April 8, 2026
As of 8 April, the March 2026 core update is officially complete.
The update, which was announced just two days after the completion of the March 2026 spam update, took 12 days to rollout - a couple of days less than the expected two weeks.
This was a standard broad core update that targeted all types of content across the globe, and was designed to ‘better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites’.
This update wasn’t a shock. Volatility had been high for weeks prior to its release, as documented by Barry Schwartz on X:
And the spam update that dropped just before it led some observers, including SEO and AI search consultant Glenn Gabe, to believe (rightly so) that a core update would drop soon:
Reactions to the update were, as always, less than positive.
Stuart responded to Google Search Central’s announcement on X:
Kingsley Ibietela Felix also commented:
Google recommends allowing one week post-completion before diving into your analytics to make any solid conclusions about how this update may have affected your site.
Since the update has only just finished, we’ve yet to see any reports of any major ramifications. Although SEO and AI consultant Marie Haynes did respond to Google Search Central’s post on X announcing the update’s completion, stating that she had seen mixed results:
Kurt Leitinger replied to Glenn Gabe, noting that some of the larger companies seem to have benefited from the update, while smaller brands have suffered:
This was the first core update of the year and the third Google algorithm update, following the February 2026 Discover core update and the March 2026 spam update.
Google releases core updates periodically, to ‘make significant changes to [our] search algorithms and systems’.
Here’s a timeline of core updates over the last few years:
Volatility will likely remain heated and your traffic and rankings may be unstable for at least another few days, so it’s important not to worry yet even if you think you’ve been hit.
As always, since we were given no specific details regarding this update, for now all you can do is focus on creating helpful content and following E.E.A.T guidelines to the best of your ability.
If you are worried about how this update may affect your site, get in touch with us today.
