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Belo,Horizonte/minas,Gerais/brazil,-,October,07th,2019:,Mobile,Cell,Phone
29 SepSEO

Google September 2022 Updates: Broad Core and Product Review Updates

by Isabel Isidro0 Comments
77
1157

Google has been busy churning out one update after another. Right after the completion of the Google Helpful Content Update  on September 9, Google released two significant updates that could impact your website’s performance in its search engine results.

On September 12, 2022, Google released the September 2022 Broad Core update and this update is expected to take about two weeks to complete its rollout.

 

Today we released the September 2022 core update. We'll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete: https://t.co/sQ5COfdNcb

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 12, 2022

The tweet (Google announces their major updates via their Twitter channel) linked to their Google Search ranking updates page, which said that “the rollout could take 2 weeks to complete.”

On September 20, Google announced the release of the September Product Review Update before the completion of the rollout of the broad core update.  While Google previously announced in mid-August that a new iteration of the product review update is forthcoming, many web publishers were caught off-guard with overlapping updates in a month.

Today we released the September 2022 product reviews update for English-language product reviews. We'll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete: https://t.co/sQ5COfdNcb

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 20, 2022

When the product review update was announced, Google acknowledged that “the September 2022 core update has not fully completed but it’s mostly done”.

For awareness, the September 2022 core update has not fully completed but it's mostly done. We expect it will be fully complete within a week and will share on our updates page when it is done.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 20, 2022

With the back-to-back updates, many webmasters were asking Google: how do we know what update hit us? According to Google, if your website contains product review, then the product review update could have hit your site. If you don’t have product reviews, then the core update could be the culprit.

If you see a change and wonder if it's related to the core update or the product reviews update:
- If you produce product reviews, then it's probably related to that.
- If not, then it might be related to the core update.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 20, 2022

What is a Google Core Algorithm Update?

Google regularly updates its algorithm, even daily, constantly tweaking it to improve their search results. Most of these small updates do not have big impacts, or at least not immediately noticeable.

Then there’s the Google broad core updates, which is an algorithm change released every few months affecting a more extensive set of traffic signals. According to Google, a core update entails “significant, broad changes to our algorithms and systems” to improve the overall relevancy of their search results. These core updates are impactful and typically result in notable fluctuations in the search results.

The September 2022 Broad Core Update is the second core update for this year, following the May 2022 core update.  

Google announces their major updates via their Twitter channel, and here is the tweet announcing the September core update.

 

What is the Product Review Update?

Google first introduced the product review update on April 8, 2021 to reward sites that offer insightful and useful product reviews. It continues Google’s efforts to show more helpful, in-depth reviews based on first-hand expertise in search results rather than simply a summary of the product features. 

As Google explained in their blog post on product review update:

The overall focus is on providing users with content that provides insightful analysis and original research, and is written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well.

This update is not a penalty, but instead promotes or rewards websites that goes in-depth into a review. They don’t want a fake review intended simply to create shallow content. Google wants to see that the review showcases knowledge and thorough understanding of the product to give users clearer insights about the products.

 

Impact of the Google September 2022 Updates

The impact of Google Core update algorithm change is typically felt fast, with some web publishers reporting that they lost traffic as much as 20 percent or even more. Websites that lost their coveted featured snippets ranking felt the biggest drops in traffic. 

Core updates are typically accompanied by significant rank volatility mostly in informational and transactional keywords including special Google listing enhancements such as featured snippets. Websites that tend to publish general-based content that are thin and do not offer any new insight are more likely to encounter a drop in traffic due to the core update.

Others say that their traffic increased. These tend to be websites that publish well-researched and in-depth information proving that they are an authority on their topic.Core updates tend to favor websites with original analysis, research and reporting.

 

SEO Industry Experts on September Impact

According to Barry Schwatrz, an editor at Search Engine Land, the initial chatter is that this update is pretty big.

Seeing some early chatter that this Google Sep core update is pretty big - anyone noticing this in their hour by hour charts? Let me know...

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) September 12, 2022

The update is also widespread, seen in non-English sites.

Google Useful Content Update was announced as English-speaking queries only, however in my data I see several sites from Poland being affected on Sept 8th...
> Clicks&impressions down 85% (!)
> Avg. position without change

Any other SEOs seeing similar impact in non-EN markets? pic.twitter.com/jVxDOlRXGz

— Natalia Witczyk (@witczyk) September 11, 2022

Some of the responses to his tweet include those who said that their traffic is down by approximately 20% though rankings have not changed.

My traffic is down (by 20% approx) but I keep checking my rankings and they are pretty much the same... Perhaps I am losing rankings from adjacent queries and not my targetted keywords.

— John Contreras (@johntristanbook) September 12, 2022

Another confirmed the 20% loss of traffic

About 20% decrease in traffic based on what I think we should be seeing today. Although we did gain about 20% after the helpful content update, so we're just back to where we were a month ago. 🫤

— Jonathon Hyjek💡 (@jonathonhyjek) September 12, 2022

Am I the only one affected by Google September Core Update? pic.twitter.com/D3msKIsqDx

— Khalil Ahmed (@KhalilPalh) September 16, 2022

On the forum WebmasterWorld.com, some members complain seeing their traffic drop. One posted the stats of their website, showing 20-30% drop in users.

Google core September 2022 update impact on traffic

Some web publishers posted on Twitter, saying that while their traffic is down, their rankings are “pretty much the same” leading them to opine that they may be “losing rankings from adjacent queries and not my targeted keywords.”

My traffic is down (by 20% approx) but I keep checking my rankings and they are pretty much the same... Perhaps I am losing rankings from adjacent queries and not my targetted keywords.

— John Contreras (@johntristanbook) September 12, 2022

Of course, there are also those who favorably got impacted by the update. This Twitter user said her traffic increased by about 40%.

i like the new google update! pic.twitter.com/zZFzMRlAM8

— Tomi Mester (@data36_com) September 18, 2022

Last google core update looks great so far. Hoping it stays that way 🤞 pic.twitter.com/WM8FsGTxjS

— AlbertB (@mazard) September 16, 2022

My traffic jump is amazing, and Googlebot has not crawled all pages, yet.
I like the Google september 2022 core update. 👍#SEO pic.twitter.com/EC7t5dUACU

— Christian Radny (@ChrisRadny) September 15, 2022

What You Can Do

Google updates will always be part of doing business online as the search engine pushes through its mission of providing useful information for users.

The fact remains that getting hit by a Google algorithm is painful; the traffic drop can be steep and immediate.  When traffic decreases, so do sales and revenue. Panic could ensue, and then you would be scrambling to find a fix to the problem.

Start by taking a long hard look at your current content, and then look at the pages that have started outranking you after the core update. What do they provide that your pages do not have? Why would Google think their pages are more useful to the searchers than your pages? Determine how your pages can be improved, even if it means consolidating or trimming pages with thin content. The goal should be for your website to provide interesting information, analysis, or insights in an easy to read format.

Growth Skills can help you create quality content that follow Google guidelines. Contact us today to help you grow your organic traffic. 

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