14 Feb 2024
- 02 Jul 2019
- 4 Min read
June 2019: SEO news and Google updates
- by Emily Park
In the last month, we’ve seen a whole host of developments in the SEO and digital marketing industry. Google’s made a range of exciting announcements and released some new features we can all use to our advantage. Plus, some brand-new research has revealed how the digital marketing space is expected to change over the coming months.
To help you stay up to date with all of the latest happenings, we’ve put together this bulletin, which covers all of the biggest SEO and Google updates from June 2019.
Google announces broad core algorithm update
On 2 June, Google sent out a tweet to say it was planning to roll out a broad core algorithm update, which the search engine giant aptly named the June 2019 Core Update. It then confirmed that it was being put in place on 3 June and, according to Search Engine Land, it then took five days to fully roll out.
Within the search engine’s confirmation, it shared a link to a previous Twitter thread from October 2018, which said: “Each day, Google usually releases one or more changes designed to improve our results. Most have little noticeable change but help us continue to incrementally improve search. Sometimes, an update may be more noticeable. We aim to confirm those when we feel there is actionable information that content owners might take. For example, when our Speed Update happened, we gave months of advanced notice and advice. Sometimes, we make broad changes to our core algorithm. We inform about those because the actionable advice is that there is nothing in particular to “fix,” and we don’t want content owners to mistakenly try to change things that aren’t issues.”
This suggests that, if your site has been hit by the latest core update, there isn’t a quick fix you can make to improve your rankings — you need to think more broadly. And Google’s Danny Sullivan appeared to confirm this, tweeting: “We tell lots of things to do. Improve site speed. Consider secure. Etc. But that’s not what this update was about. It’s broad. And respectfully, I think telling people there’s no particular thing to “fix” is indeed helpful. It means, hopefully, they think more broadly.” He then followed this up by saying: “Want to do better with a broad change? Have great content. Yeah, the same boring answer. But if you want a better idea of what we consider great content, read our raters guidelines. That’s like almost 200 pages of things to consider.” He then shared a link to Google’s Quality Evaluator Guidelines, which outline what the search engine looks for when deciding whether to classify a piece of content as high-quality.
So, it seems that the best way to ensure you can withstand the effects of broad core algorithm updates is by focusing on creating quality, authoritative, and trustworthy content that Google will love. If this is something you’re struggling with, you might be interested in our content service. If this is something you’re considering, contact us to discuss your requirements and we’ll be happy to help!
Google announces site diversity change
Just days after introducing its June 2019 Core Update, Google also announced that it would be making a change to Google Search in an effort to promote more diversity. Essentially, this means searchers will no longer see more than two listings from the same site in the top search results, unless Google deems the results to be especially relevant to a particular query.
Google also pointed out that it would generally treat subdomains as part of a root domain, although they might be treated as separate sites for diversity purposes when this is deemed appropriate. The search engine also stressed that these changes aren’t connected to the June 2019 Core Update, and that they aren’t going to be perfect from the very beginning — the company will be looking to improve the diversity of its search results more and more over time.
Google launches marketing resources for small businesses
To mark International Small Business Day on 27 June, Google launched a new hub of tools and resources that have specifically be designed to help SMEs promote their businesses and overcome the unique challenges they face.
Through Google for Small Business, you can access personalised plans that will be generated once you’ve answered a few quick questions about your company and goals, in-person workshops, and the latest news about all of Google’s tools and services that have been specifically designed for small business owners.
And, there you have it: three of the biggest SEO and digital marketing news stories from the last month. If you would like more regular updates, make sure you follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, where we post about all of the important developments as and when they happen!
Or if you’re looking for an SEO, affiliate marketing, and PPC agency that can help to boost your online visibility, get in touch to speak to our team today.
