You open Search Console and your traffic has dropped. Then you see the news: Google has rolled out a core update. It's easy to panic and start changing things straight away. Google's own advice points the other way.
This guide explains what a core update is, how to tell whether it actually affected you, and what Google itself recommends doing. Google's advice is linked throughout, so you can check it yourself. Where a tip is ours, we say so.
What a core update is (and isn't)
Google describes core updates as "significant, broad changes to our search algorithms and systems" that it makes several times a year (Google: core updates and your website). Google gives notice of them on its list of ranking updates, and the Google Search Status Dashboard shows when each rollout started and how long it took. As of October 29, 2026, the most recent core update on the dashboard is the May 2026 core update.
Three things are worth knowing:
- They don't target specific sites. Google says core updates are "broad in nature, and don't target specific sites or individual web pages." A core update is not a penalty against your site.
- A drop doesn't mean your page is bad. Google compares it to a list of your 20 favourite restaurants that you update for a friend. New restaurants open, your view of some places changes, and restaurants that move down aren't necessarily "bad". There are just other restaurants that make the top 20.
- Most sites don't notice them. Google says most sites "don't need to worry about core updates and may not even realize one has happened."
A core update is also different from a manual action, where a human reviewer at Google decides that pages on a site don't comply with Google's spam policies. Google tells you about a manual action in the Manual actions report in Search Console and in the Search Console message center. A core update is not reported there.
Step 1: Confirm it really was the update
Before you diagnose anything, rule out the boring causes. Some drops blamed on algorithm updates have technical causes:
- An accidental noindex. A robots meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header left over from staging will remove pages from Google, update or no update.
- robots.txt blocking. A new Disallow rule can stop Google crawling whole sections.
- Redirects or URL changes. A redesign that changed URLs without proper 301 redirects can cost you rankings.
- Downtime or errors. Google says 5xx server errors make its crawlers slow down, and already indexed URLs are eventually dropped if the errors continue.
- Tracking breaks. If your analytics shows a drop but Search Console clicks are steady, the problem may be your tracking code, not Google.
- Seasonality. Compare with the same period last year before you blame anything.
A site audit tool can check many pages for these problems at once. The SEOSFT Indexability check finds pages Google cannot index: noindex, robots.txt blocks, wrong canonicals and broken pages. The audit also checks page speed, structured data and content, and puts the fixes in one ranked list.
Step 2: Wait, then compare the right dates
Google is specific about timing (core updates page):
- Confirm the update has finished rolling out. Check the Search Status Dashboard and note the start and end dates.
- Wait at least a full week after it completes.
- Compare like with like. After that week, Google suggests comparing the current week with a week before the update started rolling out.
In Search Console, open the Performance report, choose Compare in the date filter, and set those two weeks side by side. Then look at the Pages and Queries tabs.
Step 3: Decide whether it's a small or a large drop
Google suggests reviewing your top pages and queries and asking whether the drop is small or large:
- Small drop (e.g. position 2 to 4): Google says there's "no need to take drastic action." It even recommends "avoiding making changes to content that's already performing well."
- Large drop (e.g. position 4 to 29): do a deeper assessment.
Also check search types separately. Google suggests analysing Web Search, Google Images, Video mode and the News tab separately, to see where the drop happened.
Ask yourself as well whether the drop is site-wide or limited to a few pages. If it's a few pages, look at what now outranks them for their main queries. If you see a sustained, large drop for the site as a whole, Google points you to a site-level look at content quality.
Step 4: Assess your content honestly
For a large, sustained drop, Google points to its self-assessment questions in Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content. Some of the most useful ones:
- Does the content provide original information, reporting, research or analysis?
- Does it offer insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond the obvious?
- If it draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting them, and add substantial value and originality?
- Is it the sort of page you'd want to bookmark, share with a friend or recommend?
- Does it have easily verified factual errors?
- After reading, will someone feel they've learned enough to reach their goal?
