What Exactly Is a Core Update? - Google Broad Core Algorithm Update

First, let me get the obligatory “Google makes hundreds of algorithm changes per year, often more than one per day” boilerplate out of the way.

Many of the named algorithms we hear about (Penguin, Panda, Pigeon, Fred, etc.) are implemented to address specific faults or issues in Google’s algorithms.

In the case of Penguin, it was link spam; in the case of Pigeon it was local SEO spam.

They all had a specific purpose.

In these cases, Google (sometimes reluctantly) informed us what they were trying to accomplish or prevent with the algorithm update, and we were able to go back and remedy our sites.

A core update is different.

The way I understand it, a core update is a tweak or change to the main search algorithm itself. You know, the one that has between 200 and 500 ranking factors and signals (depending on which SEO blog you’re reading today). What a core update means to me is that Google slightly tweaked the importance, order, weights, or values of these signals. Because of that, they can’t come right out and tell us what changed without revealing the secret sauce. The simplest way to visualize this would be to imagine 200 factors listed in order of importance. Now imagine Google changing the order of 42 of those 200 factors. Rankings would change, but it would be a combination of many things, not due to one specific factor or cause. Obviously it isn’t that simple, but that’s a good way to think about a core update.

It appears Google heard about the confusion with the naming of the broad core algorithm update from March 12 and decided to clear things up. Google said on Twitter, “Our name for this update is March 2019 Core Update.”

Why did Google name it? Google doesn’t often give names to updates but in this case, Google said, “We think this helps avoid confusion; it tells you the type of update it was and when it happened.” So Google named it the March 2019 Core Update, which they think will help avoid confusion.

Can Google change names of updates? Yes, they can and they have done so in the past. The original name we had for the Panda update was actually the Farmer update. Google didn’t like the name Farmer update and renamed it to the Panda update, which was based on the lead engineers last name.

So yes, Google has renamed updates in the past and they’ve stuck.Will it stick? 

Will the new name stick or will people still call it the Florida 2 update? It is hard to say but I suspect people will go with calling it what Google wants it to be called, the “March 2019 Core Update.” Where can I learn more? Check out our original story on this update over here. Google has said there is “no fix” for Core updates. But we are collecting data in a survey to analyze the data and report back to you with our findings. Please take the survey to help us, help you.