There’s a good chance we’ll see more Google updates in December

There's a good chance we'll see more Google updates in December

As I write this, Google has just released the November 2023 Core update, just a couple of weeks after the October 5-19 Core Update. And I am still studying the September 2023 helpful content update!

I don’t expect things to slow down.

At Pubcon Austin in September, Google’s Gary Illyes was asked by Jennifer Slegg, “Google loves updates in December. Is there is any chance they will stop doing that and putting business owners in turmoil.”

Gary referred to the “The thing about not doing Google updates around major holidays,” calling it “an old thing.”

@Bessian Actually, we try to minimize major updates right before the holidays.

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) December 18, 2013

Here’s the full quote from Gary from my notes I took while present at this conference:

“The thing about not doing updates around major holidays is an old thing.. The problem with that is that around that time, everyone and my grandmother will try to manipulate search results. Our primary mission is to help users find the right information at the right time. …With these updates we are trying to course correct a little. We know people will try to manipulate search results. With core updates we can actually course correct a little bit and offer users higher quality results even though all that  manipulation is going on. Honestly I would hope that the updates help you do better.” Gary Illyes, Pubcon Austin September 2023

So, stay tuned! I think we are in for more of a wild ride.

I’ve updated my algo list with this latest update.

Good luck!