Google also lists warning signs that content is made for search engines first. These include producing lots of content on many different topics in the hope some of it ranks, using extensive automation to produce content, mainly summarising what others say without adding much value, writing to a particular word count (Google's answer on a preferred word count: "No, we don't."), and changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed.
Two tips from Google that are easy to skip:
- Get an outside opinion. Google suggests asking people you trust who are unaffiliated with your site to do an assessment using the questions, and to try to be objective yourself.
- Look closely at the pages that lost the most. Then look at what replaced them. Google notes that there may be other pages on the web "doing a better job of helping the searcher."
What about trust and expertise?
Google says that of experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), "trust is most important." Its systems give even more weight to content with strong E-E-A-T for "Your Money or Your Life" topics that could affect people's health, financial stability or safety. Google says E-E-A-T itself isn't a specific ranking factor. It encourages accurate authorship information, such as bylines where readers might expect them. It also warns that fabricated creator profiles, such as AI-generated headshots or made-up names, are a form of deception and a signal of a low-quality page.
Step 5: Make real improvements, not quick fixes
Google's advice on making changes (core updates page):
- Avoid "quick fix" changes, like removing a page element because you heard it was bad for SEO. Make changes that make sense for users and last.
- Improve content in meaningful ways. Google's example: rewriting or restructuring a page so it's easier to read and navigate.
- Treat deleting content as a last resort, only if you think it can't be salvaged. Google adds that if you're considering deleting entire sections, that's likely a sign they were made for search engines first, not people. In that case, deleting the unhelpful content can help your good content perform better.
In practice, a recovery plan for a typical small business site could look like this (our suggestion, not Google's):
- List the 10 to 20 pages that lost the most clicks.
- For each one, search its main query and read the top three results. Note what they answer that you don't.
- Update your page with new information: your own experience, photos, prices, examples, data or a clearer structure.
- Add a real byline and make sure your About page explains who you are.
- Fix technical problems that hurt the experience, like slow loading or layout shifts. Google says its core ranking systems look to reward content that provides a good page experience, and that you should not focus on only one or two aspects of it. Our Core Web Vitals fixes guide covers the speed side in plain English.
- Merge thin pages that cover the same topic into one stronger page, with 301 redirects from the old URLs.
Step 6: Be patient about recovery
This is the hardest part. Google says some changes can take effect in a few days, but "it could take several months" for its systems to confirm a site is producing helpful content in the long term. If months pass with no change, you may have to wait for the next core update.
There's some good news too. Google says it also makes smaller core updates that aren't announced, so improvements can show between big updates. But Google also says there's no guarantee that your changes will have a noticeable impact, and that positions in Search results aren't fixed.
What not to do after a core update
- Don't rewrite your whole site in the first few days of a rollout.
- Don't buy links or "recovery packages". Link spam breaks Google's spam policies, and Google runs spam detection systems, including SpamBrain, against content and behaviour that violate them.
- Don't change dates without real updates. Google lists this as a warning sign.
- Don't mass-produce new pages to make up lost traffic.
- Don't assume a drop on one keyword means a site-wide problem.
A quick checklist
- The update has finished rolling out, and I waited at least a week.
- I compared a recent week with a week before the rollout started, in Search Console.
- I ruled out noindex, robots.txt, redirects, downtime and tracking problems.
- I know whether the drop is small or large, and site-wide or page-level.
- I reviewed my most-affected pages against Google's self-assessment questions, ideally with an outside reviewer.
- I'm improving pages for readers, not making quick fixes.
Rule out the technical side first
The free SEOSFT plan audits up to 10 pages (you need an account) and gives a ranked action plan. Then you can spend your time on the content work.
Sources
- Google Search Central, Google Search's core updates and your website: https://developers.google.com/search/updates/core-updates
- Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content
- Google Search Central, A guide to Google Search ranking systems: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide
- Google, Search Status Dashboard: https://status.search.google.com/
- Search Console Help, Manual actions report: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044175
- Google Search Central, How HTTP status codes and network errors affect Google Search: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/http-network-errors