Google released the December 2024 core update today. Yes, this new core update is happening a week after the last core update completed. The update will take about two weeks to roll out, Google said.
Core updates happen multiple times per year. Core updates can have significant, broad changes to Google’s search algorithms and systems, which is why Google announces them. This is the fourth core update of the 2024 year.
This core update came about a week after the November 2024 core update finished rolling out. That update started on November 11, 2024 and completed about 24 days later on December 5, 2024. Now, a week later, Google has released yet another core update.
Google wrote, “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. This past blog post explains more:”
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.
Here’s a timeline and our coverage of recent core updates:
Why we care. With any core update, we often see large volatility within the Google search results and ranking. These updates hopefully will improve ranking for your sites or client sites. But some of you may see fluctuations or even downgrades in Google rankings and organic traffic.
We hope this update rewards you all and sends you lots of traffic and conversions.
I do wonder if this update will have any positive impact for the creators Google had meetings with months ago.