Every day, Google releases one or more updates designed to improve search results which aren’t so noticeable. There are also updates done several times a year which bring in widely notable effects. Such broad core updates are confirmed beforehand and are designed to guarantee that relevant and authoritative content is available to searchers.
With each broad core updates, some websites might experience drops or gains. These updates can also have a significant impact on Google Discover. The sites that note drops will be searching for a remedy. In such instances, Google provides ample guidance in finding and fixing what went wrong. Often, there might not be anything major to fix at all.
Also Read: Understanding Google Core Web Vitals
With this in mind, Google has confirmed its latest core algorithm update, the December Core update. This is the 3rd update for the year 2020. As stated in the announcement, Google’s guidance regarding the update stays the same as earlier.
Core Updates & Reassessing Content
As with any update announcement, the immediate response of the SEO community is anxiety and panic. Even so, going back to the basics of core updates may help soothe some of these concerns.
Contrary to many SEO and website owners’ fears the core update is about how the Google algorithm assesses content. These may be rewarding for some pages that haven’t experienced good results for their optimization efforts. This is particularly the case for pages that had to face the brunt of the previous core updates. With the latest core update, Google will reassess the rankings after the website has made changes since the last update.
Sites that have been putting in diligent effort towards improving their rankings may see a change of fortune. At the same time, sites that have not made an intensive effort to optimize their content will see results corresponding to their level of effort.
Also Read: Robotic Process Automation: Google SERP Analysis for SEO
One thing that is beyond doubt is that there will be a significant impact. Changes in search rankings either positive or negative should be seen as an indicator of content relevancy. If your content has gained more relevancy since the last update it is highly likely to be moved higher up the rankings. On the reverse, adding more depth and layers to content is an effective way of letting Google know how relevant it is for individual queries.
Content may also turn out to be more relevant if there is a change in search trend pointing to a particular topic. For instance, content about business meetings may turn to gain more relevance now that the world has shifted to remote working. Then there is the recently published content that didn’t exist at the time of the previous update. Hence new content has to be reassessed against previously existing content.
Navigating Through Google’s December 2020 Core Update
As in the case of all other core updates, Google’s advice remains the same.
- Create high-quality content using the best of industry practices
- Use structured data so that search engines can discover the most relevant content per search query
- Resolve the issues arising from SEO that impede user experience.
Now that the dust has settled, you may decide the nature of change and its significance to your website. If you have seen a negative impact you will still have to direct your efforts on perfecting your SEO and content experience.
Run a full site audit to find and resolve any major and minor SEO issues and continue monitoring your online visibility and rankings. Verbat Technologies is one of the largest SEO specialists in the industry. For your SEO and digital marketing, queries contact us.
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