Discover How the Google June 2019 Core Search Algorithm Update Could Impact Your Affiliate Campaigns

While Google says the June 2019 Core Search Algorithm Update was not a major one, you should keep an eye out on how your site and affiliate campaigns were and will be impacted.

These core updates by Google impact how search results are ranked and listed. Here is what Google’s tweet said:

“Tomorrow, we are releasing a broad core search algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the June 2019 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before.”

Google Core Updates

Google initiates core updates about every few months. The last Google core update was released in March 2019. That update appeared to affect the health and medical space.

Google is changing their practices and announced this update in advance. According to Google, they made the change because the community has been asking Google to be more proactive when it comes to these SERP changes.

According to Google employee Danny Sullivan, there was nothing special or particular about this update. It is a usual core update that the company regularly does.

How big was the impact?

While Google claimed the update was broad and no big deal, many publications saw changes early on. Both the Daily Mail and CCN have publicly stated how badly the core update hit them. According to the Daily Mail’s SEO Director Jesus Mendez, the site lost 50 percent of its traffic, with a 90 percent drop in Google Discover feed traffic.

“This was a drop over the course of 24 hours, and we have not made any changes to the site. Further, we saw our Discover traffic drop by 90 percent and has not improved. This is across all verticals, devices, AMP and Non-AMP,” Mendez told Search Engine Land.

Financial news site CCN is shutting down after Google’s June 2019 Core Update. As a result of the update the site lost 71 percent of its mobile traffic overnight. Their visibility on Google dropped from 1.2 to less than 0.6. The company’s daily revenue dropped over 90 percent.

The company has been unable to determine the root cause of the issue. While contributors to the Google forum have speculated about the cause of the drop, no one knows for sure.

Whenever there is an algorithm change some sites win and some lose. While the Daily Mail and CCN were hit hard, Sistrix UK data shows that other publications rose like the Mirror, the Sun and the Metro.

Google’s Advice on Core Updates

Google has released advice around these broad core algorithm updates in the past. Their recommendation is:

“Each day, Google usually release one or more changes designed to improve our results. Some are focused around specific improvements. Some are broad changes. Last week, we released a broad core search algorithm update. We do these routinely several times per year. As with any update, some sites may note drops or gains. There’s nothing wrong with pages that may now perform less well. Instead, it’s that changes to our systems are benefiting pages that were previously under-rewarded. There’s no ‘fix’ for pages that may perform less well other than to remain focused on building great content. Over time, it may be that your content may rise relative to other pages.”

Easy for them to say, but hard to swallow when your income relies on where you rank in their search results.

How to React to the Core Update

It’s difficult to determine how webmasters should react to the update, besides watch metrics closely. Some reasons for penalties include:

• Website layout
• Advertisement policies
• Clickbait titles
• Political slant
• Site speed

Google has confirmed, even they don’t fully understand how RankBrain works.

This core search algorithm update seems to have impacted news sites frequently, but your site could be next. Monitor your Google Analytics and Search Console results to determine how you have been impacted.

The best advice is to continue to optimize your site for SEO best practices. Avoid clickbait titles, provide high-value long form content, and optimize your site for speed. Avoid any black hat SEO tactics which Google has outlined in the past.

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