Google's March 2026 Core Update Just Hit

Google's March 2026 core update just hit. It started rolling out yesterday, March 27th at 2am pacific time. And this is the first broad core update of the entire year. So let me break down exactly what's happening, what Google changed, who's going to get hit, and what you need to do right now to protect your rankings.

Here's the thing, this isn't just one update. Google dropped three algorithm changes in the last 30 days. First the February 2026 discover core update, then the March 2026 spam update, which rolled out and finished in under 20 hours on March 24th. And now this, the big one, the broad core update.

That's three updates in one single month. If your traffic looks weird right now, that's why. And the timing here is important. Google ran the spam update first.

They cleaned out the obvious junk, scaled content abuse, for example, or expired domain abuse, link spam, all the stuff that was clearly breaking the rules. Then two days later, they dropped the core update, the one that looks at everything. Think of it like this, the spam update swept the floor, the core update is rearranging the furniture. So what does the core update actually do?

Google says it's designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites. That's the exact same language they used for the June and December 2025 updates. They're not giving us much. But here's what the SEO community is seeing.

First, and this is the big one, Google is putting more weight on something called information gain. Google has a patent for this. It was filed in 2018 and granted in 2022. And what it does is measure how much new information your page adds compared to what already ranks.

So if your blog post just rewrites what the top 10 results already say, same point, same structure, just different words, your information gain score is low and you drop. If your page has original data, unique case studies, first-hand experience, stuff that nobody else is saying, your information gain score is high and you go up. Here's what this means for you. If you're doing SEO right, building out strong content, using proven frameworks like the Skyscraper for link building, the update actually rewards you.

But only if you're layering in original stuff on the top, your own data, your own results, your own client stories, your own perspective that nobody else can copy. The people getting crushed right now are the ones who skip that step, the ones who just scrape what's ranking, reword it with AI and hit publish. No original research, no real experience, nothing new. That's what Google is going after.

So the framework still works, but the execution has to be better. You need to give Google a reason to rank your page over the other 10 pages that say the same thing. And that reason is your unique angle, your real results, your first-hand knowledge. Like, for example, if you're an agency, put out your actual client results in your content.

If you're a freelancer, share what you actually tested. If you run an e-commerce store, talk about what's working in your own campaigns. That's what Google is rewarding right now, real stuff from real people. And if you want help building an SEO strategy around this, figuring out what content to create, what to fix, how to make sure this update helps you instead of hurts you, I do free SEO strategy sessions at juliangoldie.com.

We'll look at your site, your content, your rankings, and give you an actual plan. Link in the comments description or just go to juliangoldie.com. So second thing, EEAT is getting stricter. Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness, especially for YMYL topics.

For example, your money or your life topics, health, finance, legal. Early data is showing that 72% of top ranking pages now have detailed author credentials. Before this update, that was closer to about 58%. The gap is closing fast.

If your content doesn't show who wrote it and why they're qualified, you're at a disadvantage. And it goes deeper than just having an author bio. Google wants proof that the person writing the content has real experience in the topic. If you're writing about running a marketing agency, they want to see that you actually run one.

If you're writing about plumbing, they want an actual plumber behind it. This is great news if you're a business owner creating content about what you actually do. Because your competitors who are outsourcing generic articles to content mills, they're losing ground. Your real experience is now your biggest SEO advantage.

Third thing, AI content detection is getting sharper. Now, Google said multiple times that AI content isn't automatically spam. However, that isn't the problem. The problem is when AI content is published just to gain rankings at scale, when it's thin, when it adds nothing new, when it's the same information repackaged by a machine with zero human input.

So if you're using AI to help write your content, that's fine. I use it too. But you need to add your own experience, your own data, your own takes. You can't just hit publish on a new chat GPT draft and expect it to rank.

The bar is higher now. Fourth, and people are sleeping on this, the core update also affects Google Discover and Feature snippets. So if you've been getting traffic from Discover, watch closely. Discover rankings shift as much as regular search during a core update.

