SEO News: Google’s Latest June Updates and Search Console Insights Feature
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June 21, 2021
Google’s June 2021 Core Update is now complete, and the page experience update is currently being rolled out — and we’re just getting started.
As we covered in our previous Industry News article, Google announced three updates set to be released throughout June and July 2021. It’s a rare occurrence for Google to release so many updates in such a short period of time, so we want to help clarify everything that is happening.
Here is an overview of the announced updates and releases:
- June 2021 Core Update: Completed
- July 2021 Core Update: Coming soon
- Page Experience Update: Currently rolling out
- Search Console Insights (New): Launched
Keep in mind that these are all separate updates, despite the overlapping release dates. Below you’ll find the status of each update, what you can expect, and any new information surrounding the release.
Let’s dive into the summer of Google updates!
June 2021 Core Update: Completed
Google released the June 2021 Core Update on June 2nd, and announced that it was completed on June 12th. This was shorter than expected, it was planned for the rollout to take two weeks to be completed.
What you need to know right now
As of right now, there are no definitive results.
We expected fluctuations like any other update, and there was chatter in the SEO community about rankings going up and down. But since this update will be followed by the July 2021 Core Update — which Google said could reverse some of the changes made in June — it’s too early to know what the full extent of the update is.
Monitor your site for changes and issues so when your rankings drop, you know it's not due to anything your team did!
For those interested in reading about some preliminary results, check out the following:
- Google Core Update June 2021 – The Summer of Google Updates — Sistrix (opens in a new tab)
- Winners and Losers of Google’s June 2021 Core Update — Amsive Digital (opens in a new tab)
- Lily Ray on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
- Glenn Gabe on Tiwtter (opens in a new tab)
Again, it’s important to remember that anything we’re seeing could potentially be reversed by the update coming in July.
July 2021 Core Update: Coming Soon
The July 2021 Core Update is still expected for the coming month, but Google hasn't announced a set date for when the rollout will begin.
What you need to know right now
There isn't any news to give for this update at this time, except to keep in mind that changes from June could be reversed. Aside from that, we would recommend to just keep following best practices (opens in a new tab).
Make sure it's not because of some unintended changes that were made — monitor your site 24/7 and be alerted in case of trouble!
Page Experience Update: Rolling Out
The page experience update is currently being rolled out and is expected to be completed by the end of August.
After being postponed from the initial rollout date of May 2021, the long-awaited page experience update is here! The page experience update combines the existing User Experience ranking factors with Core Web Vitals to make a new set of ranking signals — so, in theory, sites that provide a better experience will perform better in Google search.
Google noted that this will be a gradual rollout, and it’s not expected to bring any major changes right away.
What you need to know right now
As part of the page experience rollout, Google announced changes coming to the Top Stories carousel.
Starting June 17th, AMP will no longer be a requirement to be featured in the Top Stories. Additionally, the AMP badge icon will no longer be shown and the swiping feature will be removed from the story viewer.
This means that now all relevant content can be featured in Top Stories, not just AMP pages.
Google explained (opens in a new tab) that the AMP format helped ensure that the content they showed was fast and provided a good user experience. But now, thanks to the introduction of Core Web Vitals, search won’t need to rely on the AMP validation — instead, Core Web Vitals will be able to determine if a site is fast or not, regardless of what framework was used to make it. And as a result, any page is now eligible for this section.
However, with more pages now eligible, there’s more competition to get featured. To get into the Top Stories, Google recommends:
- Following Google News policies (opens in a new tab)
- Maintaining good Core Web Vitals and Page Experience scores
- Publishing relevant, high-quality content
Be alerted when your site stops passing the Core Web Vitals assessment!
Search Console Insights: Launched
In addition to the algorithm updates, Google announced the launch of Search Console Insights this past week.
Search Console Insights is a new way for site owners and content creators to gain insight into their performance. It combines data from Google Search Console with Google Analytics to provide an easy-to-digest overview on metrics like top performing content, average time duration, search queries, and more.
What you need to know right now
You can access Search Console Insights through the link at the top of the Search Console Overview page. Additionally, you can search Google for a query that your site ranks for and it will bring up a summary of your site’s performance in the results section.
It’s important to note that if you haven’t connected Google Search Console with Google Analytics, only basic Search Console data will be shown. To get the full experience, you’ll need to connect your Google Analytics with Google Search Console.
Given that Google has been testing this for over a year, along with the Beta label on their website (opens in a new tab), it’s still possible that there’s more tweaks and improvements to come. So be sure to check back for any further updates.
Keep up with Google updates
There’s plenty of more updates coming from Google this summer. But don’t worry, we’re here to help make it easier for you to stay in the loop.
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Jessica is a content marketer for ContentKing. Her days are spent writing marketing content, cycling around canals in Amsterdam and attempting to master the Dutch language.
