2020 was all about unexpected news, events, and a lot of chaos going on around the world. When everything that is happened in 2020 is so unexpected, how can we forget about the December 2020 core update of Google? Knowing about this update is essential for everyone, whether you belong to the SEO community or running an online business. Moreover, knowing everything about the core update of Google will help you make sure that your website is ready for this update or not.
About December 2020 Core Update
On Thursday, 3 December 2020, Google started to roll out its 2020 core update around 1:00 pm ET. This Core Update is a big change to Google’s algorithm, which means it can impact many sites. Most of its impact was clearly seen on 4 December.
Invariably, more and more SEO experts and website owners have started to observe that the December 2020 core update of Google is much more impactful than the May update. You might have experienced some of the fluctuations in the Google search results.
The Facts
One of the most important things that you must know is such core updates don’t just happen overnight. They can take over several days or weeks to implement and happen in 24 to 48 hours to see the impacts on the websites. Therefore, it is essential that you must understand this update and do not just overreact to it based on incomplete stats.
Just like other big core-updates of Google, the December 2020 core update was announced as a global update. In other words, this core update can impact any website belonging to any region, language, or category. Google releases such type of board core updates every few months.
In this article, we will be discussing the early impacts of this core update and what you must know about this unexpected Google update 2020.
Early Impacts of December 2020 Core Update of Google
There was some of early impacts of December 2020 core update is analyzed on the websites.
Data from Rang Ranger
According to the data recorded from Rank Ranger, the fluctuation in the top five results on Google was 38% in May. However, in December, it is 58% in the top 10 Google results. In other words, December 2020 core update is more volatile in the top 10 results. In the top 5 Google results, May was more volatile.
Data from SEMRUSH
According to the data recorded from SEMRUSH, the volatility on 4th December was extremely high. However, on December 10th, people started to notice a higher uptake in the volatility percentage of the Google search results. It was not critically high, but volatility was surely gone high, which is quite significant.
Winner Domains
On the winning side, there were many websites operating within the Internet & Telecom, News, Shopping, Business & Industrial, and Beauty & Fitness industries. The clear winner websites that gain the highest Search Engine rankings were from the Business & Industrial category. We are referred to these websites as winner domains because they were websites with traffic surpassing 1 million monthly visitors.
Loser Domains
On the losing side, there are many sites or domains that saw the highest organic visibility losses. The most affected websites were from categories like Online Communities, News Sectors, and Shopping. They saw the biggest position drops.
How website attorney affected through December 2020 Core update?
Website traffic
If you do not know what happened to your website traffic, you must go and check your traffic and visibility fluctuations. If your website traffic has gone down, then do not panic. According to many tool providers, December 2020 core update was a big update for all websites. Many of them were either positively or negatively impacted. Many websites have seen gains or declines of 10% to 100% of their search rankings that were recorded previously.
Search metrics
Web pages or websites that were ranked high for their target keywords may see a drop in their search ranking after a core update. Conversely, websites that have low rankings for their target keyword may rank higher following the core update rollout. Industries like Music, Health, Finance, and E-commerce have already experienced a clear shift in their search rankings.
SEO Community
Core updates can dramatically affect SEO communities on Google. When the Google core update rolls out, its ranking algorithm also changes. At that time, the time or energy SEO communities have invested in optimizing the websites for Google could not nullify following the rolling out of such updates. For example, the core update can remove the positive impact of a search ranking signal targeting by a website. When the ranking signal is no longer in action, the search rankings of a website will drop. There are a few people from the SEO community who have claimed that the loss of over 40% of their organic traffic. However, there are many other claims for gaining over 150% Google organic traffic.
More about Core Updates
Almost every day, Google releases one or more updates that are designed to enhance our search results. Most of them are not even noticeable but help us continue to improve. In many cases, a Google update may be noticeable. And these updates may have actionable information that any content producer or webmaster might take.
What does normally happen?
Many times, Google makes important and broad changes to its search algorithms. These updates are known as ‘core-updates’. These kinds of updates are designed to ensure that Google aims to present more relevant and authoritative content to its users or searchers.
Why some Core updates are more noticeable?
Core updates are more noticeable because they produce widely notable effects. Some websites may experience gains or drops during such core updates.
(Note: According to Google’s guidelines, there is nothing mistaken with the web pages that perform less well in Google’s core update. Moreover, they have not violated Google’s webmaster guidelines. They are not subjected to an algorithmic or manual action. However, those who violate the guidelines are subjected to such consequences. )
Google core updates do not aim for any specific site or web page. Instead, the updates are just all about improving the algorithms and systems and how they assess content overall.
What should be Your Focus after December 2020 core update?
It is pretty much clear that a page or site that will drop during a core update does not have anything wrong to fix. Google suggests everyone focus on ensuring that they are offering the best content. That is what Google’s algorithm seeks to reward. It is quite simple -Google only understands the language of the content. The good content is the only key!
Google also advises you to check out search quality rater guidelines. Raters are no one but people who give Google insights on if their algorithms seem to be offering good outcomes, a way to confirm that their updates are working well.
May 2021 Core Vital Update Rolling Out Confirmed!
On November 10, Google announced that the page experience signals in the rankings will be rolling out in May 2021. This new page experience signal will combine Core web vitals with Google’s existing search signals, including safe browsing, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines. We have already guided you about the December 2020 Core Update of Google; you are now prepared to face any other core update that comes your way from Google.
Also Read – Google’s SEO Algorithm
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