On Monday, November 11th, 2024, Google began rolling out its latest core algorithm update. 

It’s the last planned update of the year, and it’s suspected to last about two weeks, which is the norm for core updates. 

What’s new this time? Should website owners wear helmets and shields?

While it’s too early to tell, this appears to be a run-of-the-mill core update, so its impact shouldn’t be too drastic *knocks on wood*. 

Many site owners are still reeling from the infamous March 2024 Core Update, which heavily targeted what Google deemed as ‘spammy, low-quality content.’ It went after scaled content, site reputation abuse, and expired domain abuse in a big way, and many websites had their rankings affected (both good and bad). 

August’s 2024 Core Update also saw a lot of action, as it was a direct response to September 2023’s Helpful Content Update (HCU), which had negatively impacted smaller, more independent publishers. 

November’s update continues in that same vein, with the goal of continuing to improve Google’s search results and implement lessons learned from the September 2023 HCU. 

Yet, the team at Google reported that sites impacted by the September 2023 HCU should not expect to see dramatic recoveries, but it’s too early to know for sure. 

Stick around to learn everything SEOs should know about the November 2024 core update, including what you should do if your rankings are impacted. 

Unpacking the Update 

Here’s what Google’s team had to say on LinkedIn regarding the update:

“Today we released the November 2024 core update. This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on search.” 

This statement sums up the purpose of all core updates (and targeted updates, too), which is to improve Google’s user experience. 

It also echoes the company’s love/hate relationship with certain SEO practices. 

While they know they can’t stop companies from marketing their services through their search engine, they can crack down on specific practices that artificially boost spammy or low-quality content. 

‘Black-hat’ SEO tactics like buying backlinks and spamming keywords were quick ways to achieve high rankings in the past, but Google has reduced the success rate of these techniques through algorithm updates. 

Targeted updates like spam and review updates focus on improving specific aspects of Google Search, while core updates focus on enhancing the overall search experience by reassessing the quality of its rankings. Core updates also affect global search results across all regions and languages. 

What to Do if You’re Impacted 

Core updates are notorious for causing major shake-ups in current search rankings, so you should keep an eye on them in Google Search Console (GSC). 

Also, some websites won’t be impacted at all by the update, especially if they produce helpful, people-first content. 

With core updates, it’s important to note that negative impacts on rankings don’t necessarily mean that anything is wrong with your website. 

You can think of a core update as a ‘rankings refresh’ since Google’s algorithm is literally reevaluating the quality of its results. This means some websites will see positive impacts as the algorithm is rewarding their most recent SEO efforts. 

Google recommends that impacted site owners read its guide on creating helpful, people-first content to learn what to do. 

Here are the cliff notes:

  1. First, don’t take any action until the update is done rolling out. While it’s estimated that the rollout will last two weeks, it’s not uncommon for updates to last longer or shorter than that. Whenever the update is complete, Google will make an official announcement, so keep your eyes peeled for it. 
  2. Next, compare your traffic on GSC from before and after the update to see if there were any major impacts. 
  3. Make a note of any major position drops, such as dropping 20 positions or more. 

Here’s a few questions to ask yourself to improve content quality include the following:

  • Does your content provide truly original information or analysis?
  • Does the content provide information that goes beyond the obvious?
  • Is the headline not too shocking or exaggerated?
  • Is this the type of content that you’d want to bookmark or share with a friend?

Asking yourself questions like these can help you develop content that’s truly engaging and helpful, which is what Google wants. 

The best thing you can do now is hang tight until the rollout is complete and hold off on making any optimizations until then. 

Do you need help perfecting your SEO? Are you still trying to recover rankings from a recent update?

If so, HOTH X, our fully managed SEO service, is the solution to your problems. We’ll take the process completely off your hands so that you can focus on other things, so don’t wait to get in touch for a free SEO consultation today!