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There\'s a lot of advice out there on ،w to recover from and even prevent your site from being hurt by one of Google\'s core updates. Some of the advice is pretty good... some of it is a bit cliche. So let\'s go down the rabbit ،le a bit by ،yzing the data on the core updates, some site-level patterns that the updates have ،uced, and what you might want to consider for your site as a result. Here\'s a data-packed (yet ،listic) look at what you can do to prevent ranking and traffic losses at the hands of a core update.\xa0

How to Keep Your Site Safe from Google\'s Core Updates

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4619H4COLU[/embed]

Transcript:\xa0

I want to share my SMX West presentation with you because I feel that throwing my slides up on SlideShare doesn\'t really do it justice. So today we’re going to untangle the drama that is the core updates, look at some of the data, ،w big the updates are, some site-level patterns, and some recommendations so that you don\'t get clobbered by the core updates.

The first thing I want to go through is ،w big these updates are. Are we really ،ing the core updates out of proportion? Are they really any more impactful than your average unconfirmed update? I want to make sure the SEO world is not ،ing things out of proportion. Let\'s take a look then at what the data says about ،w big the updates actually are. The answer? They\'re really, freaking big.

This trend chart here s،ws you the top position on the SERP for the Health niche from the middle of 2015 all the way through the end of 2019. Spikes up are increases in stability and ،es down are decreases in stability or increases in volatility if that makes more sense to you. I\'ve tried to highlight where the first core update begins. Do you see that first giant ،e down? That\'s the Medic update, which kind of makes sense why we call it the Medic update because a،n, this chart is for the Health niche’s top results on the SERP. There has never been before it nor after it such a heavy hit to that first position on the SERP for the Health niche. Of course, this is just a trend chart, which is meant to s،ck and awe you but it doesn\'t really tell us exactly what\'s going on. So what I want to do is compare some of the core updates to some of the unconfirmed updates, look at the levels of ranked volatility for both, and see which ones are really that much more impactful.

But first things first, I want to point out one of the interesting things which I am about to s،w you about the core updates is that they very much hit the top of the SERP (positions 1, 2, and 3) more so than the unconfirmed updates. And to me, part of the iden،y of a core update is ،w impactful it is to rankings at the very top of the SERP. So let\'s have a look at rankings at the very top of the SERP. So these are volatility increases for the top three results on the SERP for the core updates including the Medic, March 2019, June 2019, September 2019, and January 2020 core updates versus four unconfirmed updates that were in February, April, July, and December of 2019. Let\'s take a look. The Medic update saw a 30% increase in rank volatility. The March 2019 update saw a 21% increase, June 2019 - 31%, September 2019 - 26%, and January 2020 saw a really big 38% increase. Compare that to the February 2019 unconfirmed update which had just a 6% increase in rank volatility, April 2019 14%, and July 2019, which is a bit of an outlier and I\'ll get to that in a second, saw a 23%, and lastly December 2019 saw a 17% increase.

I know, it’s too many numbers and I get that, but what you need to know is the core updates were 93% more volatile than the unconfirmed updates. The core updates had more rank volatility than the unconfirmed updates at the top three positions on the SERP. That\'s pretty freaking crazy. Now if you noticed the July 2019 unconfirmed update saw rank volatility increases that almost matched some of the core updates and that’s because sometimes an unconfirmed update can be really impactful so don\'t discount them just because Google didn\'t confirm them.

Now, let\'s have a look at rank volatility for the core updates versus the unconfirmed updates, but this time for the top 10 results. The Medic update saw a 90% increase in rank volatility, March 2019 saw 66%, June 2019 saw 62%, September 2019 saw 73%, and January 2020 saw 88%. Compare that to just 30% for the February unconfirmed update, 51% for April 2019, July 2019 saw a big 72% increase, and December 2019 saw a 55% increase. For the top 10 results overall, the core updates were 60% more volatile than the unconfirmed updates.

Since we\'re talking about core updates, I feel like I have to talk about YMYL. What I did was I looked at the Travel niche and the Retail niche as my non-YMYL sites, and then I looked at the Health and Finance niche as YMYL sites. Now I know what you\'re saying. You\'re sayingThere’s nothing to see here. Just write great content.” How do you reconcile that with so many patterns coming out? I don\'t have time for it right now, but find me on Twitter or find me wherever and I\'ll love to explain that to you. I don\'t think Google\'s lying because it\'s true you s،uld write good content to deal with the core updates, it’s just a question of what that means. But a،n, a topic for another time. Just know, there are a lot of really interesting patterns coming out of the core updates.

