Google July 2021 Core Update Is Live – What We Are Seeing

Google announced that on July 1, 2021 it began to roll out the July 2021 core update. We knew we would soon see another core update, and Google delivered this one a month after the June 2021 core update – which launched on June 2, 2021. This one seems to have started out pretty strong and many are seeing big changes with this update.
Some think what we saw on June 30th through July 1st may be related to the release of the core update. But if I would ask Google, they would say no, because this core update just started yesterday – not two days ago.
This update does seem to have kicked off pretty quickly with a lot of chatter in the past 12 hours or so and the tools are showing changes. More of what we are seeing in the what’t were seeing section of this story. I should note, the June core update was very slow to start out, unlike this July core update.
Danny Sullivan under the Search Liaison Twitter account posted “the July 2021 Core Update, previously announced, is now rolling out.” Danny added that “these typically take 1-2 weeks to finish.” Normally they take a full two weeks but the June core update ran on June 2nd and ended on June 12th – a 10 day period.
Here is the tweet announcing this rollout:
The July 2021 Core Update, previously announced, is now rolling out:https://t.co/6Xs77WDsur
These typically take 1-2 weeks to finish. Our guidance about such updates is here:https://t.co/e5ZQUA3RC6
Here’s more on how we improve search through updates:https://t.co/IBmInwGOiX
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 1, 2021
This core update, like the other core updates, is a global update impacting all languages across all regions.
Two Part Update: June and July Core Updates
As a reminder, Google said it released a core update in June on June 2nd through June 12th and planned to push out another core update next month – called the July 2021 core update, which happened on July 1st. Why didn’t Google release both the same time? Google said not all of the pieces are ready for that, so they pushed out what is ready in June with the June 2021 core update and then released this July core update as the last parts are now ready to be released for the July 2021 core update.
What is not ready? I asked Google and Google would not say. Google did say that if your site rankings changes with the June 2021 core update, you may see a reversal or shift (or not) with the July 2021 core update. I wonder how many sites will see changes that saw changes with the June update?
Here is what Google said last month on this topic:
Of course, any core update can produce drops or gains for some content. Because of the two-part nature of this release, it’s possible a very small slice of content might see changes in June that reverse in July….
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 2, 2021
Many Overlapping Updates
Even if you exclude the unconfirmed updates, including the June 30th update, the confirmed updates are many.
I had this cute graphic made of the recent updates, I didn’t include all the unconfirmed updates in the graphic or the predator update since it was super specific (click to enlarge it):
The previous core update was a month ago on June 2nd named the June 2021 core update. The one before that was 6 months before the June update, on December 3, 2020 named the December 2020 core update. Before that was 7 month gap where on May 4, 2020, the May 2020 core update. The one prior to that was on January 13, 2020, the January 2020 core update and the one before that was on September 24, 2019, the September 2019 core update. Oh, before that was on June 3, 2019, the June 2019 core update and I can go on and on.
Improve After a Core Update
Did you get hit by this update, Google did give us advice on core updates and how to improve your site overall after seeing a negative outcome after a core update. Google reiterated that in this tweet:
As a reminder, nothing in a core update is site-specific. Those who seek to perform well with search generally, including with core updates, should look to our guidance here: https://t.co/Mk9xsiTw1B
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 2, 2021
Google also posted a new blog post on how and why Google does these updates. Google wrote “because there are so many incremental updates, it’s not useful for us to share details about all of them. However, we try to do so when we feel there is actionable information that site owners, content producers or others might consider applying, as was the case with both of the updates mentioned above.”
Just as computers & smartphones are regularly updated, the same thing happens with Google Search. In fact, Google Search is updated thousands of times per year with changes meant to improve the experience and the quality of results. More about the process: https://t.co/3EJAvaondz
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 2, 2021
SEO Chatter: What We Are Seeing
Keep in mind, there is chatter from the June 30th through July 1st update that may be unrelated to this update. But there is renewed chatter from the past 20 hours or so at both WebmasterWorld and Black Hat World.
