GoogleCore UpdateConfirmedHigh impact

March 2019 core update

Broad core update that Google retroactively named after the industry had already labelled it Florida 2, standardising month-based naming.

What changed

Google released a broad core update on 12 March 2019 without an advance name, prompting the industry to call it Florida 2 before Google asked that it be referred to as the March 2019 Core Update. Many sites that had lost visibility in the August 2018 update saw partial reversals. Google's guidance was unchanged: core updates reassess content broadly and there is no specific fix. No completion date was announced.

Timing

Rollout began 12 March 2019. No completion date was announced. Rankings typically remain unstable for the whole rollout window, so measurements taken inside it are not a reliable read on the outcome.

What it affected