Google is now releasing its first major core algorithm change for 2022. Google’s Danny Sullivan announced the May 2022 core release. The most recent core update was in November 2021, which was more than 6 months ago. Google said “today, we’re releasing our May 2022 core update. It will take about 1-2 weeks to fully roll out.”
“Core updates are changes we make to improve Search overall and keep pace with the changing nature of the web. While nothing in a core update is specific to any particular site, these updates may produce some noticeable changes to how sites perform, which we’ve noted in previous guidance on what site owners should know about core updates,” Google added.
Core update rumors. From May 16 through this week, the SEO world has been noticing indicators of a probable Google algorithm update going out. Google has yet to confirm those rumors.
Prior to today, any volatility was most likely unrelated to those rumors. Perhaps Google was testing this major update? Google’s John Mueller addressed this issue, saying, “when we announce core updates, we start the roll-out at that point, not beforehand.”
The rollout began this morning. Google began rolling out this large core upgrade about 11:30 a.m. ET. And Google will notify us once the update is complete.
Previous major updates The most recent previous core update was the November 2021 core update, followed by the July 2021 core update, and before that, the June 2021 core update, which was sluggish to go out but significant.
Prior to that, we had the December 2020 core update, which was much larger than the May 2020 core update, which was also large and broad and took a few weeks to fully roll out. The previous upgrade was the January 2020 core update, which we discussed here.
The last one was the September 2019 core upgrade. Many SEOs and webmasters felt this upgrade was weaker because it didn’t have the same impact as prior core releases. More information regarding previous Google upgrades can be found here.
What to do if you get struck. Google has already provided suggestions on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update. There are no precise steps to follow to recover, and a drop in rankings may not indicate anything is wrong with your pages.
If your site is affected by a core change, Google has provided a list of questions to consider. Google did say that there is some recovery time between core updates, but the biggest difference would be after another core update.
