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Was your website a victim of the May 2020 core update? Read all about the Google May 2020 Core Update here and what to do if you were impacted.

Google May 2020 Core Update

Google Core Update was rolled out on May 4th 2020.  This second Google Core Algorithm update has been released in the middle of the COVID 19 Pandemic, causing a drastic change to the algorithm of a lot of sites. Now since the Core Algorithm Update roll out is complete, it’s time to take a sneak peek into the analysis of the adjustments made by Google. Has your website been affected by the recent Google Core Update? Keep reading to understand more about the May 2020 Google Core Algorithm and what you should do if you were impacted.

What Is Google May 2020 Google Core Update About?

The first core algorithm update for this year was released back in January 2020, which helped the clients witness organic traffic gains with this change, while a few did not improve.  The whole search realm has witnessed some drastic changes after that. While this latest core update seems to be a pretty big one, with skyrocketing impulsive SERP volatility. The May Google Core Update seems to be highly influencing the SERPs and positions. According to Google webmaster guidelines, there is no quick fix available, if your website is heavily impacted. The reason for websites to fall off the organic ranks is not simply because, the website has acute SEO issues, and rather it is a sign that Google is looking to find better results for the searches.

Industries Affected By Google May Core Update 2020

This broad Google Core Algorithm update is designed specifically to bring a noticeable change across the search results globally and about languages. Some industries soared high with this update, while there were some losers in the SERPs too.  According to a study conducted by SEMRush, the industries that were badly impacted were travel and real estate. It is obvious that during pandemic, the user queries linked to travel & tourism would be substantially down, and volatility is no surprise.

Industries Affected By Google May Core Update 2020

What does this Google Core Update mean for Business Owners?

If you are a retailer, you would have probably understood by now that Google is heightening its emphasis to create better user experiences. Meaning, your website’s usability is sure to influence the online sales, even before your customers arrive at your website. Google is always open about its Core Updates, as it aims to make the web more delightful for the users, so that they can transact with less tension. Also, this Google Core Algorithm signifies that it is taking all efforts to promote great user experiences online, and its commitment to UX is likely to upsurge, and so should your brand.

How to Recover From Google Core Update 2020?

The website owners who are hit badly by the Google Core Update always look to understand what can be done to recover the website from drastic rank drops. But, there is no simple answer to this query. There is the targeted update, which impose penalties for specific practices followed, and the overall quality of the web pages. Whereas, a core algorithm update causes a website to fall in the rankings, as the other competitor sites that were previously overlooked are being recognized and elevated to better positions. Here are a few ways to recover your website from the latest Google Algorithm Impact -

1. Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines

The search quality rater guidelines will offer appropriate advice on creating great content for your website. You will get necessary insights on the algorithms from the rater guidelines which will help gain effective results.  Meanwhile, it is essential to understand that the search raters’ data is not directly used in Google Algorithm Impact, hence they have no control over how pages rank. Instead it is like a feedback which helps us understand how our systems seem to work. Perceive how the raters learn to assess good content and this might help improvise your own content, helping it perform better in Search.

Key Points:

  • The users need must be convened in a specific, clear, and unambiguous way.
  • The results served must be fully satisfying for users across all the devices from desktops to smart phones, they should involve minimal effort for users to immediately get or use what they are looking for.

2. Improve the Website’s E-A-T

Do you know, the search quality raters are trained to understand if the content is strong in E-A-T, meaning Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.  It is easy to discuss about, but hard to manage, when you are badly hit by the Google Core Update.  You will have to prove that you are an expert in the particular niche that you are writing about. In the recent days, the medical and pharmaceutical websites have become targets of Google Core Update, as not all of the contents are written by expert authors. All you have to do is to configure your website according to Google webmaster guidelines and your E-A-T will improve simultaneously.

Why is E-A-T Important for SEO?

  • The latest Google Core Algorithm update 2020 focuses specifically on content and its importance.
  • In case, if your website experienced a drop in the latest Google Core Update, then it is because Google found someone better to answer the same query.
  • Websites which regularly update their content, including refreshing old content, underwent only a small fraction of ranking drops. Actually they faced an upsurge in traffic by 10% or more.
  • Though E-A-T is important for SEO, it is not a direct ranking factor.
  • Google's EAT principle is used to ascertain a website’s overall quality score. Google states that E-A-T is among the top 3 considerations to determine the Page Quality.

3. Schema

Schema Markup

The coded Schema Markup on your page informs the search engines on what content is on your page. It will upsurge the chances of your webpages to appear as rich snippets on the search results. This is sure to boost your page to the top of the SERPs and raises the overall chance of the website’s click through rate.

Is schema a ranking factor?

  • Google easily understands structured markup data when compared with semi-structured or unstructured data that you would ordinarily use.
  • Interlink the data in your website precisely. This will help with the search engine rankings.
  • Avoid disorganized classification of data, as it will end up creating duplicate data on the website. So it is a Big NO!
  • Structured Data will give you a consistent website, which is favored by the search engine, there by staying strong for any Google Core Update.