Now, let me talk about the spam update for a second because it just finished two days ago and people are mixing it up with the core update. The spam update rolled out on March the 24th. It was done by March the 26th, under 20 hours. And the fastest spam update was this one.

And it's the fastest ever in Google's history. For context, the August 2025 spam update took almost four weeks. This one took less than a day. So what does that speed tell us?

Google spam detection systems, spam brain especially, are getting faster and more confident. They didn't need weeks to recalibrate. They had the signals, they acted, done. The spam update didn't add any new rules, no new spam categories, for example.

It just enforced the existing ones better. Cloaking, for example, link spam, scaled content abuse, expired domain abuse, site reputation abuse. If you were doing any of that, you probably got hit already and it's done. Now here's the part that should get your attention.

Google quietly said something in the last year that most people missed. They now run smaller, unannounced core updates between the big ones. The algorithm isn't a switch that flips four times a year anymore. It's like a dial that's always turning.

So waiting for the next core update to recover, that's strategy. You need to be improving constantly. Here's what to do right now. Step number one, go into Google Search Console, compare your organic traffic for the two weeks before March the 27th against what's happening right now.

Look at both sessions and engage sessions. And sometimes the total traffic holds, but engagement actually drops. That means you're ranking for different stuff or attracting different visitors. Step two, check your impressions and clicks in Search Console.

Look at the query level and the page level. Core updates often hit individual pages, not whole sites. You might find your homepage is fine, but a cluster of blog posts dropped or the other way around. Step number three, check Discover separately.

In Search Console, go to Performance, then the Discover tab. With the February Discover update and this core update overlapping, your Discover traffic might tell a different story from your Search traffic. Step four, audit your content. For every page you dropped, ask yourself, does this page say something that nobody else on page one is saying?

Does it have original data, real examples, actual expertise? If the answer is no, that's your problem. Step five, fix your author bios. Now I wouldn't make any drastic changes until after the core update is released because you want to make sure that it's rolled out and there's no sort of volatility in the rankings before you make any big changes.

But you could look at your author bios, look at what's ranking, look at what's not, and just see, okay, do I need to add more expertise and more signs of trustworthiness inside my content? And then step number six is like, update your existing content. You know, if you see some of your rankings drop, and again, I would wait a couple of weeks at least until after the core update is fully rolled out. But Google basically penalizes cosmetic date changes.

So you don't just want to swap like the year and the title and call it a refresh. You want to actually update the stats, replace dead links, add new sections that reflect what's happened, right? Real updates only. The rollout is going to take up to two weeks.

Google said that. Based on recent updates, usually takes two to three weeks. The December 2025 core update, for example, took 18 days. So don't panic if things are bouncing around.

Rankings will be volatile until early to mid April. And here's the thing about core updates that people forget. A drop doesn't mean Google penalized you. It means other pages are now seen as more helpful.

So the fix isn't like some technical trick. The fix is making your content genuinely better than what's out there. This update is rewarding people who put in great work, original research, firsthand experience, expert commentary, actual data. The businesses that invest in that stuff are seeing visibility gains.

Early traction and early tracking data is showing winners gained around 22% more visibility on average. And the losers, usually generic content, AI generated articles, no human touch, pages that just summarize what's already ranking without doing anything new. They are the ones dropping. So here's my take on all of this.

This update is actually good news if you're willing to do the work because your lazy competitors are just pumping out generic articles with AI and hoping for the best. And they're usually the ones who get hurt. And every spot they lose is a spot you can take. If you want us to take a look at your site and show you exactly where the opportunities are after this update and how to fix what's dropping, how to double down on what's working and how to build a content strategy that Google actually rewards, book a free SEO strategy session at juliangolder.com.

We'll break it all down for you. Link in the comments description or go to juliangolder.com. This update just made the gap between good SEO and bad SEO even bigger. Pick your side.