Everything You Need to Know About Google’s 2020 January Core Update

Last week Google confirmed that a broad core algorithm update titled the ‘January 2020 Core Update’ is rolling out imminently. 

Taking to Twitter to announce the update, Google’s guidance regarding the algorithm update points to a blog post they have previously used to help inform site owners of what this update means for a business. 

The broad core update will impact all search results on a worldwide scale compared to an update which generally targets something specific. 

As it assesses all indexed pages online, some sites may witness a decrease, or increase in rankings following the core update as pages are being reassessed against content that has been published since the last update, or content that was previously overlooked. 

Yulia Ibragimova from SEMrush said “We can see that the latest Google Update was quite big and was noticed almost in every category.” The most volatile categories according to SEMrush, outside of Sports and News, were Online Communities, Games, Arts & Entertainments, and Finance. But Yulia Ibragimova added that all categories saw major changes and “we can assume that this update wasn’t aimed to any particular topics,” she said. 

What to do if you’re affected by the January 2020 Core Update

Google has given advice on what to do if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. It’s important to note that there aren’t any specific actions to take to recover and sometimes, declining, or negative rankings may not indicate that there’s something wrong with your pages and content, it could simply be a case of competitive rankings. However, Google has identified a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update.

If your rankings do start to decline, it’s common practice to take a look at what is now ranking ahead of your content and consider how you can provide an even more comprehensive solution for your targeted audience.

Alternatively, contact a member of our SEO team at Venture Stream, who can use expert advice and experience, to help guide you on how best to recover your site rankings.