Google's September 2022 Core Update

‘Google 2022’ has begun! Google Search has released its second core update of the year. The September 2022 update involves major changes to the search engine's algorithm. The rollout began on 12 September 2022 at around 11:25 and was expected to take two weeks to complete.

The update follows changes that Google had begun introducing shortly beforehand. It attracted considerable attention online because much remained uncertain: how it would affect content, what action website owners would need to take and how quickly they would need to respond.

This does not mean that Google's announcement was unclear. Previous updates also aimed to improve search results.

The uncertainty and speculation came from not yet having seen the effects on different types of content, languages and locations. Those results would become clearer with time.

Google 2022: key facts about the core update

These were the main details available at the time:

• Name: Google's September 2022 core update.
• Launch: 12 September 2022 at approximately 23:25, as reported in the original article.
• Rollout: The update was expected to take around one to two weeks to complete.
• Scope: The update affected all types of content.
• Penalty: this was not a penalty; the update aimed to promote high-quality, well-maintained websites.
• Geographical coverage: a global update applying across regions and languages.
• Impact: Google had not specified what proportion of search results would be affected. It was expected to be a broad update with a noticeable impact.
• Expected outcome: the original report anticipated changes to how search results were displayed, with greater emphasis on elements such as snippets that had previously received less attention.

Google's official tweet about the release:

Today we released the September 2022 core update. We'll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete: https://t.co/sQ5COfdNcb

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 12, 2022

Would this be a major update?

That was difficult to judge at the time. Similar updates are usually noticeable, and SEO professionals often see substantial changes as a result.