Google: The Timing Of The September Core Update Following The HCU Is Not Coincidental

Danny Sullivan of Google explained why the September Core Update came so soon after the Helpful Content Update.

Google Helpful Content Update Is Now Complete

Danny Sullivan of Google responded to a tweet that questioned the timing of the September Core Algorithm Update so close to the Helpful Content Update.

Dr.Pete Meyers tweeted that he couldn’t believe the two updates coming so close together were a coincidence.

He tweeted:

“Hard to imagine that a September Core Update right on the heels (literally zero business days later) of the Helpful Content Update is a coincidence.

These aren’t spontaneous events Google just wakes up Monday morning and decides to kick off.”

Later on, Pete clarified his meaning with another tweet:

“My tweet may have come across more conspiratorial than intended — I wasn’t suggesting that one was meant to obfuscate the other so much as speculating that a Core Update might be a natural, planned follow-up to the new signals introduced in the HCU.”

A core algorithm update days after the end of a targeted update, such as the Helpful Content Update (HCU), feels unusual.

Pete had reason to believe that the timing was not coincidental.

And, while the proximity of one update to another felt unusual, it wasn’t unprecedented.

Google, for example, released six updates between June and July 2021.

Why Did a Core Update Come After a Helpful Content Update?

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, responded to Pete with a series of tweets, confirming that the core update was not a coincidence and that one followed the other for a reason.

Danny tweeted:

“Just saw this. We’ve worked very hard to keep updates separated from each other, or as little overlap as possible, to help creators understand more.

So no, not coincidence we are due a core update but said let’s wait on that until the helpful content update has rolled out…”

He tweeted:

“I get some folks are trying to read more into things that aren’t there, and that’s always going to be a fact of SEO life.

But if the point was to purposely confuse or whatever, we could roll multiple update on the very same day.

We’ve worked to do the opposite…”

Danny then stated that it is sometimes unavoidable for updates to be released one after the other.

He clarified:

“It’ll be unavoidable that some updates might overlap as we can’t hold things we believe will help improve search back. But I think we’ve done more to communicate more about updates we do, when they happen and what they involve than ever, including our page”

Danny went on:

“And when it’s unavoidable for updates to overlap, we have worked to space them apart as much as possible so people might have a better idea of what might have caused a particular change (and for many sites, updates cause no change at all).”

There is no link between the two updates

There was no link between the two updates, according to Danny Sullivan.

The main reason for the core update was that one was due to be released.

Danny stated that Google is capable of simultaneously releasing multiple updates, which means that they could have released the core algorithm update at the same time as the HCU and not mentioned the HCU at all.

However, Google decided to announce the HCU first and then release the core update after the HCU was completed, thereby spacing them out.

Hopefully, with the information about the 2 updates that EverRanks has compiled, you will have good choices to improve your work results at the right time. Follow our SEO company for more detail in SEO/SEM services.

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