In a recent interview, Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, revealed that publishers who experienced traffic losses because of recent Google updates may never regain their previous ranking levels.
Sullivan also gave valuable insights into how publishers can adjust to recent updates, saying that quality content is crucial and that they should not make radical changes to existing websites.
Update finishes without delivering on the promise to help small independent sites
Barry Schwartz’s interview with Danny Sullivan directly addressed the questions most site owners want answered.
Schwart asked the Search Liaison why the August core update had yet to deliver the positive results promised by Google, why small, independent site owners aren’t seeing positive results from the recent core update, and if ranking improvements are possible.
To Scwart’s first question, why the August update hasn’t helped sites affected by the September 2024 helpful content update, Sullivan replied:
- “Nothing is perfect, so you go through the process again and do further evaluations, further testing, and you try to look at different things and see how to make those better.”
Sullivan also told Schwarts:
- “But one of those things was to look at how to do better with great, smaller, independent sites. In fact, we have made some changes that we think are helping there.”
Barry Schwartz dug deeper, questioning Google’s efforts to help smaller independent sites. Danny Sullivan said he agreed, saying that excellent sites providing great content had been affected by algorithm updates and that Google should do more to reward their efforts.
- “We want them to do well; the action Google is taking is to keep adjusting the ranking systems to reward that kind of content, which is ultimately the goal.”
- “I think the changes have helped some of those sites but generally have not brought those sites all the way back up to the level they were back to, say, last September or so.”
- “I do think that some of those sites will continue to see good gains if they’re good sites, producing good content for people. I hope that they continue to go that way.”
Google promises its algorithm will eventually reward independent sites with quality content!
Sullivan discussed Google’s continuation in improving its algorithm while hinting that more changes are on the horizon.
Shwarts reported on this, saying:
- “The main idea Sullivan was getting across is that they’re still trying to fill the gaps in surfacing high-quality content from independent sites.”
Sullivan wrote:
- “The work to connect people with a range of high-quality sites, including small or independent sites that are creating useful, original content, is not done with this latest update. We continue to look at this area and how to improve further with future updates.”
Shwarts, again, questioned Google’s efforts, Sullivan replied:
- “There are definitely improvements that we can make, should be making, and want to be making around this.”
The message is “Don’t give up”
Sullivan told Schwartz that publishers who create useful content but aren’t seeing any positive results for their efforts in ranking improvements should not give up.
Here’s Sullivan’s spin on it:
- “No one who is creating really good content, who doesn’t feel that they were well rewarded in this last update, should think, well, that’s it. Because our goal is if you’re doing good content, we want you to be successful. And if we haven’t been rewarding you as well as we should, that’s part of what we hope this last update would do better on.”
- “We want the future update to continue down that path.”
Sullivan finished by saying more improvements were needed, and its systems could be better:
- “Google is not done with those changes; more improvements in those areas will come with future core updates. Google will continue to try to reward good content, but Google’s systems could be improved in some areas.”
Stay calm, carry on, avoid radical site changes
Google’s Search Liaison then advised site owners who already rank on page one not to make radical changes to jump slightly higher.
Sullivan also told Shwarts that sites already ranking well in SERPs should take this as a win and hold tight because search results are continuously changing, and any changes a site owner makes could negatively affect their rankings come the next algorithm update.
Sullivan wrote:
- “If you’re showing in the top results for queries, that’s generally a sign that we really view your content well. Sometimes, people then wonder how to move up a place or two. Rankings can and do change naturally. We recommend against making radical changes to move up a spot or two.”
- “Creators producing really good content, and you are ranking on the first page of our search results, you should be feeling pretty validated that you’re doing the right things.”
Sullivan added:
- “If you move from first to second, that can be a notable traffic impact; that’s what happens. It doesn’t mean that we don’t like your content. We clearly do like your content. That’s why you’re in the top results. But it’s going to be hard for you to then regain all that traffic back because of something else ranking higher, which is still useful to people as well, and overall if everything is useful to people on search, then overall everybody gains.”
Danny Sullivan’s message here is that publishers should be happy that Google values their content by ranking them on page one, even if that doesn’t convert into traffic.
Fair enough, but that’s of little help to website owners who have lost their income because of Google’s updates!
No promises of recovery
Shwarts moved the interview onto how and when sites will recover their lost rankings, saying it appeared Sullivan indicated that there is no going back before the September 2023 update, that new traffic levels some sites are experiencing could be the new norm, and that Google now promotes content from new sources.
Sullivan wrote:
- “But you can’t predict that every site will recover to exactly where they were in September because September doesn’t exist anymore. And our ranking systems are different, and among other things, our ranking systems also reward other kinds of content too, including forum content and social content, because that’s an important part of providing a good set of diverse results.”
Sullivan admits Google’s ranking systems are failing small independent site owners
Shwarts gave Sullivan examples of sites that provided high-quality content yet experienced horrendous ranking drops, sometimes leading to bankruptcy, asking what Google’s plan was to help those affected.
Sullivan admitted that, in some cases, it wasn’t right that folks who work hard to provide quality content aren’t rewarded in the SERPs, saying:
- “I absolutely don’t want to take away from the lived experience of these other kinds of sites that clearly are producing good content, and their hearts are in the right place, and our ranking systems are not doing a good enough job for them than they probably should do.”
- “And that’s what we’re continuing to work on. And if that’s what you believe you’re doing, you’re producing really good content. It’s for your audience, you have it in mind, you feel you’re right with what people would want, then you should continue to do that.”
- “And we’re going to continue to try to reward that kind of content because we want that content to do well.”
While it is nice of Sullivan to admit that Google should do a better job of helping small independent sites recover, the proof is it isn’t happening fast enough.
While publishers wait in hope, many continue to suffer because of Google’s evolution toward AI Overviews and non-authority-sourced content, like Reddit’s, over the original publisher.
The stats show that many site owners have not only seen zero recovery since Google completed the August core update but are also experiencing a further decline in rankings!
Barry Schwartz covers this in his post “Google Search Volatility Still Heated After August Core Update Rollout Completed.”
When he is not writing content, Terry can be found on his boat in Italy or chilling in his villa in Spain.
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