Google's August 2023 Core Update is Now Live: 10 points to know

Google has announced the launch of its August 2023 core update, which is now rolling out and may take up to two weeks to complete. This is the second broad core algorithm update of 2023; the previous core update was the March 2023 core update, which started rolling out on March 15 and was completed on March 28.

If you notice any changes in your website’s search ranking after the August 2023 core update, it is important to stay calm and not make any drastic changes to your website. It may take some time for the update to fully roll out and for your website’s ranking to stabilize.

Google said it again: there is no fix

Google wrote, “We know those with sites that experience drops will be looking for a fix, and we want to ensure they don’t try to fix the wrong things. Moreover, there might not be anything to fix at all.” Google added, “As explained, pages that drop after a core update have nothing wrong to fix. This said we understand those who do less well after a core update change may still feel they need to do something.”

In the meantime, you can focus on improving the quality of your content and making sure that your website is user-friendly and mobile-friendly. These are always good things to do, regardless of whether or not there is a core update happening.

10 things you need to know about the August 2023 core update:

It is a broad core update, which means that it affects all types of websites and content.
It is not targeted at any specific websites or industries.
It is designed to improve the quality of search results by rewarding websites that provide high-quality, relevant content.
It is impossible to know exactly what factors Google uses to evaluate websites in this update.
However, some factors that are likely to be important include the quality of the content, the user experience, and the overall relevance of the website to the search query.
It is important to continue creating high-quality content relevant to your target audience.
You should also monitor your website’s performance in search results after the update and make necessary changes if you see any changes.
It is important to remember that core updates can take several weeks to roll out fully, so it may be some time before you see any changes in your website’s ranking.
If you do see changes in your website’s ranking, don’t panic. Keep creating high-quality content and improving your website’s overall user experience.
Google has a history of releasing core updates throughout the year, so preparing for them is important. By understanding these updates and how they work, you can better position your website to succeed in the long run.

Google wrote

“There’s nothing wrong with pages that may perform less well in a core update. They haven’t violated our webmaster guidelines nor been subjected to manual or algorithmic action, as can happen to pages that do violate those guidelines. In fact, there’s nothing in a core update that targets specific pages or sites. Instead, the changes are about improving how our systems assess content overall. These changes may cause some pages that were previously under-rewarded to do better.

One way to think of how a core update operates is to imagine you made a list of the top 100 movies in 2015. A few years later, in 2019, you refresh the list. It’s going to change naturally. Some new and wonderful movies that never existed will now be inclusion candidates. You might also reassess some films and realize they deserve a higher place on the list than they had before.

The list will change, and films previously higher on the list that move down aren’t bad. There are more deserving films that are coming before them.”