Core update
A broad, announced change to how Google's main ranking systems assess content, typically several times a year.
A core update changes how Google's ranking systems weigh content across the whole index rather than targeting one kind of page or one kind of abuse. Google announces each one and confirms when it has finished rolling out, usually after one to three weeks.
Google's position is that a drop after a core update is not a penalty and does not mean a site did something wrong: other pages are now judged more relevant. There is usually no single thing to fix, which is what separates a core update from a spam update.
Ranking & Algorithms timeline · Latest ranking & algorithms news · What Google said
Recent Google updates of this kind
Latest headlines mentioning it
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