{"id":2469,"date":"2019-07-02T09:10:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T13:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsqi.com\/marketing-blog\/?p=2469"},"modified":"2021-01-06T11:11:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06T15:11:00","slug":"google-core-ranking-updates-user-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsqi.com\/marketing-blog\/google-core-ranking-updates-user-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s Core Algorithm Updates and The Power of User Studies: How Real Feedback From Real People Can Help Site Owners Surface Website Quality Problems (And More)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Google just rolled out another broad core algorithm update on June 3<\/a> (which was preannounced by Google\u2019s Danny Sullivan.) And once again, the core ranking update was big. It wasn\u2019t long before you could see significant impact from the update across sites, categories, and countries. Some sites surged, while others dropped off a cliff. And that\u2019s par for the course with Google’s core updates.

For example, here are three examples of drops from the June 2019 Google Core Update:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But I\u2019m not here to specifically <\/em>cover the June update. Instead, I\u2019m here to cover an extremely important topic related to all broad core ranking updates \u2013 conducting user studies. It\u2019s something I have mentioned in a number of my posts about major algorithm updates, and Googlers have mentioned it too by the way. More on that soon.

My post today will cover the power of user studies as they relate to core ranking updates, and provide feedback from an actual user study I just conducted for a site impacted by several major updates. By the end of the post, I think you\u2019ll understand the value of a user study, and especially how it ties to Google\u2019s core updates by gaining feedback from real people in your target audience. \u00a0

Google: Take A Step Back And Get Real Feedback From Real People:
<\/strong>After broad core updates roll out, like the December 2020 core update<\/a> or May 2020 core update<\/a>, Google’s John Mueller is typically pummeled with questions about how to recover, which factors should be addressed to turn things around, etc. And as I\u2019ve documented<\/a> many times in my posts<\/a> about core updates<\/a>, there\u2019s never one smoking gun for sites negatively impacted. Instead, there\u2019s typically a battery of smoking guns. John has explained this point many times over the years and it\u2019s incredibly important to understand.

But beyond just taking a step back and surfacing all potential quality problems, John has explained another important point. He has explained that site owners should gain objective feedback from real users<\/strong>. And I\u2019m not referring to your spouse, children, coworkers, top customers, etc. I\u2019m talking about feedback from objective third parties. i.e. People that don\u2019t know your site, business, or you before visiting the site.

When you conduct a study like that, you can learn amazing things. Sure, some of the feedback will not make you happy and will be hard to take\u2026 but that\u2019s the point. Figure out what real people think of your site, the user experience, the ad situation, the content, the writers, etc. and then form a plan of attack for improving the site. It\u2019s tough love for SEO.

Here is one video of John explaining that site owners should gain feedback from objective third-parties (at 13:46 in the video). Note, it’s one of several where John explains this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n