Google Announces Florida 2 – A Broad Core Algorithm Update

Yesterday morning, Google confirmed via Danny Sullivan (aka @searchliaison) that there was a broad core update to its algorithm in progress.

As with most search updates this one was preceded by some “tremors” (Feb 14^th, Feb 22^nd, Feb 27^th, March 2^nd, and March 6^th) that were reported across the industry.  This is the SERP volatility index from SEMRush:

The update is called Florida 2 and the fact that this update was confirmed by Google is significant.  Google rarely confirms updates and only does so when the update is so significant that is can/will cause broadly felt changes in SERP position.

As a result of the Florida index, some SEOs have reported traffic drops of 20 – 40% on some sites.  You can read some of the chatter in the webmaster forums here (https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4938447.htm) if you want to get into the weeds.

This story will be updated as details arrive