Core Algorithm Update

4th May 2020

Google’s Danny Sullivan had confirmed the news on May 4, 2020 about a core algorithm update rolling out. The update was officially called the “May 2020 Core Update.” Google has always been one step ahead in naming its updates, as the company has chosen the generic Month/Year pattern for naming this time. The Update rolled out at 3:52 p.m on May 4, 2020.

The last core update had rolled out back in January 2020. With this, the May 2020 update is the first update after the Nobel Coronavirus was declared a pandemic.

At the time of the first core update that was released in Jan 2020, COVID-19 was not on anyone’s radar. It might be known by China but not the rest of the world. Now that's our reality and something that all of us have to live with for the next few months, or maybe years.

The world witnessed a drastic change when the virus got declared a pandemic by the WHO, which made considerable shifts in people's search behavior.

Even Google confessed that it had never recorded as many searches as it did since the pandemic for a single topic that was COVID-19. COVID-19 has changed the way people used to browse Google and use its search features.

Whether it was about searching for information related to the virus or Covid-19 itself, or companies offering remote services, or searching for stores offering essential products and quick delivery online.

Post the pandemic, there were many new things becoming relevant that weren’t the same in terms of searchers before. And, it was normal.



Similarly, categories that once used to be highly relevant no more appear in searches as much.

For instance, searches related to all the popular topics like live entertainment, travel, tourism, and in-person events don't appear in searches like before. And, the list is long.

With this Core Update, Google will be facing the challenge of meeting with how the users are searching these days.

Is May 2020 Update A Good Thing For SEO Job Market?
If the second Core Update is proved to be as potent as it is supposed to be, it may be a boon for SEOs. It’s not a hidden secret anymore that, amid the pandemic, economies have collapsed and companies have started firing their employees. In such scenarios, it can be a good thing for SEO professionals as their services are especially valuable after every new algorithm update. As many as updates are there, the more valuable SEO services become. It simply means SEOs will find themselves in a good position where they will be in demand.

This is Google’s second core update in the row this year. The first one had rolled out back in January which seems to be like decades ago considering the changes witnessed by all of us during these four months. This update effectively answers all the questions surviving over the internet regarding core updates from Google amid the coronavirus pandemic. Everyone wanted to know whether Google will pause sending core updates for some time.

Google core updates are designed for the purpose of bringing noticeable improvement in the search results across the world in all languages. With each update, sites tend to notice either drops or gains in terms of search rankings. After these updates, ranking mainly depends on the content relevancy. It means if content has gained relevancy after the last update, it should move higher in search rankings and vice-versa.

Google’s guidance for this update is exactly the same as all its past updates. Google has always stated that nothing should be “fixed” if rankings change after an update rolls out. Instead, site owners should update their content to the best possible. So, the only thing to be done is making the website content the most reliable resource for a user’s query.