SEARCHENGINES
December 2022 Google Helpful Content Update Rolling Out
Google has officially confirmed the launch of the second release of the Google helpful content update/system. It started lightly on December 5th but became noticeable, according to Google, on December 6th, which is why Google did not announce it until the 6th. This update adds new signals, most notably making it work for all languages globally – it is not just looking at English content anymore.
Google posted on December 6th that on December 5th, it “released the December 2022 helpful content update, which improves our classifier and works across content globally in all languages.” Google added, “the rollout may take up to two weeks to complete.”
As a reminder, the Google helpful content update looks to weed out content written for the purpose of ranking in search engines that do not help or inform people. Google said this update will “tackle content that seems to have been primarily created for ranking well in search engines.” The update will “help make sure that unoriginal, low-quality content doesn’t rank highly in Search,” Google added. So if you are writing content to drive search engine visibility and traffic, you might be hit by this type of update, and non-English sites are no longer safe from this update.
December 2022 Google Helpful Content Update Quick Facts
Here are the most important things that we know right now in short form:
- Name: Google helpful content update
- Launch Date: It began to rollout on December 5th but not so noticeable until December 6th
- Rollout: It will take about two weeks to fully roll out
- Targets: It looks at content that was created to rank well in search over help humans
- Search Only: This currently only impacts Google Search, not Google Discover or other Google surfaces. But Google may expand this to Discover and more in the future.
- Penalty: Google did not mention penalty but this update does seem to feel like a penalty for sites that will be hit by it
- Sitewide: This is a sitewide algorithm, so the whole site will be impacted by this update
- Not a core update: Many are going to say this is a core update, it is not.
- Global and all languages: This is no longer just for English-language content, it is now all languages and global.
- Impact: Google would not tell me what percentage of queries or searches were impacted by this update but Google did tell me it would be “meaningful.” Also, Google said this will be felt more for online-educational materials, entertainment, shopping, and tech-related content.
- Recover: If you were hit by this, then you will need to look at your content and see if you can do better with Google’s advice below
- Refreshes: Google updates the scores constantly here but there is a timeout period, and a validation period and it can take several months to recover from this update.
Updates to Helpful Content Update Document
Google made some small changes to its helpful content update page here are those edits:
- Replaced a lot of “update” references to “system” as we expected.
- Added the line “It works globally across all languages.”
- Remove the paragraph that it is only for English languages.
- Google also updated parts of the bottom of the document, it now reads “Periodically, we refine how the classifier detects unhelpful content. When we do this in a notable way, we share this as a “helpful content update” on our Google Search ranking updates page. After such an update finishes rolling out, and if the refined classifier sees that content has improved, then the unhelpful classification from our previous classifier may no longer apply.
One note here, Google is emphasizing how this system identifies unhelpful content with that last paragraph. Google’s Seach Liaison, Danny Sullivan, also said this on Mastodon when asked “When it says “improves our classifier” is that related to the updated classifier for NLP. If so should we expect to see the new categories being assigned to content?” He responded “The classifier tries to understand if content is unhelpful. We’ve improved from the original one when the helpful content system was first launched earlier this year.”
I am not sure I disagree with this statement based on that:
I still think Google should have called this “Unhelpful Content Demotion” instead https://t.co/XaxQtzbMZn
— Kazushi Nagayama🫡長山一石 (@KazushiNagayama) December 7, 2022
Here is the announcement tweets:
The Dec. 2022 helpful content update was released Dec. 5, starting to become more visible today & will take about two weeks to fully roll out. It improves our classifier & works across content globally in all languages. Our help page explains more: https://t.co/MS7hbcBTsp
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 6, 2022
Previous Helpful Content Update Impact
Last update was interesting, on September 9th we we thought we started to see the first widespread fluctuations from this helpful content update. Prior, only 20% of SEOs said they noticed any ranking changes related to the original helpful content update and I believe a good percentage of that 20% are confused and misattributing the changes they see to the wrong thing – i.e. it is not the helpful content update. The original Google helpful content update early on seemed pretty minor in terms of what SEOs and tools are picking up, despite what we all thought would happen. Even Danny Sullivan even said himself it was not a huge shakeup but it was big in terms of the direction Google is going with ranking content.
In short, the original one did not live up to the hype – will this updated version make up for it?
SEO Chatter
Here is some of the chatter I found that hints at some of the early impact on this update (or maybe the unconfirmed update from earlier?):
Quick update on the Dec HCU: Here’s the first big drop I have seen based on the December Helpful Content Update. Search visibility drops heavily starting yesterday. I’m now also seeing several other domains that dropped over the past two days… Will share more soon-ish. pic.twitter.com/md5FEls6u1
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 7, 2022
Big ol’ drop in a site with 2M+ pageviews per day. It started yesterday.
