June 2019 core update: dates, what changed and what to do

What Google changed#

On 2 June 2019, Google SearchLiaison posted: “Tomorrow, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the June 2019 Core Update.” It was the first time Google had given notice of a core update before it launched. Google did not describe any specific ranking change, and pointed back to its standing guidance on core updates.

Google’s Danny Sullivan explained the advance notice: “We just wanted to be more proactive.” He described the update as “the usual type of core updates that we regularly do,” rather than anything unusually large.

When it rolled out#

Google SearchLiaison posted on 3 June 2019 that the update was “now live and rolling out to our various data centers over the coming days.” On 8 June 2019, Danny Sullivan told Search Engine Roundtable on X that the core update had rolled out. Google gave no rollout length beyond those two dates.

In the same week a separate site diversity change rolled out, which Search Engine Roundtable dated from about 4 to 6 June 2019, so a change in that window may come from either.

What is known about its impact#

Google published no impact figures for this update. Its core update guidance says these updates “don’t target specific sites or individual web pages,” and that pages which move down are not necessarily bad; other pages may simply serve the searcher better. Treat any winner or loser percentage attributed to this update as a third-party estimate.

What site owners should do#

Google’s core ranking systems are still in use today, and its current core update guidance applies to this update as much as to recent ones:

• Wait until a core update has finished, then at least one more full week, before judging.
• Compare a week after the update with a week before it began.
• Take no drastic action for small drops; for a large, sustained drop, assess the whole site against Google’s helpful content self-assessment questions.
• Expect recovery, if it comes, to take time and often a later core update.

How to check whether it affected you#

Search Console keeps only 16 months of data, so its reports no longer cover June 2019. Use archived analytics exports or rank tracking data from May to July 2019 and compare the week before 3 June with the week after 8 June. The Google Algorithm Updates timeline lists the updates around it, so you can rule out other changes first.

Related updates#

• The March 2019 core update was the previous core update.
• The September 2019 core update was the next one.