SEO
The impact of a Google Update
Google rolls out one update after another. Some are larger than others, and the various updates also differ considerably in how noticeable they are. In some cases, Google itself provides a description of the changes to come, but at least as often it remains a mystery which buttons are being pressed. For SEO, this means that work is essentially always reactive after a new update has been rolled out.
Always up to date and smarter
‘Google is getting smarter and smarter’ is something you occasionally hear in the world of search engine optimisation (SEO). This increased intelligence comes through frequent algorithm updates. Using a complex algorithm based on hundreds of variables, the search engine calculates which web pages are the most relevant results for an entered search query.
The results displayed in the search results are repeatedly assessed using incoming user data. Were the results actually helpful, or did visitors leave again immediately? Did the top results indeed receive the most clicks, or did users continue scrolling in search of a better answer to their search query?
Algorithm updates, and particularly the more substantial Google Core Updates, bring changes to the algorithm, with the aim of understanding the searching user and the content of web pages even better.
The September Core Update 2022
Some time ago, the Google Core Update of September 2022 took place. It began rolling out on 12 September and was completed on 26 September. Google remained tight-lipped about the content of the update, referring only to information about Core updates in general. Now that this update is more than a year old, it is time to draw our own conclusions.
To establish what impact a Google algorithm update has had, we can look at the shifts it brought about. Measurement points: the day before the start of the new update and several days to weeks after the update has been fully rolled out (this can sometimes take weeks).
For our own analysis, we collected 47.187 keywords from a wide range of topics and industries and retrieved the top 25 search results for each term. We compare this data at 2 points in time: 11 September and 20 October 2022, after the effects of the update had had some time to become visible.
Using this analysis, we examine the changes before and after the Google Core Update from various perspectives. We look at:
- The differences in the composition of the top 10 for each keyword. Are the URLs ranking in the top 10 before and after the update the same, and if so, have the URLs also retained exactly the same position? We can examine this composition of URLs accurately for each of the keywords;
- The Share of Voices (SOV; a plot showing the market distribution within the top 20) per topic/industry before and after the update, and the percentage differences between these SOVs;
- At domain level, the differences before and after the update: which URLs within a specific party’s domain are associated with the most keywords showing significant changes in their top 10? And for which keywords per URL was this difference mainly apparent?
Shifts in the top 10 after the September Google update
A comparison of all 47.187 keywords between time points 1 and 2 provides the following insights:
- For 55,43% of the search terms, the same URLs appear in the top 10 in both the first and second periods. This means that approximately 45% of the keyword URLs from the top 10 disappeared and that there were therefore new entries. In total, there is 0,08% where the entire top 10 is new.
- 0,53% of the search terms have 10 URLs in the same position in the top 10 in both the first and second periods. 2,33% of the search terms have 0 URLs in the same position. The most common occurrence is 18,82%, where 4 URLs are still in the same position.
The further distribution of matching URLs and positions is as follows:
When we process the data in box plots, we can clearly see where the focus of the changes and similarities lies.
It is not surprising that in most cases the composition of the top 10 has remained the same, and that the percentage of changing URLs quickly declines as the number of URLs increases. Had it been the other way around, this would have meant that Google had reconsidered the search intent or best results for many keywords. In other words, that the search engine had not been doing its job particularly well before the update.
In the second box plot, we see that the most common occurrence is that 3 to 4 URLs have changed position within the top 10. Here too, the result matches expectations: it is less likely that no changes were needed at all, or that all URLs were in a non-optimal position.
The above ratio of shifts is an average, but the ratios vary by topic. For example, the composition and position of URLs for topics such as cooking, finance, casino and personal injury remained reasonably similar, while the boat and wallpaper industries overall were subject to the most changes.
Shifts in different sectors
We divided the 47.187 search terms across 29 topics, so that we could also roughly measure the effect of the latest Google Update by industry. This allows us to zoom in on the successes and losses of specific parties that have moved relatively far up or down. To illustrate this, we will look at the clothing sector.
