WordWorks and Google’s September 2019 Core Update

Google made some changes to its search algorithm recently. What does that mean for you and your site’s content? And to be more specific, what does it mean if you use WordWorks?

Let’s give this a quick run-down, based on what’s publicly known about the recent changes, some reasonable speculation, and how and why it effects (or doesn’t effect) WordWorks.

Google makes changes to its search algorithms all the time, in large and small ways. Saying that they do this “all the time” is no exaggeration: Google stated earlier this year that they release “one or more changes” on a daily basis. With changes so frequent and routine, Google doesn’t bother giving advance notice of most modifications, only those it places in the category of “broad core updates,” which is how it described the September 2019 update—which rolled out on September 24th and was officially given the catchy title of the “September 2019 Core Update.” Some big updates are announced months in advance; in this case, they gave a few hours notice. Some sites saw improvements in search rankings, some saw declines, and some saw no noticeable changes.

Small to moderate search results changes shouldn’t disturb anyone. If every little change to Google search code worries you or causes problems with your site’s search results, you’re probably doing something wrong.

That Google link referenced above, by the way, might be worth getting to know. In the middle of that post, there’s an extensive list under the heading of “Focus on Content” which should be of interest to anyone concerned with high-quality online content. Building criteria toward what it calls “E-A-T” (for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), the post lists 20 questions that a reader should answer positively to get a sense for how Google search will treat a page.

The good news is that WordWorks meets all of these criteria, and always has. We can answer 18 of those 20 questions with a solid “yes!”—and “no” is the correct answer for the other two (“Is the content mass-produced or careless?” “Does the content have an excessive amount of ads?”).

Here’s the thing, though: at WordWorks, we don’t sit around and try to figure out how to exploit search algorithms. Because we don’t need to. Over the past half decade or so, as we’ve sharpened our content writing capabilities (independently as Waltham WordWorks since earlier this year), we’ve naturally reached the same conclusions that Google suggests everyone should. Our content is always original, always high-quality, always factual, uses good sources, uses good headings, is error-free, and already aligns with all of the other best practices for expert, authoritative, and trustworthy content.

In a nutshell: existing content produced by Waltham WordWorks and all new content moving forward should be totally unaffected by most updates to Google, because we always focus on the quality of our articles and their usefulness, not on search engine manipulation.

But the September 2019 Core Update might actually deliver a bonus for WordWorks content: one of the suspected tweaks to the algorithm—or perhaps a tweak that had already been made—rewards original content (or it punishes those who copy content; with Google, it’s hard to ever be sure).

Of course, like most Google changes, this one might be small and subtle, might take time to have any effect, and then might not amount to much. It’s a step in the right direction, though, and for us it only serves to confirm the fact that the way we’ve chosen to operate with WordWorks is the right way, and that it’s a solid foundation for future search success for our clients.

If you do your own research, you’ll probably encounter articles or opinion pieces taking a position that Google’s E-A-T factors contribute only a tiny fraction toward search rankings. There are around 200 different factors, some will say, and E-A-T hardly matters. This is correct…and yet it’s very wrong. It’s correct in the sense that there are roughly 200 known and suspected factors which influence search ranking (although some might no longer be used). Yet it’s wrong because those factors are not weighted equally: some make a large contribution to the overall ranking, others only a minimal contribution. Some factors are very technical and are difficult for a site owner to exert any influence on, while others—here comes E-A-T again—are very much within the control of a site owner.

Our experience tells us, and has told us over and over again, that continuously creating high-quality original content is really the best way to build a site that will grow steadily in search results, and stay there for the long term.