Google September 2019 Core Update (24 September 2019): What Changed and How to Recover

The Google September 2019 core update was a broad core algorithm update that Google pre-announced on the morning of 24 September 2019 and began rolling out at around 2pm ET the same day. No completion date was published, and data providers reported a noticeably milder impact than the June 2019 core update. If you saw a drop that week, it was probably a smaller, more targeted reassessment of specific pages rather than a site-wide hit.

For the dates and details of every other update, see my full list of Google algorithm updates.

What the September 2019 core update changed

Google’s announcement used what had by then become its standard wording: “Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year.” Danny Sullivan added that it would take several days to reach all of Google’s data centres. As with every core update, there was no named target. Google’s core ranking systems were adjusted in how they assess the quality and relevance of content, and pages were re-ordered as a result.

This was the third named core update of 2019, after March and June. By September, Google had settled into a routine: announce on the day or the day before, give it a month-and-year name, and point people to the same guidance. The difference this time was in how much the results moved.

Timeline

Who was affected

The reports from data providers all pointed the same way: this was a gentler update.

• RankRanger found far smaller swings in the top three positions than in June 2019.
• Sistrix reported some clear winners but no significant losers.
• Semrush reported no strong pattern of winners and losers.

These are industry observations, and Google did not name any affected site types. Read together, though, they suggest a different shape from June. Rather than whole sites or sectors swinging, the September update seems to have rewarded some sites and nudged individual pages, without the broad losses that make headlines.

That matters for diagnosis. When an update has “winners but no significant losers”, a site that lost traffic often did so because a competitor gained, not because its own pages were judged worse.

How to tell if the September 2019 core update hit your site

With a milder update, the risk is blaming it for a drop that had another cause. I would be stricter than usual about evidence here.

1. Get the data. Search Console only goes back 16 months, so use an archived export, Universal Analytics history or a visibility tool with 2019 data.
2. Use clean windows. Compare the two weeks before 24 September 2019 with a two-week window starting around 10 days later. Google organic only, same weekdays.
3. Work at page level, not site level. Because the update was milder, a site-wide graph may hide what happened. Sort landing pages by change in clicks and look at the top 20 losers and winners.
4. Check who replaced you. For each losing page, note which site now ranks above it. If the same competitor appears repeatedly, they may be one of the winners the data providers saw, and your work is to close the gap with them specifically.
5. Rule out seasonality. Late September is a turning point for many sectors: back-to-school ends, travel shoulder season starts and retail moves towards the holidays. Compare with September of the previous year.
6. Rule out site changes. Check for template changes, URL changes or tracking edits around the same time.

If the change is small, scattered across pages and not clearly tied to 24 September, I would not attribute it to this update.

How to recover from the September 2019 core update

Google’s position is the same for every core update: there is no specific fix, and a drop does not necessarily mean a page has a problem. For a mild update with clear winners, I would frame recovery as a competitive gap analysis.

1. Pick the pages that lost the most clicks. Ignore pages that moved a position or two; with a mild update, that is often noise.
2. Study the page that overtook you. Read it properly. Note what it covers that you do not, how it is structured, how recent it is, and what evidence of experience or expertise it shows.
3. Close the specific gaps. Add the missing sub-topics, examples, comparisons or explanations. Make sure your page answers the query in the first few lines instead of after a long introduction.
4. Review with Google’s self-assessment questions. Is your page the most helpful answer you could give? Does it add something original, or does it summarise others?
5. Check your internal linking. If an important page is buried, give it clear links from related pages so Google understands it is a main resource.
6. Measure at the next core update. Recovery most often shows at a later core update, although some movement between updates is possible.

If you sell online, product and category pages need their own kind of review. My ecommerce SEO services cover that, and content-level fixes fall under on-page optimisation.

Is it still relevant today?

Not directly. Many core updates have rolled out since, and any effect from September 2019 has long been overwritten. It is useful as a reminder that core updates vary a lot in size. Some reshape whole sectors; others, like this one, mainly lift a set of winners. When a new core update lands, check the industry’s early reports on its scale before assuming the worst about your own site.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Google Search Central: core updates
• Keywords Everywhere: September 2019 Core Update
• Search Engine Journal: Google algorithm history

If a competitor overtook you around this update and you want to know exactly what they do better, that is the kind of comparison my SEO audit services are built for. Request a free SEO audit and send me the queries you lost.