In a Share of Voice examining the percentage differences within the top 20 between the 2 time points for a selection of larger fashion webshops, we see that most parties remain somewhere around the middle. They have become slightly more or less visible (change in indexation percentage) and/or have moved up or down by an average of a few tenths of a position (position change within the top 20), but the changes since the update are not drastic. In general, the clothing industry has improved: the average position has fallen slightly about as often as it has risen, and the indexation percentage has grown significantly more often than it has fallen.
However, we do see 2 major outliers in both directions. On the one hand, we have Only.com, which has risen by almost 15% in average position. At the other end of the spectrum, we have Zalando.nl, which has fallen by 30% in average position, but has nevertheless gained as many as 210% additional keywords for which it is shown in the top 20.
Shifts per keyword
We can also measure the impact of Google algorithm updates on a keyword basis. As we saw earlier, in most cases there were 3 to 4 URL changes within the top 10. We can therefore consider this ‘normal’ for the September update. It is more interesting to zoom in on keywords for which there were major changes in the top 10, for example, the 0,08% for which all 10 URLs differ from those before the update, to determine how Google’s understanding improved or changed after the update.
One of these keywords was ‘industriele eetstoel’. The distribution of positions in the top 10 looked as follows on 11 September (left) and 20 October (right):
| URLs first measurement | position | URL present second measurement | URLs second measurement | position |
| maxwonen.nl/tafels/eettafels/industriele-eettafel | 1 | ❌ | dimehouse.nl/stoelen/industriele-eetkamerstoelen | 1 |
| dimehouse.nl/tafels/eettafel-industrieel | 2 | ❌ | bol.com/nl/nl/l/industriele-eetkamerstoelen/25160/34301 | 2 |
| industrieelwonen.nl/tafels/eettafels | 3 | ❌ | debommelmeubelen.nl/meubelen/stoelen/eetkamerstoelen/industriele-eetkamerstoelen | 3 |
| robuustetafels.nl/tafels/industriele-tafels | 4 | ❌ | maxwonen.nl/stoelen/eetkamerstoelen/industriele-eetkamerstoelen | 4 |
| bol.com/nl/nl/l/industriele-eettafels/25165/34301 | 5 | ❌ | robuustetafels.nl/leren-eetkamerstoelen/industrieel | 5 |
| profijtmeubel.nl/eettafel-industrieel | 6 | ❌ | gigameubel.nl/industriele-meubels/industriele-stoelen | 6 |
| gigameubel.nl/industriele-meubels/industriele-tafels | 7 | ❌ | profijtmeubel.nl/eetkamerstoelen-industrieel | 7 |
| houtmijn.nl/industriele-meubels/eettafels | 8 | ❌ | beslist.nl/products/meubilair/meubilair_389370_389409/c/stijl_test~8064049 | 8 |
| eijerkamp.nl/eetkamer/eettafels/industrieel | 9 | ❌ | sohome.nl/zitmeubelen/eetkamerstoelen/industrieel.html | 9 |
| tafels99.nl/eiken-tafels/industriele-tafel | 10 | ❌ | countrylifestyle.nl/zitmeubelen/eetkamerstoelen/eetstoel-industrieel | 10 |
What is striking is that the entire top 10 before the update was rolled out consisted of irrelevant search results for the logical search intent behind this keyword, namely dining chairs in an industrial style. Instead, the search engine displayed exclusively pages with industrial dining tables. We can conclude that Google did not yet understand that an ‘eetstoel’ is a piece of seating furniture.
After the September update, the picture is completely different. The entire top 10 now consists of URLs relating to industrial dining (room) chairs. The algorithm has learned that dining tables and dining chairs are closely related (and therefore most likely also often mentioned together in 1 breath on the same page), but are not the same.
Always up to date for your own industry?
The impact of a Google Update applies not only to the September Core Update; we can and will make it measurable for every major algorithm update. This means you can see the most important changes at a glance and respond to them directly with your SEO strategy where necessary. Stay up to date and keep an eye on our website after the next Google Core Update! Is your own sector not covered in our blog? We can run our Google Update Effect measurements and market-wide analyses for any online market, so please feel free to contact us for a tailored analysis.
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