If you’ve experienced a drop in rankings in the last month, you are not alone. Barry Schwartz reported on Search Engine Land that multiple third-party data sites show that the November 2023 core update was more volatile than the October 2023 core update.
This graph, taken from the article, shows the peak volatility by niche/industry when comparing November to October:
However, Schwartz urges readers to take a step back to look at the update as a whole instead of on a “one-to-one spike” basis. Looking at the whole picture, we can clearly see that there wasn’t a major discrepancy between the core updates.
However, there was enough of a spike in volatility to create a buzz in the SEO industry. These screenshots are taken from X and Webmaster World:
What Does Google Recommend?
In their Core Updates documentation, Google states that pages that experience a drop in rankings after a core update may not have anything wrong with them. Core updates are designed to improve how Google’s systems evaluate content, not to target specific sites and pages. That’s why, during a core update, you may see some sites do better and others do worse.
However, if you experience a drop in rankings, Google recommends assessing your content to ensure you’re creating the best content possible.
Google states that some sites may not recover until the next core update, and improvements made by site owners cannot guarantee a recovery.
Google does offer a list of questions to consider if your rankings were impacted (note that these questions are from 2019).
Most importantly, check your content:
- Is your content original?
- Is your content thorough and provides insight on a topic?
- Is your headline indicative of the content, or does it exaggerate for clicks?
- Does your content cite authoritative sources?
- Is the content trustworthy?
- Is the content readable and without grammar or spelling errors?
- Does your content offer more value than competitors'?
These are just a few of the questions that Google provides to help you troubleshoot your site. A full site audit can also help identify any troubles you may experience after an update.
