Google has begun rolling out the May 2026 core update, the company announced today. This marks Google’s second core update of 2026, following the March 2026 core update, as well as the March 2026 spam update and the February 2026 Discover update. What Google is saying. On its Search Status Dashboard, Google added the following note: Released the May 2026 core update. The rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete. Google also posted on LinkedIn, explaining: This is a routine update intended to better highlight relevant, helpful content for searchers across all kinds of sites. The rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete. About core updates. Core updates are launched several times per year. They bring broad, substantial adjustments to Google’s search algorithms and systems, which is why Google publicly announces them. In addition, Google sometimes pushes out smaller core updates without announcing them. It has been quite a while since the previous core update. Many in the industry anticipated more frequent core updates from Google, but that hasn’t occurred. What to do if you are hit. Google has not issued any new, update-specific guidance for the May 2026 core update. Still, Google has previously shared recommendations for sites that see negative impact from a core update: There are no specific technical fixes guaranteed to restore rankings. A drop in rankings doesn’t necessarily indicate anything is wrong with your pages. Google has published a set of questions to review if your site is affected by a core update. Some recovery can happen between core updates, but the most significant shifts usually occur after another core update rolls out. In short:…