Google’s algorithm changes again: September 2022 Core Update launches

News admin 14 September 2022

Not even the time to get familiar with the Helpful Content Update (which, for the record, completed its rollout only last September 9, as made official by Google) and here comes a new upheaval to the search engine’s SERPs, and this time universal: where in fact HCU affects only English searches, we are now faced with a more classic broad core update that affects all versions of Google at the same time. We therefore welcome the September 2022 Core Update, the second major algorithmic update launched by the American company this year.

Google’s September 2022 Core Update, what we know so far

The official announcement of the start of the implementation of the September 2022 Core Update came in the late afternoon of September 12 via Twitter, with a message reiterating the usual information. Namely: the update starts, the overall implementation will take about two weeks, and there are no particular solutions to be taken if the site is affected.

anche il tempo di prendere confidenza con l’Helpful Content Update (che, per la cronaca, ha completato il suo rollout soltanto il 9 settembre scorso, come ufficializzato da Google) ed ecco che arriva un nuovo stravolgimento alle SERP del motore di ricerca, e questa volta universale: laddove infatti HCU interessa solo le ricerche in inglese, ora siamo di fronte a un più classico broad core update che riguarda contemporaneamente tutte le versioni di Google. Diamo quindi il benvenuto al September 2022 Core Update, il secondo grande aggiornamento algoritmico lanciato dalla compagnia americana in questo anno.

Google’s September 2022 Core Update di Google, what we know so far

This September one is the second broad core update of 2022 and follows the previous one, the May 2022 Core Update, by four months; moreover, it is worth mentioning that just over a month ago there were also the changes to the guidelines for quality raters, a coincidence that comes up several times anyway when we talk about updates (at least as correlation, not causation).

As in the other cases, the broad core update is a multi-part change to Google’s algorithm, which the company communicates and announces because such an intervention can produce effects sensitive enough to be felt by publishers and search marketers. Moreover, it affects search results worldwide and in several languages simultaneously, thus affecting all versions of Google.

In fact, the algorithm is constantly undergoing changes – in 2020, more than 4500 were made, as revealed some time ago by Danny Sullivan – but a broad core update tends to be more noticeable, even if it is then not always so impactful on SERPs.

Early effects of the update

Before we really see rankings dance, however, we have to wait a few days, when the changes will be implemented in data centers.

In any case, some analysts have already noticed more intense widespread volatility in the SERPs: according to information gleaned from chatter within the SEO community and Google’s early monitoring tools, there are sites that have already experienced a 20-60% drop in traffic since the rollout began, but we reiterate that it is too early to be certain that these drops are actually related to the update.

For sure, however, every time Google updates its search ranking algorithms it means that our site may do better or worse in the search results, depending on how it meets Google’s quality rating (and how well our competitors do). It is for this reason that it remains useful to know when these updates start and are in progress, so that we have a point of reference when analyzing (any) changes in site traffic and are able to determine whether the drop (or spike) is to be attributed precisely to new forms of results evaluation introduced by Google or from changes we have implemented on the site itself.

Google’s other most recent updates

The year 2022 has not been a particularly busy one at Google, and some of the interventions have been limited only to particular geographic areas.

This was the case, in particular, with the aforementioned Helpful Content Update, but also with the Product Reviews Update (both active only for English searches), which also received further refinements, the last of which was in July 2022 (and there is already talk of a possible fifth update to the update). Instead, the May 2022 Core Update was universal, which was significant and fast as we also mentioned in our analysis, while we have to go back to 2021 for the other updates.