Google’s core algorithm update for January delivered “incredible increases” for niche content and had an impact across almost every category, according to data providers analysing the global rollout.
The first core update of the new decade started to filter through to search at midday on 13th January and was “mostly” completed three days later.
The changes showed all the signs of a classic “broad” update and were not limited to a specific country or language.
Now the dust has settled, SEMrush and RankRanger are among the software providers that have started to sift through the finer details of the January 2020 update and assess how it has affected SERPs.
RankRanger found that the top ten results were particularly volatile with big changes in categories including travel, retail, finance and health.
However, the first and second results in search rankings were a bit more stable overall.
SEMrush said that the update didn’t target specific topics and that there were major changes across the board.
Some of the websites that won out this time around include Dictionary.com, Discogs, Getty Images and TechCrunch.
Meanwhile, TripSavvy, Local.com and Tuffy featured on the top ten losers list.
Sistrix’s Johannes Beus added: “Domains that relate to YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) topics have been re-evaluated by the search algorithm and gain or lose visibility as a whole.”
Any webmasters who have noticed a negative rankings impact in recent days are urged to take a step back and consider how a site can be improved as Google does not offer any specific recommendations for bouncing back immediately.
