Updated on:
June 2, 2026
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by Momentic
Google's second core update of the year was announced without much context: "This is a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites. The rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete."
Rollout complete!
Rollout in progress!
May 21, 2026
May 21, 2026
June 2, 2026
Rollout in progress!
Below you'll get tips on what to look for, how to respond on your website, and helpful resources to improve your website's SEO and UX as it relates specifically to this Google update.
This core update kicked off the day after Google I/O where they announced new models, agents, and tools including "the biggest upgrade to our Search box in over 25 years" along with a slew of AI-powered Search features. It's no coincidence that a core update followed, but without official confirmation as to what it's designed to achieve, we'll have to wait and see. Google has definitely been emphasizing their preference for "non-commodity content" a lot lately, and they also recently published new documentation about optimizing websites for generative AI features in Google Search. If you're worried about the potential impact of this core update on your visibility in search, those would be good places to look for clues as to what type of web content is currently in favor with Google.
All websites, but especially websites with content created specifically to rank well in Google Search instead of being genuinely helpful to people.
1. Organic traffic trends, especially non-branded (Google Search Console)
2. Ranking flux & search visibility for high intent keywords (Semrush, Ahrefs, or similar)—look for ranking movements (higher or lower) for website content
3. Keep a close eye on your most valuable SERPs—look out for any changes in the content that is being ranked higher or lower than before the update
4. URL indexation trends (Google Search Console)
1. Check if the speed or E-E-A-T of your URLs could be a cause of traffic drops.
2. Make sure you haven’t deleted any pieces of content which were previously earning a high volume of organic search traffic.
3. Make sure your content that used to get traffic is still indexed.
4. Determine if significant changes have been made to your website structure or semantic HTML.
5. Prune your content to remove (or improve) unhelpful or non-unique pages. Monitor & track changes made to your website.
6. Track the changing relevance (perceived intent) of keywords related to your content.
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