4. Meta Data

Meta data

The short description of the page’s content provides the users and search engines about what the website is all about. To help with the website’s ranking, all you must do is to customize the Meta data with the page’s main keyword topic. This will allow the search engines to understand about what is on the webpage, and attract the relevant users by bringing in more clicks to your website.

Why It Is Important To Set The Meta Information?

  • The Meta descriptions do not affect the website’s ranking directly, rather they influence the Click Through Rate.
  • Higher the Click Through Rate, higher will be the traffic, and more likeliness of the search engines to improve the rankings for that page and it is sure to surpass the Google Algorithm Impact.
  • For this, it is necessary to create Meta description that includes the main components of the page, with a strong call-to-action.

5. Page Speed

Page Speed

An important ranking signal used by Google’s algorithm to rank the web pages, and calculates the ‘time to first byte.’ When the page speed is slow, it indicates a negative user experience. When a website takes more time to load, it specifies the search engines that user experience may be negative, which might result in negative rankings. Page Speed is important to create the best user experience. This is because, longer the load time, higher are the bounce rates and lower the time spent on the page. Similarly, the faster the page, the better are the rankings and conversions.

Is Page Speed A Ranking Factor?

  • Yes, Page Speed is considered to be a ranking factor. This is because when the page load time shifts from 1s to 3s, there are more chances of bounce rate increasing by 32%, so are the chances of surviving the Google Algorithm Impact.
  • To make sure that your website loads appropriately, activate the AMP on your webpages, as it will give the web a necessary speed boost. It is easy to implement too.
  • To understand which elements are blocking your page from rendering quickly, it is essential to run the PageSpeed Insights test. This way you can fix any glitches easily.

6. Internal Links

The links on your website that direct you to other different URLs within the website is called as internal links. Placing internal links in the Call to Action buttons, main navigation and within the content will help the users to better navigate the website. According to the search engines, the more internal links point to a particular page, the more authority is being gained by that particular page. The more authority it gains, it will be regarded as more important and ranked higher by the search engines.

Why are Internal Links Important?

  • Link all the important pages across the site to improve the authority of the given page.
  • Make sure none of the internal links are broken. This is because, internal links can cause a negative user experience, and avoid the search engines from crawling the other areas of the website.

7. Sitemap

sitemap xml

If the sitemap on your website is outdated, it could be hard for the search engines to find and precisely index the pages that are not added in the sitemap. A sitemap xml, is the guide, which notifies the search engines on what pages exist within the site.

Why is Sitemap important?

  • When you have a dynamic website, which is not structured or linked then XML sitemap is important
  • Or if you website has few external links, or the website is large e.g. ecommerce website, and has a lot of archived content, which might not be linked properly.
  • Website site crawlers rely on sitemaps to point the search engines in the right direction that a user is looking for.

8. Domain Authority

This determines how search engines trust a website. Various elements are taken into consideration to determine the authority of the website. It includes – the number of quality domains connecting with the website and its stability. So, you must make sure to acquire high-quality backlinks to influence your website’s authority.

Is Domain Authority A Ranking Factor?

  • Yes, domain authority is your website’s reputation, which ensures that you serve the highest-quality content about a particular subject matter.
  • Website with Good Domain Authority will boost the rankings, while a website with bad domain authority will degrade the website.

Ensure Crawling for All Pages

This is something that could be easily missed out, if the elements in the backend of the website indicate the search engines to not index the website. If you are witnessing any indexing issues, or launching a brand new site, check if the disallow command is within the within the robots.txt file or if a no index meta robots tag is not on the website.

Optimizing Locally

If you have not listed your Local business in the Google My Business or Bing Places listings, then there are chances that you might be losing organic traffic and conversions. These business listings notify the customers and the search engines about business information like. Business name, operation hours, Address, Phone Number, customer reviews and much more. Keep these data updated to keep the local rankings positive.

In spite of the fact that these steps will help you recover from the Google Core Update, there is no guarantee that you could reverse the impact. Each Google Core Algorithm update is different and requires different approaches. The only way to soar high amongst any changes is to ‘create the best user experience for the visitors on Google.’

If your website has experienced a hike in traffic or ranking, Good Job, as you are maintaining your website in pristine condition. But, for those how are hit hard with the Google Core Update May 2020, it is time to wake up, and create a better and revitalizing experience for your visitors. Always keep in mind, the Google Core Algorithm updates are dynamic, so your White Label SEO strategies must be in par with the Google updates.  Get the help of a reputed white label SEO Company like SubmitInMe to build your Website’s E-A-T over time, and soar high in the SERPs.

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Google May 2020 Core Update

About Guna Nadar

Guna Nadar

Brief Info about Guna Nadar +

I mostly write technical aspects and not much into creative writing. For the past decade I worked along with top notch SEO & Internet Marketing professionals which naturally lured me into the world of Search Engines. When I am not writing I read from comics to philosophy.Antiques, Fishing, hunting are my passions. Currently I am working on Google Penalty protection and .... more info about the author