Fairly Small Google Update on the 1st of August 2019

It’s been a relatively quiet couple of weeks since the previous search update, until today, that is. It looks like another [Search Ranking Update]/google-algorithm-updates/ is now rolling out, but it doesn’t appear to be overly large.

Volatility started on the 31st of July and is continuing into the 1st of August.

There have been reports in the SEO community of recoveries from the July update. Others, though, are experiencing losses, as I cover later in the article.

The SERP Trackers

Let’s take a look at the SERP trackers:

SEMrush Sensor:

The SEMrush Sensor shows an increase in volatility on the 31st of July and the 1st of August. It looks like a relatively minor update based on this chart.

Rank Risk Index:

The Rank Risk Index tracker also confirms an update, but a relatively small one.

MozCast:

The MozCast weather report indicates a relatively large update. It appears to be spread over just one day, unlike the other trackers that show it split over two days.

Advanced Web Ranking:

Advanced Web Ranking shows increased volatility on the 1st of August.

CognitiveSEO SIGNALS:

CognitiveSEO SIGNALS shows the Google update started on the 31st of July, continuing to the 1st of August.

Accuranker:

Accuranker shows a relatively small update on the 1st of August.

What does the SEO community say?

Let’s take a look at the discussions on WebmasterWorld for this search update.

Positions that recovered in July have dropped again today. (MayankParmar)

My homepage disappeared from the SERPs on my main KW yesterday (also dropped for a few others) - but its back again today and traffic is all good (RareBit)

I am seeing the beginnings of an uptick in organic traffic….up 19% over last week and even GSC is showing a big increase in clickthroughs. I will wait and see if it lasts. I did recently add content to my home page to try and recapture some of the loss in traffic to my landing pages. This doesn’t come close to recovering all the traffic I have lost since last year. (ichthyous)

Abnormally low traffic from Google this morning. Feels like an update is upon us… (glakes)

What to do if this update hits you

The best advice I can give you is to read the Google Raters Guidelines.

There is some excellent guidance relating to E-A-T and content quality in the guide, and the advice comes straight from Google.

I firmly believe that improving content quality, as well as getting the technical aspects of your site audited, will result in massive improvements for your website.

It may take a fair amount of work, including rewriting, merging, and deleting old low-quality content, but it is worth it.

I highly recommend SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz to help you with this.

For example, SEMrush has:

• SEMrush keyword tool - will help you create content using keywords with higher search volumes. It also works for updating existing content.
• SEO Writer will help you improve your content by assessing it for recommended semantic keywords, as well as other metrics.
• Audit your site to get quick wins, such as ensuring you are adhering to SEO best practices.
• Get new ideas for content with their SEO Ideas tool

Using a good quality SEO tool such as SEMrush can significantly boost your site traffic for a relatively small effort.