Google has announced the release of the December 2024 core update on December 12, 2024. This core update is expected to take two weeks to roll out. Surprisingly, This new core update is happening just after a week the last core update was completed. This will be the fourth core update of the 2024 year.
According to Google, there are different core systems that are continuously being improved. It is the reason why there’s a new core update right after the completion of last month’s core update. These updates are meant to improve the search ranking systems to show more useful and relevant content to users.
The November 2024 core update was the last core update released by Google on November 11, 2024. This update was also predicted to be completed in two weeks. However, it took 24 days to roll out completely and ended on December 5, 2024. Similarly, the new core update might also take additional days to roll out completely.
A Q&A by Google
With the back-to-back release of core updates in the past few months, Google shared a Q&A on Google Search Updates answering some important questions such as how updates are released, why Google shares information about them, and what creators can do when these updates roll out.
Here are some of the key Q&As from the Google’s blog post;
Why does Google do updates?
Google uses automated systems to rank search results. Google releases core updates intending to improve these systems to show better search results to users.
What’s the difference between a ranking system and an update?
Ranking systems are what Google uses to generate and rank relatable search results for users. There are multiple ranking systems in place that do different things on Google Search. On the other hand, updates happen when Google wants to improve its ranking system. Different updates can be released for different ranking systems.
What should a creator do if there’s an update?
Google suggests that there’s nothing much to do for most creators who focus on creating relatable, helpful, and people-first content. Creators that do so might not even notice that an update has been made or they might experience better performance on search results. Creators can have a look at the guidance specifically provided with each core update if they notice a change in traffic on their websites.
What updates does Google share about?
Google shares information about updates that are notable in some way. Google does not share minor updates that go unnoticed most of the time. However, Information is shared about core updates to give guidance in case sites see changes. Notable updates are shared on the Google Search Status Dashboard. Creators can subscribe to the updates RSS feed to know about the current status of any update.
Aren’t there supposed to be no updates during the holiday shopping season?
Google tries to avoid releasing updates during the holiday shopping season, i.e., the late November to mid-December period. However, it is not always possible to do that. If Google feels that an update can significantly improve search results, They release it as soon as they are ready after being developed for several months.
Why You Should Care?
With the release of any new core update, a lot of volatility occurs within the search results and rankings. The results generated from search engine marketing also get affected due to shuffle in rankings. These updates are meant to improve the ranking of your sites or client sites. However, you may see significant fluctuations or even downgrades in Google rankings and organic traffic. Google says that you might see a bit of a recovery between core updates but the biggest change would be after another core update.