Google December 2020 Core Update Rollout Advice

Google just released a new update on December 3rd, 2020 – their core algorithm December 2020 update.

Recently, Google announced it is rolling out a new core update, after announcing two updates already this year. A reasonable amount of time has passed since the previous update in May 2020, compared to the average time it takes between these types of updates. According to Google, the Google core update will take around 1-2 weeks to fully roll out.

 

What does the update mean?

It’s likely that the pandemic delayed the rollout of Google’s newest update.

However, since more time has elapsed between updates than usual, would that cause this update to have a greater impact? Unfortunately, we won’t know the answer to that until the completion of the rollout in 1-2 weeks.

 

Why do we care?

Whenever there’s an update to Google’s search ranking algorithms, it means that any given site can do better or worse in the search results than it did before. With these types of update changes, businesses can attribute their web performance/number of visitors to their own changes or to the changes made in Google’s ranking algorithm, to help determine what needs to be done.

 

What can you do about it?

Predictably, the SEO community’s response to any Google update is panic and worry about their
(new) ranking. Though you can avoid this by familiarising yourself with the basics of core updates and their particular nature. Other than staying informed, there really is nothing you can do until the update’s adjustments are made. But, these updates are also opportunities to be rewarded for your optimisation efforts over the past few months. So, it’s helpful not to worry about the update until you absolutely have to, as it might work in your favour.

 

What to expect going forward

 

Optimisation efforts

With a new core update, Google will reassess how content should rank following changes made to your site since the last update. To illustrate further, sites that have been diligently working toward improving their rankings may be rewarded for their efforts. On the other hand, sites that have not made a concentrated effort to optimise their content may see results reflective of that effort.

 

Content changes

One thing that’s certain is there will be a measurable and visible impact. Broad core updates not only produce widely noticeable effects across search results in all countries in all languages but are also suggestive of content relevancy. So, keep your content optimised, relevant, and original – and Google will be sure to notice you.

 

Here are a few content trends seen with previous updates:

 

• The most relevant content will rank the highest
• New content (since the update) will be assessed against previous content for relevancy
• Relevancy will shift as new topics with high search interest arise
• Adding depth to content will increase relevancy for particular queries