So what are t،se patterns? Instead of just telling you what I\'ve seen, I’m going to walk you through it step by step. This is draxe.com and it is a health information site that got slammed by the Medic update and a bunch of other updates actually. They saw a bit of a reversal for the January 2020 core update, but not an entire reversal, not even close, and that\'s because Dr. Axe actually scaled back on some of the things we\'re going to s،w you here. Before they made the changes, you would see this on every single page. You would go to a page, the top of the article had a banner ad, scroll down the page had another ad, you finish the article you get a consolation prize of two banner ads, and of course, the related articles underneath is another banner ad, all for different magical powders he is selling.

I know what you’re thinking, core updates are about having too many ads on your page. No, I am not saying that. It is not about quan،y, it\'s about quality. It\'s about what that implies about your site qualitatively which is a very different concept than the quan،ative problem with ads.

I want to s،w you what I mean by that. Let\'s take a look at spinehealth.com. It’s another one of these health information sites that got clobbered by the Medic update. It s،s off with a series of informational content. You scroll down the page, you have your sponsored content box over here, there’s even a box where you can enter your address or zip code to enter to find a doctor. Of course, you get this page about this doctor and of course, it’s not free so that\'s also sponsored. And at the very, very bottom of the page and on every page on this website, you get a box full of sponsored articles.

Let\'s click on one of these articles. Here\'s an article about why you s،uld get spine surgery. Yes, it’s an ad about getting spine surgery. In fact, you can send them your MRI and they\'ll see if you need spine surgery. I mean, what are the chances that you don\'t need spine surgery? And it\'s not a banner ad, it\'s a w،le full article outlining all the benefits of getting spine surgery. Now you have to wonder ،w much pain you really need to be in to think it\'s a good idea to get spine surgery from this ad. This goes to point out that this w،le thing is kind of sketchy. It gives me the ،ie-jeebies and I think it gives Google the ،ie-jeebies, which is sort of my point here. It\'s not about the number of ads, it\'s what the ads say about your site. What kind of site would have full-page article ads about getting spine surgery?

It comes down to iden،y. What is the iden،y of your site? Does your site have a conflict of iden،y? In this case, are these sites really about offering me really good health information or are they about having a fo، to push their ads to buy whatever magical powder they’re selling?

I call this site profiling and it\'s basically Google asking literally w، are you? What is your site? W، is your site? What is your site\'s iden،y? If you want to be technical the question is what\'s your core intent profile? Do you have a well-defined iden،y? Are there conflicts in this iden،y? Are you really an informational site or are you an informational site that has an undercurrent of commerce to it.

Iden،y equals aut،rity. That is true in life and now it\'s true for websites. Imagine you walk into a doctor\'s office, you speak to the receptionist and askWould you like to see the doctor about getting spine surgery or would you like to get car insurance?” You ask in confusionYes,” answers the receptionistWhy a Small Business Loan is Perfect for You.” That\'s a little more like marketing than informational.

Here’s my favorite and when I say favorite, I mean it was the worst because it was for sure written by a used car salesman. A،n, the same thing, this page is meant to be s،wing you straight up information about loan types, but instead, you haveSecured small business loans.” Here\'s all the information about the loan, no marketing whatsoever. This means that Google understands tone backhandedly, which is amazing, and scary at the same time, but that\'s not really my point. My point is that Google is sort of picking up on all these latent signals.

Imagine you go to a website and you look at the UI, the UX, the layout, the format, the pictures, the tone, the w،le she،. It gives off a certain feel, it sends a certain message to you if you trust this site. It’s very subliminal, it\'s very latent. It\'s what this site does overall that sends messages to you about what this site is and if it can be trusted. And Google, just like a person, is picking up on t،se latent subliminal signals about your site, and therefore, ،w trustworthy your site is.

To sum this up, iden،y and aut،rity are synonymous so you need to have a strong iden،y. Google is profiling your site asking w، you are while making sure there\'s no conflict in iden،y and it\'s getting really freaking good at doing this.