I see interesting fluctuations / changes in my niche in last few hours as well. Let me get my ice cold mineral water and sit down and watch.
My client’s dental website got hit by this update!
Lost positions on a lot of keywords. But like previous times, hoping to recover them back as the initial dust settles down. Too early to comment right now.
Agreed, I’ve seen this type of thing before. I think it was the May 2020 update that really nuked many of my sites. But after a few weeks when the dust settled down, the algorithm seemed to be tweaked to where many of my sites recovered.
Starting to see the movements today – some big ups, some big downs across the whole world, not just EN.
I noticed that sites that had a boost from the June update got even more boost from this update. It is like amplifying the effect from the June update. This further confirms as one site that I had been tracking was tanked a little further after being hit from the June update.
Again, too early to say as we need 1-2 weeks for it to fully roll out. And I must point out that this is from my observation and humble opinion.
But from my experience, as long as you feel the positive effects or benefits from the initial start of the update, you’re very likely to have a positive outcome after the roll out is fully done… Because it just means your site has fulfilled whatever criteria the algorithm update is looking for.
I was hit during June core update with -20%. At 11:00 AM PST today my traffic is back to pre-june level. I hope whatever it is, my recovery sticks.
I am also seeing reversion of the June update insanity for the past ~10 hours, although it is too early to tell if this is a trend or just a blip before things get even worse.
June Core Update – 20% . I checked the serps this morning. Looks like another -10 -20%. Thought, surely they rolled out the July Core update and it’s true.
I saw a recovery from a previous core update in June’s update. And I’m seeing another boost in rankings now with July core update.
So far so good. Big recovery from the first part of this Core Update.
Let’s see if it’s sticks…
I also asked on Twitter what people are seeing and you can see the thread of responses on Twitter.
Search Tracking Tools:
Of the tools that are updated for this morning, they are all showing pretty big changes. I’ll update them as the day goes on. Here are what the tracking tools that have been updated this morning are showing so far:
Forum discussion at Twitter, WebmasterWorld & Black Hat World.
Google Brings Bard Students Math and Coding Education in the Summer

Google is stepping up its AI efforts this summer by sending Bard, its high-profile chatbot, to summer school. The aim? To boost the bot’s math and coding smarts. These developments are excellent news— when Bard first debuted, it was admittedly not a finished product. But Google is steadily plugging away at it, and have now implemented implicit code execution for logical prompts, and handy Google Sheets’ integration to take it to the next level.
Thanks to implicit code execution, Bard can respond to inquiries requiring calculation or computation with Python code snippets running in the background. What’s even more amazing is that coders can take this generated code and modify it for their projects. Though Google is still apprehensive about guaranteeing the accuracy of Bard’s answers, this feature is said to improve the accuracy of math and word problems by an impressive 30%.
In addition to this, Bard can now export directly to Sheets when asked about tables. So, you don’t need to worry about copying and pasting, which comes with the risk of losing formatting or data.
From the company’s I/O keynote address, it is clear that they are focused on making the most of what Bard can offer. As they continue to speak highly of the chatbot, we’re sure to expect more features and capabilities when the summer comes around.
Google Bard vs. ChatGPT: which is the better AI chatbot?

Google Bard and ChatGPT are two of the most prominent artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots available in 2023. But which is better? Both offer natural language responses to natural language inputs, using machine learning and millions of data points to craft useful, informative responses. Most of the time. These AI tools aren’t perfect yet, but they point to an exciting future of AI assistant search and learning tools that will make information all the more readily available.
As similar as these chatbots are, they also have some distinct differences. Here’s how ChatGPT and Google Bard measure up against one another.
Which is better, Google Bard or ChatGPT?
This is a tricky question to answer, as at the time of writing, you can only use Google Bard if you’re part of a select group of early beta testers. As for its competition, you can use ChatGPT right now, completely for free. You may have to contend with a waitlist, but if you want to skip that, there’s a paid-for Plus version offering those interested in a more complete tool the option of paying for the privilege.
