Google Officially Releases May 2020 Core Update

It’s the time of the year again where Google releases its core update. However, times are different now because of the ongoing pandemic and we won’t know if this core update will negatively affect us. Being on top of everything right now is important since a lot of businesses are opting to go digital because of the ongoing pandemic. These give us SEOs and digital marketers a massive opportunity to bring quality services to more people who need it. But with core updates, success in the search industry is uncertain since unexpected variables and factors are constantly added in the SEO game. 

Google announced the May 2020 Core update through their Google SearchLiaison Twitter account a few hours ago. A follow-up tweet was made an hour after the original announcement that informed everyone that the May 2020 Core Update is now live and is rolling out steadily although it could take up to two weeks before it’s fully rolled out. 

What’s included in the May 2020 Core Update?

Google did not specify which changes the May 2020 core update and this is understandable since core updates do not focus on individual factors, rather they focus on the algorithm as a whole. Google once again referenced their blog post about what we should know about their core updates.

There are three possibilities that could happen once the core update has fully rolled out: 

• It positively affects your site rankings and traffic
• It negatively affects your site rankings and traffic
• It doesn’t affect your site rankings and traffic

We’ll just have to wait and see how the core update affects you. But if it does negatively affect you, I’ve written a post on how to recover from being hit by the core update. 

The last core update was released in January 2020. This might seem like just a short time difference between the 2 updates, but I believe the May 2020 Core Update might have something to do with the massive changes in search behavior due to the pandemic. 

SERP Volatility

Lastly, I checked tools that included SERP volatility just for the sake of ensuring that there’s nothing major happening right now. Here’s what they looked like:

CognitiveSEO Signals

Around the end of April and the start of May, there was a spike with SERP volatility, but it went down during the past few days.

 

Accuranker’s Google Grump Rating

Compared with cognitiveSEO’s graph, Accuranker’s Google grump rating shows that the spike happened today. This could possibly be the result of the core update, but we still need a few days and more data to finalize this assumption.

 

SEMrush Sensor

Unlike the other two tools, SEMrush sensor isn’t showing signs of massive spikes and volatility. 

 Key Takeaway

In conclusion, SERP volatility tools are not showing conclusive signs of the core update affecting the SERPs as of this moment. However, there is a high chance for this to change in the one or two weeks that is needed to roll out the full core update.

We just have to be ready to adapt to the situation and I believe if we know for ourselves that we’re not doing anything that’s worth penalizing, we shouldn’t worry about the occasional core updates that Google releases. What do you think about this core update? Comment it down below and let’s talk.