— Bot de revisión de titulares (@chupitodehelio) December 6, 2022
Yes, we noticed changes happening overnight. Interestingly the sites with the biggest changes (that have moved up to page 1) are sites that have the keywords in the domain…
— Mike (@nycmw2) December 6, 2022
Big increase on Sistrix. Not translating to traffic yet but December also tends to be a slower month traffic-wise so hard to tell for sure. pic.twitter.com/Wbk5zOqVez
— Ash Read (@Ashread_) December 6, 2022
I have 2 sites w all unique original well-written human driven content that look like they’re being affected by this rollout right before the end of the holiday season so this will affect them financially AND you’re getting it wrong. Thank you @Google for breaking your promise.
— Kristine S (@schachin) December 6, 2022
yes on one site across the board improvements
— Joe Hall (@joehall) December 6, 2022
@rustybrick I have also noticed in Semrush is showing me it seems like one small movement. pic.twitter.com/6oEI4hg30s
— Anuj thaker (@Anuj_Thaker03) December 7, 2022
Don’t know about other but this specific keyword was going up ⬆️. pic.twitter.com/KHiJvTYZoU
— Manzoor khan (@ManzoorRph) December 7, 2022
Can you tell me is this because of content? Since I’ve written high quality-people-first content?@rustybrick pic.twitter.com/rwAPB5gqZt
— networthypeople (@joelycirny) December 7, 2022
Yes, and it started about 3 days ago. They were testing this before they announced it
— Stefan (@Stefan01301380) December 6, 2022
It’s learning.
— Dr. Marie Haynes🐼 (@Marie_Haynes) December 6, 2022
Semrush is showing this site exploded – it did not – at least not according to GA:
Semrush is showing me this, it seems like one big movement 🙂 pic.twitter.com/r3lIiLTWhE
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) December 7, 2022
I mean, I am up but this much? I doubt it…
And some chatter from Black Hat World & WebmasterWorld:
One of my sites got hit in the spam update. Today it’s breaking the ceiling.
I was starting to wonder when all my cache dates were no older than 7 days. That’s never happened before. But the ranks I see now were definitely taking shape days ago.
I think changes began Nov 30th according to site log activity, crawling level, rank movement, etc.
Google Tracking Tools
Here is what the automated tracking tools are showing:
I believe it is still early, but the impact, thus far, in the past 24-48 hours, was not yet massive. I will keep an eye on the changes, volatility, and chatter and keep you posted.
Forum discussion at Twitter, Black Hat World & WebmasterWorld.
Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Google’s Search Liaison Urges Patience As The March 2024 Core Update Continues To Rollout
Google is urging site owners and SEOs to have patience as the Google March 2024 core update continues to roll out over the coming weeks. Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, said on X to wait for the update to complete before deciding on what changes you may want to make.
He wrote, “I would let the update complete before deciding if there are any fundamental changes you might want to make.” In fact, he said, “There might not be any to do at all,” and maybe whatever ranking declines you are seeing now won’t be there when the update is done rolling out.
As a reminder, the March 2024 core update started officially on March 5th, then we first saw ranking shifts on March 8th and 9th, then some reversals on March 12th and then more movement on March 15th. The update can take a full month to roll out, so it may go into April 2024.
Sullivan then went into what other changes or factors may lead to a site seeing less search visibility and traffic.
Your site seems clean and nice. Going through the site, I see [steak pie] as one of your featured recipes. You’re in the carousel and second in web links for that. That’s a pretty solid sign that we like your content.
If you were previously first, trying to move up from second by doing a lot of technical and content stuff wouldn’t be something I’d recommend. Second is super successful. Rankings can also change for various reasons, so you might move back up.
You might also look to see if there’s any seasonal change. IE: instead of looking at rankings, look at your traffic. If it was higher previously, what for? Perhaps you had some seasonal recipes a few months ago that people are looking for less. We have a page about debugging traffic drops that talks about seasonality here.
Here are those posts within context:
I would let the update complete before deciding if there are any fundamental changes you might want to make. There might not be any to do at all.
Your site seems clean and nice. Going through the site, I see [steak pie] as one of your featured recipes. You’re in the carousel and…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) March 15, 2024
Please be kind in your responses.
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Core Update Rumbling, Manual Actions FAQs, Core Web Vitals Updates, AI, Bing, Ads & More
For the original iTunes version, click here.
