E621: Barry Schwartz joins the show to break down Google’s 2025 core algorithm update, which is still rolling out.
Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) is the Founder of Search Engine Roundtable (seroundtable.com), an Editor at Search Engine Land, and overall the guy who most SEOs get their industry news from.
Questions covered:
• What are the biggest changes in this core update compared to previous ones?
• Have you noticed any early trends in rankings or volatility since the rollout began?
• Google mentioned surfacing more content from creators—how do you interpret this, and do you think it will significantly change the search results?
• Do you have any insights into how this update might affect smaller or independent websites compared to larger publishers?
• With AI-generated content becoming more prevalent, how do you think Google will handle it in future updates?
• Gary Illyes (a well-known analyst on the Google Search team) said a few weeks ago, “Originality is something we're going to be focusing on this year. That's going to be important.” What do you think this means?
• Which industries or niches do you think will be most affected by this recent update?
• Google’s guidance has remained largely the same—do you think website owners need to adjust their SEO strategies after this update?
• One year ago, many SEOs reported their content sites “obliterated” after the March update. Now, some reported their content sites bouncing back. Do you see a trend here?
📰 Read Search Engine Roundtable: https://www.seroundtable.com/
⭐️ Barry Schwartz on 𝕏: https://x.com/rustybrick
✨ Barry Schwartz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rustybrick/
💫 Barry Schwartz’s agency: https://www.rustybrick.com/
🧲 Compact Keywords - My SEO Course - Get paying customers through SEO - Clear step-by-step video breakdowns - SEO templates to be copied and adapted for your products and services: https://compactkeywords.com/
00:00 Welcoming Barry Schwartz
00:16 Initial Thoughts on the Recent Google Update
00:58 Impact of Core Update on Website Rankings
03:09 Video Prioritized in Google Search
06:17 User-Generated Content and Social Media
08:01 Diversifying Traffic Sources
10:47 Advice for Smaller and Independent Websites
18:33 AI-Generated SEO Content
23:37 Strategies for Content Sites Post-Update
27:59 Building a Brand
30:37 Conclusion
The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/
#googlecoreupdate #marketingnews #seotips