The September 2019 Google Core Update – Case studies, health and medical volatility, Discover impact, “baby algorithms”, and revisiting the “kitchen sink” approach to remediation

This SEO case study documents a successful optimization initiative, providing actionable insights for practitioners. The documented approach demonstrates how strategic SEO implementation drives measurable results.

Initial Situation

Understanding the starting point is essential context for evaluating any case study. This documentation covers the initial challenges, competitive position, and business objectives that shaped the SEO strategy.

Strategy and Approach

The strategic approach combined multiple SEO disciplines to address identified opportunities. Key decisions around prioritization and resource allocation provide a template for similar initiatives.

Implementation

Moving from strategy to execution required specific technical implementations, content development, and process changes. This case study documents the practical steps that translated strategy into action.

Results and Learnings

The outcomes demonstrate effectiveness through measurable improvements in rankings, traffic, and business metrics. Analysis of successes and challenges provides learning value for practitioners.

Case studies like this contribute to the SEO knowledge base, helping practitioners learn from documented real-world experiences.

Source: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/september-2019-google-core-algorithm-update/

Practitioner notes on the September 2019 update

Two things made this update instructive. First, the volatility clustered around health and medical queries, the kind of your money or your life topics where Google sets a high bar for expertise and trust. Sites with weak sourcing or thin, aggregated medical content tended to move the most, which is a recurring pattern across core updates rather than a one time event. Second, Discover traffic moved alongside classic search rankings for some sites, a reminder that the same underlying quality assessment feeds more than the ten blue links.

This update is also where the baby algorithms framing is useful. A broad core update is not a single dial. It bundles many smaller relevance systems, and different systems touch different sites and query types. That is why the movement looks uneven: two sites in the same niche can see opposite results because different bundled systems affected them. Understanding this stops you from looking for one magic fix, because there rarely is one.

The kitchen sink approach follows directly. Rather than betting everything on a single suspected cause, you fix every reasonable quality issue and let the aggregate improvement carry you. The discipline is in the prioritisation: start with the biggest offenders, which for YMYL sites usually means expertise and sourcing, then intent match, then thin or duplicate pages, then mobile page experience. Fix the site, not one URL, and keep a dated record of what you changed so the next update tells you whether it worked.

What has changed since September 2019

The expertise framework expanded from E-A-T to E-E-A-T in late 2022, adding Experience to reflect first hand knowledge, which matters most in exactly the health and product areas this update stressed. The separate helpful content system was later folded into the core ranking systems with the March 2024 core update, so quality signals that once sat outside a core update now live inside it. The playbook from 2019 still applies, only the systems it describes have been consolidated. For recent, dated updates to compare against, see the December 2025 core update and the March 2026 core update, and the historical Panda system shows how content quality first became a core ranking concern. A wider set of write ups sits under the 2026 core update coverage.

Kitchen sink remediation priorities

Work the list in order and resist the urge to stop after one fix. The whole point of the kitchen sink approach is that recovery comes from the sum of many improvements, revalued at the next update.

Frequently asked questions