Still, when Google Bard becomes more widely available, it should offer credible competition for ChatGPT. Both use natural language models — Google Bard uses Google’s internal LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), whereas ChatGPT uses an older GPT-3 language model. Google Bard bases its responses to questions on more recent data, with ChatGPT mainly trained on data that was available prior to 2021. This is similar to how Microsoft’s Bing Chat works.
We’ll have to reserve judgment on which is the more capable AI chatbot until we get time to play with Google Bard ourselves, but it looks set to be a close contest when it is more readily available.
Are Google Bard and ChatGPT available yet?
As mentioned, ChatGPT is available in free and paid-for tiers. You might have to sit in a queue for the free version for a while, but anyone can play around with its capabilities.
Google Bard is currently only available to limited beta testers and is not available to the wider public.

What’s the difference between Google Bard and ChatGPT?
ChatGPT and Google Bard are very similar natural language AI chatbots, but they have some differences, and are designed to be used in slightly different ways — at least for now. ChatGPT has been used for answering direct questions with direct answers, mostly correctly, but it’s caused a lot of consternation among white collar workers, like writers, SEO advisors, and copy editors, since it has also demonstrated an impressive ability to write creatively — even if it has faced a few problems with accuracy and plagiarism.
Still, Microsoft has integrated ChatGPT into its Bing search engine to give users the ability to ask direct questions of the search engine, rather than searching for terms of keywords to find the best results. It has also built it into its Teams communications tool, and it’s coming to the Edge browser in a limited form. The Opera browser has also pledged to integrate ChatGPT in the future.
ChatGPT | Google Bard |
Accessible through ChatGPT site. Only text responses are returned via queries. | Integrated with Google Search. You only need to change a Google setting to get your regular search results when using Google Bard AI, and vice versa. |
ChatGPT produces answers from its trained database from 2021 and before. | Google Apprentice Bard AI will be able to answer real-time questions. |
Based on GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer). | Based on LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications). |
Service has a free and paid plan option (called ChatGPT Plus). | Service is free. |
Has built-in plagiarism tool called GPT-2 Output Detector. | No built-in plagiarism detection tool. |
Available now | Still in beta test phase |
Google Bard was mainly designed around augmenting Google’s own search tool, however it is also destined to become an automated support tool for businesses without the funds to pay for human support teams. It will be offered to customers through a trained AI responder. It is likely to be integrated into the Chrome browser and its Chromium derivatives before long. Google is also expected to open up Google Bard to third-party developers in the future.
Under the hood, Google Bard uses Google’s LaMDA language model, while ChatGPT uses its own GPT3 model. ChatGPT is based on slightly older data, restricted in its current GPT3 model to data collected prior to 2022, while Google Bard is built on data provided on recent years too. However, that doesn’t necessarily make it more accurate, as Google Bard has faced problems with incorrect answers to questions, even in its initial unveiling.
ChatGPT also has a built-in plagiarism checker, while Google Bard does not, but Google Bard doesn’t have the creative applications of ChatGPT just yet.
Google to pay $391.5 million settlement over location tracking, state AGs say

Google has agreed to pay a $391.5 million settlement to 40 states to resolve accusations that it tracked people’s locations in violation of state laws, including snooping on consumers’ whereabouts even after they told the tech behemoth to bug off.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said it is time for Big Tech to recognize state laws that limit data collection efforts.
“I have been ringing the alarm bell on big tech for years, and this is why,” Mr. Landry, a Republican, said in a statement Monday. “Citizens must be able to make informed decisions about what information they release to big tech.”
The attorneys general said the investigation resulted in the largest-ever multistate privacy settlement. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, said Google’s penalty is a “historic win for consumers.”
