#google update

If you noticed a sudden shift in your website traffic or keyword tracking over the last few days, you aren't imagining things.

Google officially dropped the May 2026 Core Algorithm Update, completely overlapping with their massive AI Search overhauls at Google I/O. In this video, we pull back the curtain on what this means for the future of your content:

What's Actually Changing in the 2026 Grid?

This update landed right as Google rolled out its biggest search box upgrade in 25 years—shifting users toward typing longer, conversational, prompt-style queries. Because of this, Google is aggressively adjusting how it weights information:  

 Real People Win: The algorithm is prioritizing content tied to verified authors, real-world credentials, and first-hand experience (E-E-A-T).   

 The Death of Thin Optimization: Speculation across the SEO community suggests this update is heavily correcting sites that use cheap AI-citation hacks, fake FAQ schema, or keyword-stuffed headers to game AI answers.  

 The Rise of Multimodal Search: Because the new search box accepts images and video files natively, pages built with rich, multimodal assets are getting a massive edge.  

If you want to know how to harden your site against these shifts and ensure your business stays visible on the 2026 web, check out the video.

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📉 The Core Recalibration

The May 2026 Update is a fundamental recalibration of Google’s search algorithm that prioritizes genuine, human-verified entity authority and topical depth over thin, over-optimized AI content.

All that mass produced AI content is no longer going to do it for you!!! Buying expired domains that have authority and redoing them with your content is not going to work either. Google is catching on to spammy tactics. Is this shocking to you?

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Early Algorithm Updates (2003–2006) Florida (November 2003) Nofollow (January 2005) Jagger( September 2005) Big Daddy (December 2005)

Mid-2000s Algorithm Updates (2007–2010) Universal Search (May 2007) Vince (February 2009) Caffeine (December 2010) Panda (February 2011)

The Penguin and Hummingbird and Pigeon Era (2012–2013) Penguin (April 2012) Hummingbird (August 2013) Pigeon (July 2014)

Updates to Mobile-Focused Algorithms (2015–2018) Mobile-Friendly Update (April 2015) RankBrain (October 2015) Fred (March 2017) Mobile-First Indexing (March 2018) Recent Algorithm Updates (2018–2023) Medic (August 2018) BERT (October 2019) Broad Core Update (June 2021) Link Spam Update (December 2022)