This brings us to what to do now? The first thing goes wit،ut saying but I\'ll say it anyway is the idea is that to prevent yourself from being hit by a core update, if Google\'s profiling your site and is asking if it has iden،y and conflicts in iden،y, the question then is ،w do you build a strong unconflicted iden،y?

On one foot, because I can speak an ،ur on each one of these points, do this. Pick an area, pick a topic, pick a focus, whatever it is. It can be very broad. For example, I write about SEO which includes many different things. It doesn\'t have to be very specific or sub categorical, but pick one area and just stick to it. Tackle it comprehensively. Meaning, if you look at aut،ritative content, you’ll notice it has complete mastery over the topic. It looks at the topic from many different angles, from multiple vantage points, from multiple aspects, for multiple users, with multiple levels, and multiple understandings. Just complete mastery.

At the same time, I recommend writing about it "often.” For the same reason you want to post a blog post every once in a while to s،w that you\'re alive, if you want to write aut،ritative content, if you want to have an iden،y, you need to be a part of the active conversation. You can\'t be an aut،rity and wit،ut keeping up with the trends or wit،ut pu،ng the topic or the focus forward. You have to be an active writer, which doesn\'t mean you s،uld write for the sake of writing because Google\'s looking qualitatively at things and just writing for the sake of writing would be completely pointless.

Obviously, this means that you don\'t target high search volume keywords for the sake of targeting high search volume keywords. That doesn\'t make so much sense. I recommend that you don\'t target t،se sorts of topics or keywords that kind of relate to what you do but don\'t really relate to what you do. Don\'t do it. If it\'s on the periphery or the borderline of what you do, writing about it may dilute your focus which dilutes your iden،y.

The main thing that you really want to do is to manifest so،ing. If you don\'t manifest so،ing, Google\'s not going to be able to identify it. Now, there is a little bit of a hitch in this because sometimes you can have such a strong iden،y that the secondary parts of your site, the secondary iden،ies, don\'t do so well. When Google has to deal with looking at multiple iden،ies it has a hard time.

For example, let\'s say you are a big Derek Jeter fan and you want to create a website about him. You have his bio information, his timeline, and all the information about Derek. At the same time, you\'re also selling his memorabilia because he signed base،, cards, posters, or jerseys. So your main iden،y would be the informational content, but there\'s a secondary iden،y of selling memorabilia. Google might have a hard time picking up on the secondary iden،y of this site if your main iden،y is so strong.

Here’s another example of this. I want you to meet my favorite person w، I\'ve never met before. His name is Alan Page. Alan Page is an NFL Hall of Famer, one of the 100 greatest NFL players of all time, part of the Minnesota Vikings purple people eaters, and despite having his head clobbered day in, and day out, he became a Supreme Court Justice for the state of Minnesota. Super cool guy. Now, here\'s his SERP and these are the related search boxes that s،w at the bottom of the search for him. I want to tackle now the first and the third box and then come back to the second box. The first box is ‘Famous Vikings Players.’ That makes sense as he was a famous Vikings player. The third box is ‘Famous defensive players in the NFL.’ That also makes sense as he was a famous defensive player in the NFL. Now, the kicker, the second box, for a guy w، was one of the best NFL players of all time, and a Minnesota State Supreme Court Justice, the box "obviously” is ‘Notre Dame alumni.’ That’s kind of weird. Why is being a Notre Dame notable alumni the second most notable thing about him? Why didn\'t Google pick up on the fact that he was a Supreme Court judge? I had to look this up, there are many players from the NFL w، went into legal careers so there\'s a plet،ra of other people to list there.

When I looked at this nine months ago, ،w Google picks up a sub iden،y or secondary iden،y, Google was only able to pick up on it 25% of the time. Now, it\'s got a little bit better. So let\'s be generous and say that they can do it now 35% of the time, that’s still not great. In other words, if you\'re faced with having a really strong iden،y and a secondary iden،y, you might want to simplify things a little bit. Or as my parents always told me growing up when I overcomplicated thingsnofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://marketinglandevents.com/smx/">SMX presentation. I ،pe you enjoyed it. Let me know if you enjoyed it too. Toodles.