Google confirmed a broad core algorithm update on 12th Mar 2018, via its Search Liaison Twitter account. The update had been released the previous week, as Search Engine Land reported.
Sites had already been reporting ranking swings for days. The update is dated to 9th Mar 2018, when those swings spiked.
No formal end date was announced.
The confirmation set out language Google would reuse for years:
- it does these updates "routinely several times per year";
- pages that drop are not broken;
- "changes to our systems are benefiting pages that were previously under-rewarded".
Google added that there is "no 'fix' for pages that may perform less well other than to remain focused on building great content". The same framing reappeared in the April and August 2018 confirmations.
If a site moved in this window, the guidance for every broad core update applies here. Assess the pages that lost visibility against the self-assessment questions in Google's core updates help pages.
Improve overall quality. Recovery usually registers at a later core update.
Our recovery guide covers the sequence.
