Google has confirmed that a broad core algorithm update started rolling out late on Thursday (3rd December) and advised webmasters to take another look at its general guidance to make sense of the changes.
In a tweet on its Google Search Liaison account, Google said that the latest broad core update to the search algorithm was one of the several larger tweaks to the formula that it makes every year.
The latest one, called the ‘December 2020 Core Update’, is actually the third core change this year and the first since early May, and it is fair to say that a lot has changed in the world during the last seven months.
The global pandemic may have resulted in the core update taking longer to roll out and it is natural that webmasters and SEOs will be anxious about its impact.
Google’s core updates can sometimes take weeks to fully roll out, so it will be difficult to gauge its impact in the short term.
However, it is likely to be similar to core updates in the past, which means that there will be winners and losers in search rankings.
This is because core updates see Google reassess how relevant content is and how it should be ranked.
Anyone who has been working hard to produce engaging content and optimise SEO may see a spike in rankings, but this is not always the case.
Google has said in the past that those that suffer in rankings after an update have not necessarily done anything wrong, but that others are doing better in terms of providing high-quality content and engaging user experiences.
Google advises webmasters to keep an eye on rankings over the coming weeks and then take heed of its guidance to inform its response to the update.
Information about the sites and sectors that have benefited from the update is likely to start surfacing during the next two weeks.
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