The November 2023 core update by Google was rolled out over a 26-day period and was completed on November 28th, marking its conclusion. Comparisons of the data from the November 2023 core update and the October 2023 core update revealed that the former was more volatile than the latter. The October 2023 core update had a corresponding spam update overlap, while the November 2023 core update had a corresponding reviews update overlap, making it messy to discern which update caused what volatility. Data from various providers showed that the November core update exhibited higher peaks of volatility compared to the October update, with the retail niche being the most volatile and the health niche to be the least volatile.
Key data points were shared by providers such as Semrush, SimilarWeb, SEOClarity, and Sistrix. Semrush data indicated that the November core update had overall rank volatility similar to the October core update, with the November update exhibiting higher peaks of volatility. SimilarWeb’s SERP Seismometer showed heightened volatility on November 7th and calculated an average change of 4.43 positions across the search engine results pages (SERPs), the highest since June 2021. seoClarity provided data on search feature changes, offering insights into how much the search features changed and the impact of core updates on site rankings within these features. Sistrix emphasized the difficulty in separating the overlapping changes in November and highlighted ongoing increases in certain websites potentially related to the Reviews update.
The data analysis, along with community feedback and past experience, demonstrated that Google’s core updates are broad and cover various overall quality issues. Google has advised website owners negatively impacted by core updates to consider certain factors and has suggested that recovery might occur between core updates, but significant changes are likely to be observed after another core update. It is recommended to take a wider view of the overall website and work on improving the site overall in the event of a core update hit.
Overall, the November 2023 core update was marked by higher volatility compared to the October 2023 core update, impacting a wide range of industries and search features. The data provided valuable insights for website owners and SEO professionals to assess and potentially improve their website’s performance in light of the core update.
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