Google Releases May 2020 Basic Algorithm Update!

Google is trying to improve the search algorithm by making more than 500 large and small updates per year to better serve its visitors. Even though we do not notice some updates, large updates called core updates generally affect the rankings. Google has added a new one to the ongoing core updates. The human factor underlies the updates. Google makes these updates to provide the best search results to its users and to keep the index clean. For this reason, we can say that the user experience is the basis of all these updates.

Google is always working to improve the quality of search results. They usually post one or more changes every day, even though we don’t notice. Sometimes Google also makes changes that target specific criteria, such as speed or mobile compatibility. When updates are certain and webmasters need to make some sort of change, Google will announce them in advance.

You can find the tweet of Danny Sullivan, one of Google’s analysts, here .

How are Google Basic Updates Different From Other Updates?

Google’s basic algorithm updates occur only a few times each year. It is much more important than the daily changes posted by Google, and it often creates broadly noticeable effects. Basic updates often do not target a specific topic, but have a broader perspective.

According to Google:

“There are nothing targeting specific pages or sites in basic updates. Instead, the changes are about improving how our systems evaluate content in general. These changes may result in some poorly performing pages getting better results. “

So, what was the May 2020 Basic Update about? Like every major update, it was about how Google got better at determining which pages gave the best answer for each query.

How will the update be published with a calendar?

It may take up to two weeks for a basic algorithm update to be fully available. Analyst Danny Sullivan also enlightens us with a tweet on this subject .

To see how this update affects your site, you must follow your rankings and organic traffic until at least May 18.

What Has Changed When The Google Algorithm Was Last Updated?

The last major algorithm update before the May 2020 Basic Update was the January 2020 Basic Update. Like the May 2020 Basic Update, this was about Google getting better at rewarding pages that gave the best answer for each query.

Google’s basic updates are not punitive, as a whole or part of a site could have been penalized in the past and could not be ranked well in search results.

Basic updates mean that Google is getting better at providing relevant answers to specific queries; this may mean that some of your pages may not have been rewarded before and are ranked better now. Unfortunately, this can also happen in the opposite direction, and it may happen that a high-performing page has received incorrect interaction by Google.

So how do you know what’s healing and what’s going down because of the May 2020 Core Update? As ithinkso, we propose two main action plans.

Segment Your Pages and Queries

Segmentation is a step you should take before conducting any SEO analysis, especially if your site contains too many pages.

But what is segmentation? Basically, you need to group your pages and break down your keywords into logical parts. For example, you can create a segment for all blog pages on your site. Or you can create a segment for your informational keywords. Segmentation allows you to analyze and detect problems more easily than looking at thousands of pages and keywords at the same time.

When you do these operations, you can analyze the performance of your pages more easily after Basic Updates.

Don’t Forget to Check Annual Reports!

With the May 2020 Basic Update, you may also have detected a drop in average position or clicks / traffic, but have you experienced a similar drop every May? This is something that only annual metrics can tell you. We recommend that you take your keyword data for a specific segment and compare it with data from the previous year. In this way, you will be able to determine whether you are in the annual stationary process or if it is the result of a basic algorithm update.

What to do if your site has been affected by an algorithm update?

After reviewing your data as we explained earlier, if you think you have been negatively affected by the May 2020 Basic Algorithm update, we recommend that you approach the situation as follows:

If your keyword or page ranks worse for a particular query, it’s because Google has determined that one of your competitor pages provides a better response for that query. Now what you need to do for this query is to compare and develop the content provided by your content with your own content.