-- Has your business seen a shift in how your site appears in search rankings? Google's recent update may be responsible.
The first major Google Core Update of 2026, which began on March 27, finished rolling out on April 8 [1] . This update has created quite the stir in the marketing world, with thousands of sites seeing small shifts in rankings, both up and down, while many disappeared from view.
The key takeaway from this historically volatile update is that websites and creators are being rewarded for in-depth, original, and high-quality content. It seems the March 2026 update is really doubling down on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust), and genuine, helpful content. Nearly 80% of top-three results shifted, and almost one in four top-10 pages fell out of the top 100.
It’s worth noting that this update immediately followed another update, which focused on spam (mainly AI generated) content.
Whenever Core Updates happen, there’s a small window of ‘figuring out’ the new normal when it comes to rankings and how websites are positioned. You’ll generally want to wait at least two weeks to see how things have panned out for your brand.
E-E-A-T For The Win
Google is looking for those who provide genuinely helpful and informative content. Part of this consideration is where your website fits in the user journey; meaning if a user hits a website, reads briefly, goes back to Google, then finds the answer somewhere else, the benefits will be handed to those who gave the user what they wanted.
To appeal to the various search engines and AI Tools, it is recommended that you consider the E-E-A-T strategy when producing content.
E-E-A-T is the framework Google uses to determine if a piece of content is actually worth showing to a user. It stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
In Real Estate, E-E-A-T is high-stakes because property falls under YMYL (Your Money or Your Life). Google applies much stricter standards to these industries because bad advice can lead to a massive financial loss.
When writing content for landing pages or articles, you’ll want to follow the E-E-A-T strategy as it will provide a strong chance of ranking and also being referenced in summaries in the future (there’s no guarantees, but it’ll put you in the shop window).
1. Experience
Google wants to see that you’ve actually “done the thing” you’re writing about.
This means moving away from generic/clickbait articles like “5 Tips to Sell Your House” and instead providing real, useful information “The shape of the Sydney market in April 2026.” If you use original photos, reference specific case studies or sales by your agency, and provide up to date data from your tech stack, these are observations that an AI can’t fake.
2. Expertise
This focuses on the credentials and depth of knowledge of the content creator.
Does the author of the article have a real estate licence, have they sold in the area, do they have a track record and reviews in a specific suburb?
Providing links or references back to these items will prove to the powers that be that you have the credentials to be providing the information you’re publishing.
3. Authoritativeness
This is about your standing in the industry. It’s not just about what you say, but who else says you’re an expert.
Are other reputable sites linking to you? Have you won or been nominated for awards or recognition? Are you being mentioned in industry news or local community portals?
This is where backlinks and PR come in. When a high-authority site like realestate.com.au, Domain, National/State Bodies (e.g. the REIQ), or even Real Estate Business (REB) links to your site, it transfers “Authority” to you.
4. Trustworthiness
Trust is the “bridge” that holds the other three together.
Without trust, the rest doesn’t matter.
This is measured by technical accuracy, transparency, and security.
From a technical standpoint, this means having a secure (HTTPS) site and fast load speeds. For data transparency, it is clearly stating your address, contact info, and terms of service.
For data and content accuracy, it is citing your sources (e.g., linking to CoreLogic or Pricefinder when quoting market stats).
The Generic Content Warning
When we consider what the search engines aren’t looking for, it’s broadly unhelpful or generic content. When we apply this to the Real Estate industry, there’s a lot of generic content created for Agency websites. Examples of this could include:
● generic suburb pages with duplicated information and minor differences
● pages that are short on information and not truly capable of helping the end user
● blog posts for broad topics (e.g. ‘how to choose a property manager’, ‘how to buy a house’) At
Real Coder, our modern SEO strategies focus on building high quality content that represents agencies as the expert and authority in their local marketplace/s. We’re focusing on unique perspectives from those on the ground, the results that are being seen in the area, and using data that is truly accurate. These plans may take longer to roll out than a generic templated landing page strategy, but over time, the gains can produce far greater results.
The AI Warning
We’re becoming more accepting of AI tools, and in turn, more trusting of the content that it provides us. Unfortunately, AI tools can still make mistakes, and the sources that it pulls from may not be the best choice for your local marketplace. Google (and other search engines) have begun penalising sites who have high levels of AI generated content.
They want to reward those who have put the time in to think about their services or solutions, and accurately described their offering to potential clients online. In the March 2026 Core Update, it is estimated around a quarter of websites that had been ranking for keywords completely disappeared from the top 100 for that phrase.The impacts on those businesses could end up being significant.
So How Should You Proceed?
We’ve discussed the impacts of the recent Core Update, and how the E-E-A-T strategy can help businesses elevate to great heights in the future.
We have also highlighted the importance of original, non-AI generated content. Regardless of the success you may or not not be having in the digital space, all businesses should be operating from the same playbook moving forward:
● Follow the E-E-A-T strategic framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust). ● Produce original content that is accurate and relevant to your audience.
● Be aware of the risks that come with using AI tools, and be prepared to take a little bit longer to write content yourself. The rewards could be enormous.
This information has been provided by the team at Real Coder, specialists in website development and SEO for the Real Estate industry.
References:
[1] March 2026 core update; https://status.search.google.com/incidents/7eTbAa2jWdToLkraZj5y (accessed April 16 2026)
[2] March 2026 Google core update more volatile than December — here’s what changed; https://searchengineland.com/march-2026-google-core-update-what-changed-474397 (accessed April 16 2026)
Contact Person Name: Matt Anson
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Company name: Real Coder
City and country: Brisbane, Australia
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Name: Matt Anson
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Organization: realcoder.com.au
Website: https://realcoder.com.au
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