Google has confirmed that the Google May 2026 core update has finished rolling out. The second core update of 2026 started on May 21, 2026 and took about 12 days to roll out completing on June 2, 2026.<\/p>
As a reminder, this is Google\u2019s second core update of 2026. It follows the\u00a0March 2026 core update, the\u00a0March 2026 spam update, and the\u00a0February 2026 Discover update.<\/p>
What Google is saying<\/strong>. Google updated its\u00a0Search Status Dashboard\u00a0to state:<\/p> Google posted on\u00a0LinkedIn\u00a0saying:<\/p> What we saw.<\/strong> This core update didn\u2019t take long to land, as it was announced on a Thursday afternoon and was already felt in a big way the following Saturday, May 23rd. It was pretty significant throughout that first week and then we saw more large ranking movements the following Saturday, May 30th. We even saw some even more volatility in the past 24-hours, right before Google marked this core update done.<\/p> Here is a chart from Semrush of the volatility over the past 30-days \u2013 notice those spikes in volatility:<\/p> What to do if you are hit.\u00a0<\/strong>Google didn\u2019t share new guidance specific to the May 2026 core update. However, Google has previously offered advice on what to consider if a core update negatively impacts your site:<\/p> In short: write helpful content for people, not for search engines.<\/p> For more details on Google core updates, you can read\u00a0Google\u2019s documentation.<\/p> Previous core updates.\u00a0<\/strong>Here\u2019s a timeline and our coverage of recent core updates:<\/p> Why we care.\u00a0<\/strong>By now, the May 2026 core update is done and if your site was impacted \u2013 in a positive or negative way \u2013 you would probably know by now. The main thing is to continue to focus on building a great website and make content that your users want to read and share.<\/p> Meanwhile, as Google Search sends less and less traffic to sites, due to the changes it is making to the search results with AI Overviews and AI Mode. So you need to do what you can to get whatever traffic you can from Google and ranking in the first position is ever more important.<\/p> <\/div> Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. We remain committed to providing high-quality coverage of marketing topics. Unless otherwise noted, this page\u2019s content was written by either an employee or a paid contractor of Semrush Inc.<\/em> <\/p>
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