Google confirmed that the November 2023 core update – the fourth core update this year – has completed rolling out. The update started on November 2, 2023, only a couple of weeks after the October 2023 core update, which started rolling out on October 5 and was completed on October 19.
The November core update finished on November 28, 2023, 26 days after it started to roll out.
What we saw. This update, like most previous core updates, felt big in terms of the number of sites that saw ranking volatility and the complaints from SEOs about the rollout. This November core update started off fast and had a very big impact right away. I covered what some of the SEOs noticed early on at the Search Engine Roundtable.
Overlapping update. Keep in mind that the Google November 2023 reviews update started on Wednesday, November 8, 2023 and is still in progress. So those two updates were happening at the same time, but the impact of each update was experienced at different times by sites.
Why we care. Google algorithm updates are critical for all brands, businesses, and organizations to be aware of because they can impact how your site performs in search results. Any change in rankings from a core update – positive or negative – can impact your organic traffic, conversions and revenue.
Knowing when Google makes these updates enables site owners to know if traffic fluctuations resulted from a change to the site or something Google changed with its ranking algorithm.
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:
- 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.
Previous core updates. Here’s a timeline and our coverage of recent core updates:
- The October 2023 core update was on October 5th and ended on October 19.
- The August 2023 core update was on August 22nd and ended on September 7.
- The March 2023 core update was on March 15th and ended on March 28th.
- The September 2022 broad core update was less impactful than previous core updates and finished on Sept. 26.
- The May 2022 broad core update was a significant and fast update.
- The November 2021 core update
- The July 2021 core update.
- The June 2021 core update, which was slow to roll out but a big one.
