Google October 2023 Core Update Is Live

Google is now also rolling out the October 2023 core update. This is happening while Google is rolling out the October 2023 spam update and only weeks after Google finished rolling out the August 2023 core update. Also, this is weeks after the September helpful content update. Got all of that?

The new Google October 2023 core update started to roll out yesterday, October 5th, at 11:54 am ET. Like most Google updates, it can take about two weeks to roll out. This is the third core update of the 2023 year, and the seventh official Google algorithm update of the 2023 year.

Google wrote it, “Released the October 2023 core update. The rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete.” Here is the tweet with the announcement:

Today we released the October 2023 core update. We’ll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete: https://t.co/pooeFs6tEC

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) October 5, 2023

Google did not announce anything new specific to this update. But John Mueller of Google did say it is a “new core update” – whatever that means:

It’s a new core update.

— I am John (@JohnMu) October 5, 2023

Oh and I did ask:

Bits & bobs.

— I am John (@JohnMu) October 5, 2023

We have a lot of different core ranking systems that involve improving our results overall. We’re always making improvements to these. Many we don’t announce because …. there are so many. If we make improvements we think may be particularly notable, then we share so site owners…

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 6, 2023

Google October 2023 Core Update Quick Facts:

Here are the most important things that we know right now in short form:

• Name: Google October 2023 Broad Core Update
• Launched: October 5, 2023 at around 12 pm ET
• Rollout: It will take about one to two weeks to roll out
• Targets: It looks at all types of content
• Penalty: It is not a penalty, it promotes or rewards great web pages
• Global: This is a global update impacting all regions, in all languages.
• Impact: Google would not tell me what percentage of queries or searches were impacted by this update but so far, this seems to be a typical core update that reaches wide and the impact is fast.
• Discover: Core updates impact Google Discover and other features, also feature snippets and more.
• 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 core update advice.
• Refreshes: Google will do periodic refreshes to this algorithm but may not communicate those updates in the future. Maybe this is what we saw the past couple of weeks or all those unconfirmed Google updates.

Google did confirm that this new update is global for all languages, like the previous core updates.

Recent Google Search Updates

As I said above, Google has been busy with pushing out search updates. Google is currently rolling out the October 2023 spam update.

We had an unconfirmed update that felt big, around October 1st. Google did not confirm this update, but some are speculating it is either a tremor from the helpful content update or an early spam update consequence.

The September 2023 Google helpful content update started on September 14th and finished rolling out on September 28th.

And it was only 6 weeks ago when Google started to roll out the August 2023 core update. That update started on August 22nd and was completed on September 7th, only four weeks ago.

Plus, to add to all of this, Google had a massive indexing issue last night. Good luck debugging and analyzing all of this at the same time.

If you ask Google, they will be like, and you shouldn’t be confused because spam updates only impact spam, and core updates impact everything. But trust me, these overlapping updates will confuse everyone in the SEO space.

Yep, John Mueller from Google…

“Is it spam?”

— I am John (@JohnMu) October 5, 2023

And Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liason, said on X, “Normally, we do try to keep updates like these apart, but it’s not always possible. But anyone trying to understand changes, it’s pretty straight-forward. If you don’t spam, and see changes, then it might be the core update. If you do spam and see changes, it’s probably the spam update. In particular, We released a spam update yesterday. Sites that don’t spam shouldn’t see changes because of this. Learn more about spam updates here. Today we released a core update. That’s different from a spam update. It’s a general improvement in how we rank. Many sites will see no changes because of this, and it has nothing to do with spam. This explains more about core updates.

Normally, we do try to keep updates like these apart, but it’s not always possible. But anyone trying to understand changes, it’s pretty straight-forward. If you don’t spam, and see changes, then it might be the core update. If you do spam and see changes, it’s probably the spam…

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 5, 2023

We update our core ranking systems in various ways *all the time* — it’s just that not all of them are announced.

We *announced* the two core updates recently because they were likely to, as our blog post below explains, “produce some noticeable changes — though typically these…

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 6, 2023

For many, in my opinion, it won’t be as clear as spam or not spam.

But as John said, while the impact can be really severe and impactful and immediate, your fixes will take time over the course of months. So no need to rush to do something now, you can make a plan and act on that plan over months. There is no quick fix.

There’s no need to do anything urgently, enjoy your weekend, look at things when you get back.

— I am John (@JohnMu) October 6, 2023

Previous Broad Core Updates

Here is a list of the most recent core updates we’ve seen since Google started to confirm them. Previously we nicknamed them Phantom updates or unconfirmed updates.

• August 2023 Core Update: August 22, 2023 through September 7, 2023
• March 2023 Core Update: March 15, 2023 through March 28, 2023
• September 2022 Core Update: September 12, 2022 through September 26, 2022
• May 2022 Core Update: May 25, 2022 through June 9, 2022
• November 2021 Core Update: November 17, 2021 through November 30, 2021
• July 2021 Core Update: July 1, 2021 through July 12, 2021
• June 2021 Core Update: June 2, 2021 through June 12, 2021
• December 2020 Core Update: December 3, 2020 through December 16, 2020
• May 2020 Core Update: May 4, 2020 through May 18, 2020
• January 2020 Core Update: January 13, 2020 through mostly January 17, 2020
• September 2019 Core Update: September 24, 2019
• Google June 2019 Core Update: June 3, 2019 through June 8, 2019

SEO Chatter On October 2023 Core Update

It is hard to isolate chatter related to ranking changes related to the spam update, October 1st unconfirmed update versus this October 2023 core update. Most of the chatter, early on at least, is related to why there are so many updates now.