This past weekend (a week ago) we saw the first ranking volatility likely from the Google March 2024 core update. We also some saw possible reversals or recoveries a few days later. Then today, Friday, March 15th, I am seeing more ranking volatility likely related to the core and spam updates. Google posted its official FAQs for pure spam manual actions. Google has clarified its page experience and core web vitals help documentation and how it relates to rankings. Google has replaced FID with INP as a core web vital metric, as expected. Google said sites use AI for some articles but don’t specify which are the lowest quality pages. Google explains that double down on AI content may be a bad idea now. John Mueller’s site dropped out of the Google index this week, no joke. Bing Webmaster Tools may provide up to 24 months of data. Bing Webmaster Tools’s new top SEO insights report can tell you if you have inadequate links. Bingbot now supports Brotli compression. Google Top Stories has this “more context” section written by AI. Google image search is testing like buttons. Google Local panels are testing numerous interface changes. Google local reviews can show photos related to reviews and related photos to photos. Google is testing placing website links next to hotels and restaurants. Google Business Profiles shows services with book now buttons. Google Merchant Center Product Studio released themed templates, with the first being for St. Patrick’s Day. Microsoft Advertising is testing a new advertising console. Microsoft Copilot is now using GPT-4 Turbo. Copilot is now in that Microsoft Advertising console. And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
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Search Topics of Discussion:
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SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 15, 2024
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
We’re seeing more ranking fluctuations likely related to the Google March core and spam updates. Google Merchant Center Product Studio has new AI generated themed templates, one ready for St. Patrick’s Day. Google Image search is testing thumbs up like buttons. Google tests dishes near me. Google has trending icons in the people also search for section. Plus, I posted the weekly SEO video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
-
Google March 2024 Core & Spam Update Movement Today
Today is day 10 of the Google March 2024 core update rollout and Google March 2024 spam update. We believe we saw the core update touch down on March 8th and 9th and some possible recoveries or fluctuations on March 12th. Now I see more signs of Google search ranking volatility likely related to the core and spam updates today. -
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Core Update Rumbling, Manual Actions FAQs, Core Web Vitals Updates, AI, Bing, Ads & More
This past weekend (a week ago) we saw the first ranking volatility likely from the Google March 2024 core update. We also some saw possible reversals or recoveries a few days later. Then today, Friday, March 15th, I am seeing more ranking volatility likely related to the core and spam updates. Google posted…. -
Google Merchant Center Product Studio With Themed Templates Including St. Patrick’s Day
Google Merchant Center has added new themed templates to the Product Studio. The new theme was for St. Patrick’s Day, which is coming up this Sunday. But Google will soon add Easter, Spring, and Mother’s Day themed templates to the Product Studio as well. -
Google Image Search Results Testing Like Button
Google seems to be testing a like, thumbs-up, button on image search results. The thumbs-up icon is near the share and save button and below the image, description and visit button. -
Google Search Dishes Nearby Carousel
Have you seen the “dishes nearby” carousel in the mobile Google Search results? I am not 100% sure if it is new, but I don’t think I’ve covered it before. But Google will show dishes served by nearby restaurants in a carousel interface. -
Google People Also Search For Trending Icons
Google is placing trending icons on some of the people also search for people in the knowledge panel. We’ve seen various forms of this and I don’t think this is specifically new, but I don’t think I covered this specific example. -
Wall Of Superstars At Google
Here is a photo from the Google Hong Kong office of a wall that says “Superstars at Google” and it then shows photos, names and descriptions of specific Googlers.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Bing is testing a large font size for the first title on Bing SERP., Shameem Adhikarath on X
- Google, in an effort to display and prioritize even more expertise, is showing a short bio of who the person is who’s writing or tweeting about a “Perspective” Notice how they add “covers technology” This looks very ve, Shalom Goodman on X
- Are these JavaScript Errors Anything to Worry About?, Reddit
- I think this might be new (DMA), for bus and train searches. Don’t recall a “Transport sites” module (like the Places sites one) being mentioned in Google’s announcements…, Lluc B. Penycate on X
- Perplexity’s integration of Yelp data is imperfect but points to exciting times ahead for “Local AI.”, Greg Sterling on X
- Want your mind blown today? -> Ray Kurzweil is Google’s AI visionary and has over *61* years of experience with AI. Yes, 61. On Rogan’s podcast, he covered a number of topics that would blow your mind. To say he knows his stuff AI-wi, Glenn Gabe on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
- How Local Businesses Inspire Love, Loyalty, and Friendship, Moz
- Apple Maps Cycling Directions Expand to Austria, Belgium, and Sweden, MacRumors
- Apple Maps vs. Google Maps: Which Is Better?, MacRumors
- Istanbul construction pit mistaken as lake on Google, Apple, Yandex maps, Daily Sabah
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Other Search
Feedback:
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