The second major core update of the year, the Google May 2026 Broad Core Update, is now live and already becoming the main talking point of the SEO world as it’s rolling out fast around the globe. To kick things off, it was released on the Monday of the week after Google I/O 2026 began (21st May 2026) the sequel to search updates as the follow-up to a popular movie is always bigger and better. Just like the follow-up to Gemini 3.5 Flash AI powered search update released last month, Google Search is evolving at pace into an AI-first search environment as Google continue to develop Gemini Flash AI as fast as they possibly can in order to deliver an ‘AI first’ search experience to their users; the next generation of search at pace.

The Big Picture: What’s Going On?

The update has been rolling out since May 21st 2026 ; the exact day of Google I/O 2026 – and promises to fully deploy globally very soon. This second broad core update of the year will now start to solidify searches and bring forth more AI-driven search results in line with Gemini 3.5 Flash developments. If you recall The Marketing AI Summit presented by Gemini 3.5 earlier in 2026, AI first search features and methodologies were announced, and this core update marks the ‘go’ for the corresponding implementation across search results globally.

Key Targets: Who’s in Google’s Crosshairs?

1. AI Content? More Like AI-ccident.

As before, Google is being very strict with all AI generated content which is of little use. The same applies to automated blogs published with identical content again and again. You will probably find your web pages fall in rankings. More than before, Google is telling webmasters to stop producing garbage online.

2. Local SEO Just Got a Makeover.

“Near me” search terms are changing at the speed of a TikTok trend, and at its core, Google is choosing to rank the actual service providers (e.g. a physician’s practice or law firm) over middlemen like insurance companies and third-party review platforms (e.g. healthgrades, avvo, etc.).

3. E-E-A-T Just Got a Promotion.

Similar to the warning above, if your website consists of shallow content, the new update by Google will most likely result in a negative ranking position for your site. In contrast, in-depth information about a niche or specific area of expertise will be rewarded positively. This means that your site will move up in rankings while packaged, repackaged and shallowly written content will get down-ranked.

4. Google Search Console.

Google’s also fixed a reporting glitch in Google Search Console where it was failing to report correct link counts recently. So expect those numbers to magically reappear anytime now, likely when Google Search Console is updated again.

How’s This Affecting Search Behaviour?

Users are longer searching for information online with longer keyword searches such as how to, what is, etc. The redesign of the Google Search Box is playing a part in this as users are able to enter longer keyword searches as seen below. Traditionally for organic listings users would click through to read more about a website’s pages but with AI Mode summaries on search results pages users are more likely to stick on the search results pages and therefore click through rates are falling dramatically. The good news is that long keyword searches create far more opportunities for brands to get a mention. Therefore, your new goal is to become the Oprah of your brand’s visibility online, you get a mention! And you get a mention!

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Action Plan – How To Interpret All Of This and What To Do Next (Don’t Panic)

1. Chill, Karen.

Yes this is still rolling out so don’t freak out yet! Don’t freak out if your site drops down in the rankings because of this update. Yes please send links for analysis but let them sit for a week or so before you send them. Mark May 21, 2026 down in your diary and use that as your pre update analysis date point. Then wait until at least the end of May (give it a week or so) and send the links for some post update analysis.

2. Analyze Like a Boss

Remember to mark May 21, 2026 on your calendar to perform analysis on your website around the pre-update time-frame. Allow at least one week after the update for the algorithm to fully “warm up” and confirm changes before you dive into analyzing up or down rankings.

3. Bottom of the Funnel.

We would expect to see more focus on the bottom of the conversion funnel, particularly for high-intent content. That means service pages, local profiles, product documentation etc. – essentially the dull but reliable content. Your boring old friend who always turns up on time and doesn’t make a drama out of things, when everyone else is flitting about online behaving like total plonkers.

Final Thoughts: Embrace the Chaos.

The May 2026 Broad Core Update was the latest attempt by Google to reorganize the house of search results and in typical Google style it has been annoying for a while but it will pass (or get fixed via algorithm). As usual with broad core updates the best advice is to stay calm, stay smart and try to keep up via all of the sources available to you on the internet.