I am embedded “tweets” or whatever you call them now and also quotes from comments here and on WebmasterWorld.

I wonder if G needed to correct some of the Aug core update, or maybe they needed the HCU to roll out before implementing something else. Regardless, a heads-up that we have both the Oct Spam Update AND the Oct Core Update rolling out at the same time. WELCOME TO GOOGLE LAND. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/EuqFAtofjE

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) October 5, 2023

Nothing to see here. https://t.co/oirLXRGJk6

— Mordy Oberstein *is expendable* (@MordyOberstein) October 5, 2023

Advertisement

Does it feel like there a lot more updates happening these days…

Or are Google just more open about telling us about them?

It just seems to be a constant flow of updates… https://t.co/HnbDcJ7tuI

— Mark A Preston (@MarkPreston1969) October 5, 2023

Broad Core update is now rolling out, very soon after the HCU and in parallel with the Spam Update 🤦‍♂️😲

Give us a break Google! 😂https://t.co/eWv5yTMfA9 https://t.co/4ftGE62BoI

— Chris Ainsworth (@chrisains) October 5, 2023

Just one regular month of search volatility. That’s all I ask for. Will never happen. https://t.co/W9RiB7wLYc pic.twitter.com/SYLVMuohUh

— James Wright (@JamesWright_UK) October 5, 2023

Advertisement

Updates can be a good thing.

— I am John (@JohnMu) October 5, 2023

Google’s also rolling a spam update.

TLDR Google’s trying to clean its mess up by creating a huge amount of noise and confusion.

Is it a roll back? 😂 https://t.co/HDiGW0awiH

— Tom J 🍀 (@WolfofBaldSt) October 5, 2023

https://t.co/1UuZ6wTVF8 pic.twitter.com/IUUntLigM4

— 🔵 Florian Elbers ⚪️ (@florianelbers) October 5, 2023

I’m sure these rapid changes to Google have nothing to do with the countless industries trying to come up with new ways to cheat the system for rank. https://t.co/VAWIIianH3

— Christian Harrison (@christianservrr) October 5, 2023

Advertisement

Are you serious? Another update – the October core update.

We are currently in the midst of a Spam update.
The September helpful content ran from Sep 14-28 and destroyed many sites.

What are we in store for now? https://t.co/knz12rIipf pic.twitter.com/fXQZKp4FiP

— Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) October 5, 2023

Today we released the “Let’s roll back and fix what we messed up with the Helpful Content update” update.

(Don’t @ me) https://t.co/y1FfilQ18o

— Areej (@areej_abuali) October 5, 2023

Updates to our systems aren’t rushed. They take weeks and months of testing, before they’re released. This explains more about the process and how we communicate about it: https://t.co/3EJAva6Mm1

Anyone looking to understand the updates this week can read the help documentation…

Advertisement

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 6, 2023

Everything is going to be oke ? https://t.co/hYjniHEWJP pic.twitter.com/8FJ0Tu6Gjj

— Wissam Dandan (@WissamDandan) October 5, 2023

This is getting silly now. The constant clustering of updates now smacks of open obfuscation; poor planning; but fixing significant changes and/or all of the above. https://t.co/HmeHGLPZ94

— 🇺🇦 Andrew ‘Optimisey’ 🇺🇦 (@Optimisey) October 5, 2023

You don’t have enough money to convince me this isn’t somehow related to AI content. #seoConspiracy https://t.co/2dWTJSwJs5

— Mordy Oberstein *is expendable* (@MordyOberstein) October 5, 2023

G updating more than we do 😉 https://t.co/PoBiKuA9SD

— Screaming Frog (@screamingfrog) October 5, 2023

🤣 no rest at all in the SEO world 🤣 https://t.co/tLDcgmApuQ

— Gianluca Fiorelli (@gfiorelli1) October 5, 2023

Advertisement

What? Didn’t we just do this? https://t.co/47qZ1beumo

— Patrick Stox (@patrickstox) October 5, 2023

Hoping they stop the 2 results for one website thing they brought back to life in the top spots! That is killing me on so many articles! Scared of this update, but staying positive we will see some gains for those that lost big!

— Jill Caren (@iamjillcaren) October 5, 2023

If you can believe it, the October Core Update has now started.

They should call it ” We got caught update” any other names? lets have fun with this. it is too depressing here.

I’m about to have a mental breakdown, I can’t stand these updates anymore, can’t test S#&!, serps make no sense…

Its better both updates to be at the same time, it may cause major changes…

I guess with all the complaints and bad publicity Google received for the HCU… They’re trying to fix it up, huh?

It already looks like big further traffic drops are already happening.

I can’t embed the thousands and thousands of replies but it is insane!

Google Tracking Tools On October 2023 Core Update:

Here is what the tools are showing so far. Again, if this is related to the spam update, October 1st update or this new core update – that is anyone’s guess.

Semrush:

SERPmetrics:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Accuranker:

Mozcast:

Cognitive SEO:

Algoroo:

RankRanger:

SERPstat:

Wincher:

SERPwoo:

What do you all think?

Forum discussion at X, Black Hat World and WebmasterWorld.