The fourth, and I suspect, last core update of the 2024 year, the December 2024 core update, is now done rolling out and complete. It started on December 12, 2024 and completed about 6 days later on December 18, 2024. This update was a typical core update where Google updates its core ranking system to make search results more relevant and helpful.
It was atypical in that it started only about a week after the November 2024 core update was completed.
What Google said. Google said about this core update:
“The Dec. 2024 core update is rolling out, and we expect it will complete in two weeks. If you’re wondering why there’s a core update this month after one last month, we have different core systems we’re always improving.”
What we saw. Based on what I’ve been seeing, the update touched down pretty quickly, just a couple of days after it launched. It was a big update, causing many of the third-party tracking tools to spike significantly, showing a lot of volatility.
Here are some charts showing the volatility over this update:
Previous communication. Google told us weeks ago that an update was coming soon but websites negatively impacted by the September 2023 helpful content update should not expect to see big recoveries. It is too soon to know what type of impact this November core update will have.
What to do if you are hit. Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. Google has not really given much new advice here but here is the past advice the company provided:
- There aren’t specific actions to take to recover. A negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages.
- Google has offered a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update.
- Google said you can see a bit of a recovery between core updates but the biggest change would be after another core update.
In short, write helpful content for people and not to rank in search engines.
- “There’s nothing new or special that creators need to do for this update as long as they’ve been making satisfying content meant for people. For those that might not be ranking as well, we strongly encourage reading our creating helpful, reliable, people-first content help page,” Google said previously.
For more details on Google core updates, you can read Google’s documentation.
Previous core updates. The first core update of 2024 – the March 2024 core update – was the largest core update ever, according to Google. It started March 5 and completed 45 days later on April 19. The second core update was the August 2024 core update was on August 15th, and completed 19 days later on Sept. 3.
Here’s a timeline and our coverage of recent core updates:
Why we care. Now that this December 2024 core update is done, you can start to dig in to see how you are your clients were impacted. You can reviews Google’s guidance and apply your SEO knowledge to try to continue to improve your site and Google rankings.
Google releases core update every few to several months, so you should always continue to work on improving your site and the content on your site. Although, there are some rumors that Google may be releasing these updates much more often and more frequently.
Future updates may benefit your site’s ranking and Google traffic – so always be working on improvements – not just for Google Search but also for your website users.
