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Google’s December 2020 Core Algorithm Update: What You Need to Know


As of the 4th of December NZT, Google confirmed its December 2020 Core Update would begin rolling out, which will take around one to two weeks to fully come into effect. Typically, what follows is a daunting period causing anxiety among businesses as they wait to see how their website rankings are affected.

Google states, as always, that their guidance is the same for this update as any other. However, a significant time gap is noticeable between the last update (May 4th) and this December update. What this means for businesses is uncertain, but it could have a more significant impact than previous updates. Only Google will ever know what is ahead for SEO, but we try to keep up as much as we can!

To help avoid the panic and stress of the upcoming update roll-out, we have put together some tips on how to make the most of Google’s core updates.

The Purpose of Core Updates

Google’s core updates are designed to reassess online content and ensure the most relevant and authoritative content is being offered to searchers. Importantly, this means the ranking of content will change with Google’s updates.

However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; core algorithm updates are generally seen as double-edged swords. SEOs and online businesses prepare for the worst when there is also a lot of opportunities to benefit from Google’s re-assessment. Websites previously impacted negatively usually haven’t put enough emphasis on optimising their content. On the other hand, the sites which have been focused on improving their content and ranking can reap the rewards from this new update.

What is definite with this core update is that rankings will noticeably change as content relevancy differs, and SEO spirits may or may not be broken.

How can you benefit from this update?

As previously mentioned, fresh and relevant content offered by sites is typically rewarded by the algorithms. So, how can you self-assess to make sure you’re offering the best content possible?

Honesty when self-assessing

How can you expect to offer the best quality content if you aren’t asking yourself the right questions when self-assessing? Google offers sound advice in their guidelines when it comes to asking the right questions. These include; content and quality questions, expertise questions, and presentation and production questions.

So, ask yourself: is your content substantial in offering original and valuable content? Is your content free from identifiable factual errors? Do you have grammar and spelling errors?

Asking questions along these lines and being honest with yourself is going to help you create the most valuable content for your site’s customers.

Content, content, and more content

Focus on relevant content. It’s been mentioned many times already, but website content is what Google core updates are all about! It’s time to focus more resources on building high-quality website content.

Understanding Google’s quality rater guidelines and E-A-T can help in building the optimising content for your site.

Pure SEO is all about making your content rank

Our content marketing team specialises in creating unique content which will help your SEO and conversions. If the latest Google core update wasn’t in your favour, talk to us about how we can help you get the results you need. Contact us now!

Rachel Matela

Rachel is a Filipino Kiwi with a passion for the arts. Having graduated with an Arts Degree in English from UoA, she found writing work at PureSEO as a Junior Copywriter and quickly moved on to the role of Editor. In her spare time, she reads Austen and teaches dance classes in the weekend.

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