Yesterday, Google announced that it is releasing a core broad update named the January 2020 Core Update. It started to roll out around noon New York time yesterday. Google just echoed its previous advice around core updates. But this Google algorithm update does seem substantial and big based on some of the early chatter and signals.
The previous core update, the September 2019 update was slow to roll out and wasn’t a shockingly upsetting one. This January 2020 core update does seem a lot bigger than the September core update, at least based on early signals and chatter within the SEO industry.
Here is Google’s announcement:
The January 2020 Core Update is now live and will be rolling out to our various data centers over the coming days.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison)
Again, it is less than 24-hours, so it is early and things need to settle down over the next few days with this update – but here is some of the chatter.
WebmasterWorld has two threads:
Brett Tabke wants to name this one “Update Picard” but I don’t think that will stick, since Google has named it January 2020 Core Update. Anyway, here are some of the comments from SEOs in those two threads:
SERP trackers are on fire. Strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride…
This is sad .
Last two years have been one hit after another. Well, a slight boost at the end of 2018, but…it’s all frustrating. Yeah, let’s add some more “Also Asked” and a couple more featured snippets at the top of pages while we’re at it. I don’t know what Google wants, anymore.
BlackHat World has multiple threads as well, here is the early chatter from there:
Today – 30% drop seo traffic
I went from 48 pages to 15 pages.
Here are some folks on Twitter:
BTW, it’s worth noting that this site has lost rich snippets as well. That can happen during broad core updates, since there’s a quality component at play. Important to know if you have rich snippets and you’re impacted. https://t.co/7pSrYDMt6d
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe)
hour over hour from last week I’m down 20%…
— Billy Parisi (@ChefBillyParisi)
Oh hey Google core algorithm update, nice to see you 😎 pic.twitter.com/hFSiZDAgKE
— Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc)
My Hindi finance blog page loads are almost double today. pic.twitter.com/z7iVmNHeyL
— जगदीश भाटिया 🇮🇳 (@jagdish)
We are seeing positive impact. Here is hourly traffic comparison today vs yesterday. We have dropped in Sep Update but now moving towards recovery. pic.twitter.com/DdHzYETScK
— Muhammad Kamran (@kamran_seo)
Yes we were doing good, until suddenly pic.twitter.com/NavXjGZoZB
— Heba Said (@HebaSaidSEO)
Here are the tracking tools that were updated thus far (will add more as they get updated):
So far this seems like this update is going to be a big one! Keep an eye on things, do not panic, and share what you find with the community!
Forum discussion at Twitter, WebmasterWorld and BlackHat World.
This content was originally published here.