Google's May 2022 Core Update - Everything you need to know 

What is a Broad Core Update? 

Google’s broad Core Updates involve an overall tweaking of Google’s algorithm rather than specifically targeting one element. This helps to improve the overall performance of the search engine and delivers the most relevant results to users but will not fix a specific problem. Previous updates such as Panda and Penguin were more targeted, looking specifically at the quality of backlinks and content. 

These updates can affect rankings across the board so it’s important to be aware of the possible effects on your site if you’ve seen a fluctuation in the last month. 

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1. Continued focus on E-A-T 

E-A-T, or Expertise, Authority, Trust, is the acronym used to describe a set of best practices to help you optimise your content so it ranks well within search engines. Your content needs to: 

• Demonstrate expertise in your field 
• Come from a position of authority 
• Help readers to find you trustworthy 

We can assume that Google’s update will have focused on E-A-T so if you’ve seen rankings drop as a result of this update, it’s likely that it’s not exhibiting E-A-T. This update had an impact on rankings for generalist websites more than specialist websites that cover a narrower scope of topics. This is an indication that these elements of the algorithm have been affected. 

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2. Video content is still king 

Google and its users continually reward video creators with incentives and higher rankings which reflects how people now prefer to consume content. This update has provided clear signals that video content is going to be more popular in the future. 

TikTok has expanded the demand for short videos and YouTube videos with labelled sections and video embedding make it easier than ever for users to access and scan through video content to find the information they need. 

If you’re not already adding video to your content strategy, it could be a great way to drive more traffic to your website and grow your revenue. 

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3. Impact to FAQ snippets 

According to Search Engine Roundtable, FAQ snippets on SERPs have increased from 22% to 27% of queries. These FAQs are being shown in Google almost 23% more than they were before. 

Creating FAQ pages on your site will help your site to appear at the top of the SERPs and encourage users to click through to your site. They help you to drive more traffic to your website to attract more clicks by adding expertise and authority to your SERP results. Showing up in the FAQ results will help to improve your overall search rankings. Strong content within your FAQ snippets could help to push your website to the top of the results 

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4. Changes and fluctuations are common 

If you’ve found that your rankings have been up and down since the update, this is completely normal and is nothing to worry about. As the algorithm is rolled out over a few weeks, it’s completely normal to see rankings affected differently at different stages. 

These are some of the key elements to be aware of for Google’s latest core update. For most businesses, it’s business as usual with site and content optimisation and just making sure everything is as relevant as possible and follows SEO best practice. For some, it might mean a quick site check to make sure everything is as it should be and making a few tweaks to ensure that best practice is followed as closely as possible. 

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