The Google July 2021 core update is now rolling out, today July 1, 2021. This update will take about one to two weeks to fully roll out. Google said on the Search Liaison account “the July 2021 Core Update, previously announced, is now rolling out.” “These typically take 1-2 weeks to finish,” Google added.
We expected another core update to happen this month after Google ran the June 2021 core update. That June update took about 10-days to roll out, but most core updates take a full 14-days to roll out.
The announcement. Here is what Google said:
Tons of Google updates: In the past three months, SEOs have had multiple Search updates roll out:
- The product reviews update starts on April 8th and concludes on April 22nd.
- The June core update began on June 2nd and ended on June 12th.
- The page experience update initiated on June 15th and will roll out through the end of August.
- Spam update part one on June 23rd.
- Spam update part two on June 28th.
- And, the July core update on July 1st.
We did see some rumblings over the past couple of days, June 30th and July 1st, so it is hard to say if this is related to either the spam update or the core update or something completely different.
June core update. Google pushed out a core update on June 2, 2021 and said then “some of our planned improvements for the June 2021 update aren’t quite ready, so we’re moving ahead with the parts that are, then we will follow with the rest with the July 2021 update.” We were expecting this update in July, but I don’t think most of us expected it on the first of July. But it is here.
The June 2021 core update finished rolling out on June 12, 2021. We have a write up on what the industry saw with that June core update over here.
History. Historically, Google has released a core Google algorithm update every few months or so. Google released the June 2021 core update about a month ago, but before that it was just about six months since the last core update, the December 2020 Core Update. Before that it was seven months since the May 2020 core update, which took place on May 4, 2020. So this one took a lot longer than previous updates to roll out but we are expecting another update in about a month from now.
Previous updates. The most recent previous core update was the June 2021 core update and before that was the December 201 core update, that update was even bigger than the May 2020 core update. Then we had the May 2020 core update, that update was big and broad and took a couple of weeks to fully roll out. Before that was the January 2020 core update, and we had some analysis on that update over here. The one prior to that was the September 2019 core update. That update felt weaker to many SEOs and webmasters, as many said it didn’t have as big of an impact as previous core updates. Google also released an update in November, but that one was specific to local rankings. You can read more about past Google updates over here.
What to do if you are hit. Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. There aren’t specific actions to take to recover, and in fact, a negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages. However, Google has offered a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update. Google did say you can see a bit of a recovery between core updates but the biggest change you would see would be after another core update.
Why we care. Whenever Google updates its search ranking algorithms, it means that your site can do better or worse in the search results. Knowing when Google makes these updates gives us something to point to in order to understand if it was something you changed on your web site or something Google changed with its ranking algorithm. Today, we know Google will be releasing a core ranking update, so keep an eye on your analytics and rankings over the next couple of weeks.
