Decoding the August 2023 Broad Core Update

In the rapidly changing digital landscape, search engine updates are a regular occurrence, and understanding them can be the key to staying competitive. It’s important to stay updated to ensure that digital spaces remain accessible. Google’s August 2023 broad core update serves as a timely reminder of this. In this article, we’ll delve into some of the specifics of the update to give you a better understanding of what has occurred.

A Look at the Recent Update

Google’s August 2023 core update began its rollout on 23 August 2023, and is projected to span a period of up to two weeks for completion.

This marks the second core algorithm update for 2023. It’s been approximately five months since the last significant core update, spanning back to March.

Following their usual pattern, Google announced this update via Twitter and made the necessary adjustments to their search updates page, stating that, “Today we released the August 2023 core update. We’ll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete”.

A Detailed View of August 2023’s Announcements:

August 15: Google clarified their support exclusively for standard schema.org enumeration values for local business opening hours. Importantly, these values should be in English, in line with the schema.org specifications.

August 9: Google added a transcript of their SEO Office Hours for August 2023, providing valuable insights for those looking to optimise their online presence.

August 2: There were two significant announcements made by Google.

The first being the removal of “@id” from site names documentation.

Additionally, they underscored in the local business structured data documentation that the review and aggregateRating properties are tailored for sites that document reviews about other local businesses.

This feature wasn’t new, dating back to guidelines about self-serving reviews and a blog post update from 2019.

What If Your Site Takes a Hit?

For many business owners, the fear of an update lies in the potential for decreased site visibility.

Google, over the years, has consistently asserted that a negative impact from an update doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong with your site. Rather than panicking, Google advises:

• Avoid jumping to immediate corrective actions since there aren’t specific steps guaranteed to restore your rankings.
• Consider a set of questions they’ve provided to examine the quality and relevance of your content. Some of which include:
  • Does your content contain original information regarding research, insights, or analysis?
  • Does your content provide a comprehensive insight into a topic?
  • If your content uses other outside sources for inspiration, does it go that extra step to provide value and originality?
  • Does your content’s heading have an accurate representation about what the content is about?
  • Does your content contain titles that may be deemed as ‘click-bait’?
  • Is the content likely to be shared across social media platforms?
• Understand that while minor recoveries are possible between core updates, substantial positive changes are more likely after another core update.

Why Does This Matter?

Whenever there’s a significant change in Google’s ranking algorithms, websites might notice fluctuations in their search results standings.

Such changes can be due to internal modifications made on the website or external changes from Google’s end.

Being aware of Google’s updates can provide a clearer understanding of observed shifts in analytics and rankings. Hence, for the coming weeks, it’s crucial to monitor any changes closely.

A Recap of Updates Leading to August 2023

Before this current update, Google rolled out a reviews update in April 2023, which spanned from April 12 to April 25. Another noteworthy update was the February 2023 product reviews update, which had significant repercussions on search results.

Looking further back, here’s a brief timeline of notable updates:

September 2022: A less impactful core update.

May 2022: Noted as both fast and significant in its influence.

November 2021, July 2021, and June 2021: Past core updates with the June 2021 being particularly significant regarding changes.

PWD’s Findings

For PWD and our SEO clients, these updates serve as an opportunity to reflect, adapt, and improve. As Google continues to refine its algorithms, it’s crucial for web developers, content creators, and digital marketers working with or for PWD to prioritise accessibility and inclusivity.

Here are a few tips that our in-house team of specialists recommend following core updates:

• Content is key. Ensuring that your content is continually being updated and optimised for relevancy is one of the most important factors that needs to be considered. Businesses should hire or source a specialist copywriter who understands the intricacies of SEO to be able to keep their content fresh and avoid it from being outdated.
• This core update highlights the importance of abiding by the core principles and standards laid out by schema.org. Ensuring your schema is correctly set is paramount to the foundation of a successful SEO campaign and website.

If you’re looking for a Perth marketing agency that priortises the above, be sure to contact us today at PWD.

We offer a broad range of services that will aid in your marketing efforts to attract your ideal client.

As with any SEO-related question or query PWD highly recommends speaking to our expert team. We are able to provide audits, information, and advice that can boost any SEO campaign to new heights. This means you stay ahead of the competition in this ever-changing digital landscape.