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Core Update Strategy: 5 Moves to E-E-A-T, Quality & Recovery
Published at 7:09 AM PHT, by
Dennis Cabrera
How PH MSMEs Can Recover with E-E-A-T & Helpful Content
What is a Google Core Update & Why PH MSMEs Should Be Aware?
The last Google Core Update for began last , and is expected to be completed in 3 weeks' time. A Google Core Update is a broad change to the search ranking system of Google (through their algorithm). The Update of their algorithm introduces a new way of valuing and ranking all site content to improve the relevance and quality of search results for all Google users. This Google Core Update happens several times a year and can make some sites rise or fall in search results.
Philippine MSMEs and professionals should care about these Core Updates, because changes in rankings will affect their online visibility, customers' discovery, and return visitors' traffic. These three elements are key for attracting their local buyers; MSMEs need to earn Sales/Income well to succeed in sustainability, pay their bills, and comply with taxation. With more than
99.59% of businesses as MSMEs and the full digital transformation expected from them to unlock higher economic value by , awareness of Google's Core Update is now vital and crucial [1][2].
Diagnosis & Action Step for a Traffic Drop in a Core Update
The first vital step if a traffic drop occurs is to avoid panic and resist the impulse of making sudden and unplanned changes to the website. This approach is generally recommended; otherwise, it can impact your site negatively. Instead, wait for a few more days, and note the timing of the main traffic drop in the Google Search Console (GSC) Performance report. Additionally, it is wise not to act at once since, within 1–2 weeks of the update, major core updates usually produce their biggest ranking volatility for sites within that timeframe. Monitor well what is happening and wait for the completion of the Update. Traffic often stabilizes within 2-3 days before the completion of a Google Core Update.
Once the Core Update is completed, one vital step to execute is what is called a structured initial analysis. A structured initial analysis does this:
It identifies where the loss of traffic occurred
It identifies what kind of search queries reported in your Google Search Console report lost visibility
It identifies whether the impact is just localized, within a section of your site, or site-wide
This step helps to understand what happened. Websites that initiate a diagnosis and action step within 48 hours after the Update are statistically shown to recover
65% faster [3][4].
How to align Content Quality w/ the Helpful Content Focus?
Helpful content quality serves as the most reliable defense against algorithm volatility. It is a necessary strategy that leads toward more resilient content. If the primary focus is to ensure the production of content primarily for humans, and second only to search engines, then the site will certainly pass Google's Helpful Content assessment. Philippine MSMEs and professionals with blogs should align with Google's Helpful Content principle and make it their priority to rewrite content to reflect this direction. Also, content with statistical data and information must be consistently updated, and core content must be maintained with evergreen value.
Content with evergreen value is content that answers timeless questions that don’t rely on dates, seasons, or news cycles. So, one content strategy is to limit seasonal content, like "Christmas," and focus on what continues to attract traffic and conversions over time. Focus copywriting for long-term authority, E-E-A-T signals, and sustained discovery.
Another strategy is to conduct a quality audit to check your site's content depth and comprehensiveness and identify where unique insights or more detailed coverage can be added to increase your site's advantageous position in the SERPs. This means improving all content lacking depth, substance, or unique value. Change these webpages from a liability to an asset. Add quality details or consolidate them with redundant pages to produce a higher-quality webpage. Content quality can also be increased to precisely match user intent to signal their high relevance to Google. Monitoring which user intent queries appear often and statistically high in Google Search Console is a key tactic [5][6].
What Strategies to Strengthen E-E-A-T for Trust & Recovery?
E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) implementation is the groundwork for recovery to any algorithm update. It now applies universally to all content types, and not just to sensitive YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics. YMYL topics deal with a person's health, finances, safety, legality, or overall well-being. This requires extremely high-quality E-E-A-T standards to be considered Trustworthy. Therefore, for better E-E-A-T assessment, Philippine MSMEs can incorporate evidence of firsthand use of their retail product/service: with original photos, specific data, how-to-use videos, personal reviews of customers, and reviews by experts. Also, add comprehensive author bios, credentials, and professional experience to every article/blog post for better Expertise/Authoritativeness assessment. Then implement a well-secured website (HTTPS), provide transparent contact information, and back claims in writing with citations for better Trustworthiness [7][8].
How to Prioritize Technical & Structural Fixes for Recovery?
The technical foundation is vital and crucial, as issues like poor Core Web Vitals (CWV) can compound the algorithm's negative impact on the site and stall its recovery. The strategy, therefore, is to prioritize improving every page's CWV metrics. These can all be fixed through Page Speed Analysis, where metrics on performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO are tested.
Also, implement well Schema.org markup (structured data) such as FAQPage for direct question-to-answer formats or Product schema for presenting specifications of products displayed for sale. Both these markups provide Google with machine-ready language and enable rich snippets in the SERPs for your webpages. Increases in click-through rates (CTR) are more probable with pages designed for better machine-reading by AI Search systems.
Finally, establish a clear site architecture using Pillar Pages and Topic Clusters and support these with strategic Internal Linking. This enhances crawlability by the search engines' bots and builds deep topical relevance for your content. These technical measures ensure that the content in your site's webpages is easily digestible and usable by the machine-reading capabilities of generative AI systems [9].
How to Leverage Content for Conversion, Income, & Growth?
The ultimate strategy in handling content for every Google Core Update is to focus on rankings to achieve business results: Sales and Income. This involves systematically integrating monetization concepts in selected and specialized content. Implement well Programmatic CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) and A/B testing on pages, to optimize the content of products/services for Sales and Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV). After establishing brand trust (Step 8 of the E-SEO workflow), introduce Gateway Content as a strategy to gather emails and market to these customer leads. Also structure product/service offerings using the Value Ladder framework (Step 9-11), presenting tiered offers (entry → mid-tier → high-ticket) to ensure a sustainable Sales/Income direction. And finally, leverage the Ascension Model after the initial Sale (Step 10) to upsell customers to higher-tier products/services and maximize the value of their purchase with the brand (Review 11-Step E-SEO to Income Workflow).
Watch this video to get a clear understanding of a Google Core Update
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