“Location data is among the most sensitive and valuable personal information Google collects, and there are so many reasons why a consumer may opt out of tracking,” Mr. Tong said. “Our investigation found that Google continued to collect this personal information even after consumers told them not to. That is an unacceptable invasion of consumer privacy, and a violation of state law.”
Location tracking can help tech companies sell digital ads to marketers looking to connect with consumers within their vicinity. It’s another tool in a data-gathering toolkit that generates more than $200 billion in annual ad revenue for Google, accounting for most of the profits pouring into the coffers of its corporate parent, Alphabet, which has a market value of $1.2 trillion.
The settlement is part of a series of legal challenges to Big Tech in the U.S. and around the world, which include consumer protection and antitrust lawsuits.
Though Google, based in Mountain View, California, said it fixed the problems several years ago, the company’s critics remained skeptical. State attorneys general who also have tussled with Google have questioned whether the tech company will follow through on its commitments.
The states aren’t dialing back their scrutiny of Google’s empire.
Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was filing a lawsuit over reports that Google unlawfully collected millions of Texans’ biometric data such as “voiceprints and records of face geometry.”
The states began investigating Google’s location tracking after The Associated Press reported in 2018 that Android devices and iPhones were storing location data despite the activation of privacy settings intended to prevent the company from following along.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich went after the company in May 2020. The state’s lawsuit charged that the company had defrauded its users by misleading them into believing they could keep their whereabouts private by turning off location tracking in the settings of their software.
Arizona settled its case with Google for $85 million last month. By then, attorneys general in several other states and the District of Columbia had pounced with their own lawsuits seeking to hold Google accountable.
Along with the hefty penalty, the state attorneys general said, Google must not hide key information about location tracking, must give users detailed information about the types of location tracking information Google collects, and must show additional information to people when users turn location-related account settings to “off.”
States will receive differing sums from the settlement. Mr. Landry’s office said Louisiana would receive more than $12.7 million, and Mr. Tong’s office said Connecticut would collect more than $6.5 million.
The financial penalty will not cripple Google’s business. The company raked in $69 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2022, according to reports, yielding about $13.9 billion in profit.
Google downplayed its location-tracking tools Monday and said it changed the products at issue long ago.
“Consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this investigation which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago,” Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said in a statement.
Google product managers Marlo McGriff and David Monsees defended their company’s Search and Maps products’ usage of location information.
“Location information lets us offer you a more helpful experience when you use our products,” the two men wrote on Google’s blog. “From Google Maps’ driving directions that show you how to avoid traffic to Google Search surfacing local restaurants and letting you know how busy they are, location information helps connect experiences across Google to what’s most relevant and useful.”
The blog post touted transparency tools and auto-delete controls that Google has developed in recent years and said the private browsing Incognito mode prevents Google Maps from saving an account’s search history.
Mr. McGriff and Mr. Monsees said Google would make changes to its products as part of the settlement. The changes include simplifying the process for deleting location data, updating the method to set up an account and revamping information hubs.
“We’ll provide a new control that allows users to easily turn off their Location History and Web & App Activity settings and delete their past data in one simple flow,” Mr. McGriff and Mr. Monsees wrote. “We’ll also continue deleting Location History data for users who have not recently contributed new Location History data to their account.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
-
FACEBOOK6 days ago
Indian Government Warns Facebook, YouTube About Deepfakes, Misinformation Violations
-
MARKETING5 days ago
Whiteboard Friday Recap 2023: AI Edition
-
SOCIAL7 days ago
Meta Stock: Still Room For Upside In A Maturing Market (NASDAQ:META)
-
SOCIAL7 days ago
Instagram Will Now Enable All Users to Download Publicly Posted Reels Clips
-
MARKETING7 days ago
OpenAI: The return of the king
-
MARKETING6 days ago
Making the Most of Electronic Resumes (Pro Tips and Tricks)
-
SEARCHENGINES4 days ago
Google Merchant Center Automatically Creating Promotions
-
SEARCHENGINES5 days ago
No Estimate To Share For Completion Of Google November Core & Reviews Updates