some want to learn and some want to visit a site.

You should always understand the user intent of a keyword. For example, if someone searches in Google “SEO” then he wants to know what is SEO. But if someone searches “SEO Services” then he wants SEO Services for his website and wants to find an SEO expert company that offers SEO services. 

This is called search intent. You should know what a user is looking for.

Final Words

SEO will not be the same as before. Normal SEO strategies and keywords, SEO content, anchor texts, etc. will not help you to rank in Google but if it does then it will be for a short time. Now Google is making changes for the future and you should also plan and secure the future. 

After 5000 billion searchers, RankBrain is smarter than before. And I’m not saying that keyword-rich anchors are the reason for ranking drops. My point is much wider than this. I want to show you the complete picture of the future; how Google will rank sites In the future.

focus on high-quality content and rich user experience. Try to grow your business as a brand. SEO is a long-term game so plan for the long term; for the future. 🙂

What do you think about the future of SEO and Google Updates? Also, tell me what you think about this Guide, In the Comments Box!

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