July 2021 core update: dates, what changed and what to do

What Google changed#

Google first named this update on 2 June 2021, when it announced the June 2021 core update and said “this will be followed by the July 2021 Core update.” It explained that some planned improvements “aren’t quite ready,” so it released the rest in July. Google did not say which improvements were held back.

On 1 July 2021 Google SearchLiaison posted on X: “The July 2021 Core Update, previously announced, is now rolling out.” Like every core update, it was a broad change to ranking systems rather than a penalty aimed at particular sites.

When it rolled out#

Google said on 1 July that core updates “typically take 1-2 weeks to finish.” On 12 July 2021 it posted that “the July 2021 core update rollout is now effectively complete.” The Search Status Dashboard did not exist yet, so these posts are the official record.

The page experience update, which began on 15 June, was still rolling out throughout, and the July 2021 link spam update began on 26 July, two weeks after this one finished.

What is known about its impact#

Google published no impact figures. When it announced the two-part release, it said most sites would not notice either update, and that “a very small slice of content might see changes in June that reverse in July.” Treat any percentage you see attributed to this update as a third-party estimate.

What site owners should do#

Google’s core ranking systems are still in use, and its current core update guidance says core updates “don’t target specific sites or individual web pages.” The practical steps:

• Wait until the rollout has finished, then at least one more full week.
• Compare a week after the update with a week before it began, not the rollout window.
• Take no drastic action for small drops; for a large, sustained drop, assess the whole site against Google’s helpful content questions.
• Avoid quick fixes, and expect recovery, if it comes, to take months.

How to check whether it affected you#

Search Console keeps 16 months of data, so its reports no longer cover July 2021. Use archived analytics exports and compare the week before 1 July 2021 with the week after 12 July, and read it alongside the June 2021 core update, since the two were one release. The Google Algorithm Updates timeline lists the overlapping updates of that summer.

Related updates#

• The June 2021 core update was the first half of this release.
• The November 2021 core update was the next core update.
• The July 2021 link spam update began two weeks after it finished.