What to Know About Google Core Updates in 2023

When breaking down Google Core updates in 2023, it’s essential to understand what Google Core is generally and what it does for your business. The Core updates are done to improve the quality and measure the relevance of the search results on Google. When updating the search results that are more relevant in the present day, it shuffles around search rankings and subtly tweaks the formula that makes websites rank higher than others on Google. This process means that even if your website ranked very high before the Core update, it can rank lower for those exact keywords after the update happens. 

One of the changes to look out for with the update is the spam update. The spam update aims to combat spam content across different languages and increase the quality of search results. The importance of this update gives the content higher quality results for ranking high on Google and more relevant, authoritative content. This process will provide users with a better experience, and they will receive more valuable information with less spam included in it. 

SEO Strategies for the Latest Google Core Updates in 2023

With the latest Google Core Updates, businesses need to switch up their SEO strategies to align with what will rank higher on Google. Websites ranking well before the 2023 update might need to be higher on Google’s search results. This process will weed out articles and pages that were ranking before lacking authoritative content and spammy material to viewers. It will show more trustworthy content as top ranking when searching specific keywords. Some of the tips to remember with any piece of content published to rank for particular target keywords are: 

• Ensure it’s helpful, factual content showing the experience, expertise, and authority of who wrote it. People are less likely to click on a website page or article written by someone with no knowledge or experience with the topic they are providing information about. 
• Remember to optimize sites for a better, more positive experience across different devices. Optimization of content once newly published is a constant push for Google to recognize and show the content faster when people search for similar topics or keywords. 
• Always check the search analytics and performance of the specific websites and pages.
• It’s essential to continue to make improvements slowly and not just do them all at once after a massive update. 
• Quality content and sites are rewarded with higher rankings in the long run. It’s important to consistently produce quality content on your website to be one of the top rankings for what people are searching and that specific target keywords. 

Adapting to Google’s 2023 Algorithm Changes: Tips and Best Practices

When a Google Core update happens, the algorithm on Google changes ever so slightly, shifting ranked content by a decent amount. This shift affects not just big, well-known websites but smaller ones that are lesser known. There are many ways to stay on top of your content and ensure it doesn’t get buried amongst the third or fourth pages of Google search. The Google E-E-A-T acronym is the best rule of thumb to practice and implement with your website. This stands for: 

• Experience: This relates to the first-hand experience of the person creating the content. The types of pages that have people writing them with experience gain the trustworthy angle Google looks for. 
• Expertise: This is to determine if the content creators have knowledge or skill of the topic. It all depends on the type of topic, but some require more of an expert angle and different levels of how well-versed someone is in it. For example, if someone is writing a blog about something medical, people are more likely to read the content and trust it if it was written by a doctor or someone who has researched it. In the same situation, someone who is just a journalist or has a profession unrelated to the subject would lose trustworthiness and credibility on what’s being discussed about the medical topic. 
• Authoritativeness: When seeing who wrote and published the specific content, they must be known as a go-to source for the particular topic. Some websites have an official content creator considered a reliable and trustworthy source with the topics and content pushed out. 
• Trust: All of these strategies’ factors feed into the result of supporting trust. Once your content meets every point of the E-E-A-T strategy, it will give it more of a safety net when updates are happening for Google Core and the algorithm. 

Google continues favoring content that follows the E-E-A-T strategy and ranks higher than content with more spam-like material. This strategy is what Google follows for guidelines on what is considered quality content. 

How the Google Core Update Finds Spam

Google can find spam material and content similar to spam, even if the initial intention isn’t meant to be spam, by looking at a few different factors published online. The spam detection update is applied globally and improves the content produced in different languages: Turkish, Indonesian, Hindi, Chinese, and Vietnamese. The types of spam that Google targets and pushes lower in the ranking are: 

• Doorways: The sites or pages created to rank specific, similar search queries. This process can lead users viewing the pages to intermediate pages that won’t be as helpful as the final destination.
• Cloaking: This is when presenting different content to users versus search engines, which mainly manipulates SERPs and misleads users. 
• Scraped content: This happens when content is taken from other, more reputable sites and doesn’t provide additional value to others. 
• Spammy auto-generated content: This type of content is generated in a program without adding original text or having sufficient value produced and published online for users. 
• Hidden text and links: This refers to content placed on a page, which primarily manipulates search engines that aren’t easily viewable to people. 
• Keyword stuffing: The only purpose of having a webpage is to fill up with keywords, a failed attempt to manipulate the SERPs. 

If any of this type of spam directly affects your content, it’s advised to delete or edit and add more quality content. 

Staying Ahead With Google’s 2023 Core Algorithm Updates

It’s important to note that Google is constantly updating its algorithm, especially Google Core’s algorithm. It can be difficult to pinpoint each update to ensure your content is always abiding by Google’s guidelines for good content that ranks higher on the first page. One thing that will always be true with any of these Google updates is that high-quality content with a trustworthy source of information will always be favored on Google and shown higher on the page. The Google Core updates are difficult to keep up with, so you might need Blue Interactive Agency’s help. Call Blue Interactive Agency at (954) 504-9105 to get tips to enhance your internet marketing in South Florida with our marketing strategies for online and phone ranking factors to jumpstart your marketing for your business.