Google Confirms Core Updates Can Affect Local & Image Search
08/05/2021Interesting news for Google Image and Local Search enthusiasts – contrary to popular belief, core updates can, in fact, impact both image search and local search results. This comes directly from the source, Google Public Search Liason, Danny Sullivan.
While Sullivan had previously stated that core updates don’t impact local results, he is now changing his tune. On August 3, he confirmed on Twitter that it actually depends on the situation, as core updates can affect all different types of content across search.
“Core updates can involve image results or any type of content because they involve our core ranking systems that themselves involve all types of content. That’s why our page about them mentions ‘content” so often,’ said Sullivan, adding that generally, core updates don’t involve local search.
“It typically wouldn’t do much. But it could because…core updates involve our core ranking systems…”
Sullivan’s comments were made in response to SEO consultant and Search Engine Land columnist, Glenn Gabe, who posted on Twitter how core updates can impact image search with examples and tagged Sullivan to confirm.
After his initial comments, Sullivan went on to explain how you can tell if your image or local search content has been impacted by a core update.
“Typically, if you see — as our post says — “widely notable effects,” that’s a sign a core update is playing a role with content.”
So, there you have it. Images and local search can be impacted by core updates. Are you surprised by this revelation?
read more July 2021 Core Update Completes 12-Day Launch
07/13/2021SEOs have kept their eyes peeled all summer for information pertaining to Google’s various updates. Finally, Google has announced that its pair of summer core updates has finished rolling out.
Google launched its first core update of the year on June 2. With the launch, Google said that it would be splitting the core update into two launches – one for June and one for July.
The June update completed its rollout on June 12, and the July update began its rollout on July 1, finishing yesterday, as per an announcement from Google:
The core update is a particularly significant type of update. Upon a core update launch, Google makes broad changes to its search algorithms, in turn affecting what metrics are used to rank pages on SERPs. Following a launch, SEOs and site owners should pay close attention to their sites’ performance.
READ MORE OF OUR JULY 2021 CORE UPDATE COVERAGE
Not Done Cooling Down Yet
Even though the July core update is finished rolling out, tracking tools are still showing plenty of heat. Over the last twelve days, there have been two ‘spikes’ of activity – one on July 2 and one on July 9. It’s possible that sites are still reacting or catching up, even though Google isn’t making more explicit changes.
SEMRush as of July 13 at 10:00 a.m.
Have You Been Affected?
It’s not always clear following a core update which sites or pages will be affected. Most SEOs would agree that the update phase feels like a rollercoaster.
SEO Barry Schwartz writes that he’s ready plenty of theories about the recent updates on forums and social media. These posts speculate on what the update’s actual outcomes were, and what site owners should do to recover. However, Schwartz warns not to feed into these theories without proof.
I don’t think any of those theories have anything to do with what a core update is about or what it actually does,” he says. “Please be careful when reading these theories and associating them with the core update. I really think they are unrelated and lead you to fishing for the wrong thing.”
SEO Glenn Gabe, meanwhile, writes that he’s seen volatile results across sites from certain categories.
Specifically, sites with content pertaining to finances or the health and medical industry seemed to be hit hardest. Additionally, sites with product reviews have been hit hard, especially considering that the product reviews update was launched in the spring.
Gabe provides plenty of tips for SEOs who want their sites to recover. He points out that, unfortunately, you may have to wait for the next update to see favourable results.
“Sites that are heavily impacted by broad core updates typically cannot see recovery until another broad core updates rolls out,” he says.
Still, site owners should take an ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ approach to fixing their rankings. This means checking every possible factor rather than assuming a drop in rankings comes from one specific thing.
A Timeline of Recent Updates
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Written by: Nicole McCormick Categories - 
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