Google’s August Core Algorithm update presented some challenging times in the world of SEO, rolling out from the 15th of August and officially taking 19 days to complete.
The updates to the algorithm made some sizable waves across the board, giving previously solid rankings a bit of a shake-up and changing page 1 results. Knowing that this might impact some of our clients, we began digging into the details of the update to gain a better understanding of it.
Further Emphasis on Real, Human Content
One primary focus of Google’s August Core Algorithm update has been to promote websites who have an abundance of “heartfelt”, helpful, expert and supportive content – a notion that was confirmed by SEO Roundtable at midday GMT on 4th September.
The changes seem to target all types of content, though it’s been confirmed that it’s not going to penalise poor content, instead acting as a “reward” for great web pages and content.
The update impacted all regions, in all languages, and seems to be the next step in Google’s push towards promoting genuinely helpful content whilst weeding out keyword spam and poorly constructed AI content.
In all, this particular change should serve to better reward small and independent publishers, and have impacted Google Discover and other features, as well as feature snippets, AI Overviews and more.
Our Insights
In our research on the impact of the recent update, we saw the biggest Google rankings landscape changes in industries with high search volumes for products and services. Typically, big brands were promoted to the top of the rankings, even in instances where they had previously been settled on page 2 of Google’s search results.
Our understanding of this was that the shift had occurred due to the fact that these “household name” brands – who need to worry less about keyword optimisations – provide an abundance of personably written content on their Selling Pages, in their How To Guides, Support Pages, Resources, Success Stories and Expert Articles – all of which place a large emphasis on doing good things for users in a very heartfelt tone.
While Google primarily alludes to onsite content, we have also seen examples of #1 rankings potentially being held as a result of backlinks from genuinely helpful and heartfelt content on other websites as a result of link-building efforts.
While these are broad, sweeping statements that cover most of what we are saw in the wake of the update, there are exceptions, as well as some very industry specific changes.
What Is “Heartfelt” Content?
In a recent interview on 6th September, Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan provided further clarification on what “heartfelt” content looks like.
In particular, he placed emphasis on the idea that content should be offering value, information and helpful insights to users, rather than content written purely for the purpose of chasing rankings.
One example given was that of a local plumbing website not ranking well. If the plumber’s website were to share real, highly personal and professional stories about plumbing issues in their local area, that would be in line with Google’s update and likely to be rewarded with better rankings.
Further to this, he expressed that they would reward content creators who take “helpfulness to heart”, stating that one of the most important elements of content creation was to “make sure that you’re doing the right thing by your audience”.
Our interpretation of this is that content should be real, relatable and helpful to the everyday user. On top of this, it seems Google wants to promote businesses that present themselves as “service providers”, in every sense of the word, helping to improve the quality of life of both local and broader communities.
What Have We Done In Response To The Update?
As an SEO Agency, we know that we need to keep on top of any updates or changes to how Google ranks websites. Aside from educating ourselves on the changes being made, and their impact, we’ve kept a close eye on the performance of both clients and their competitors. This means we’ve been able to quickly spot any changes in rankings and adjust approaches accordingly.
We have also begun adjusting our SEO strategies as an agency to ensure all of our clients align with Google’s new emphasis and preferences. With any algorithm update, certain strategies need to be tweaked, realigned or overhauled completely in order to stay ahead of the curve.
Looking forward, Google has informed that they will make periodic refreshes to this algorithm, but may not communicate those updates in the future. Needless to say, it’s something we will continue to monitor carefully in the coming weeks and months.
