2023 was a very busy year for Google — the company managed to roll out nine major updates to its search algorithm. These changes didn’t go unnoticed — they impacted a vast number of websites, and SEO specialists are constantly trying to understand what exactly happened.
For comparison: in 2022, Google limited itself to just two core updates, whereas last year there were four — in March, August, October, and November. The last two were particularly memorable because they were not only large-scale but also long-lasting, running for almost a month! This is because Google was launching several updates simultaneously at that time: for instance, the October Core Update ran parallel to a spam update, and the November one coincided with the third wave of the reviews update.
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Speaking of the reviews system: this year Google announced it would no longer give advance notice for updates in this area. Such updates will now happen quietly, without announcements. The November update was the last one officially confirmed, and it was record-breakingly long — a full 29 days! Another interesting change was the Helpful Content Update, which primarily affected SEO-focused content. Sites that created material solely for ranking and search engine visibility noticed a significant traffic drop. In contrast, informational resources, corporate websites, and online stores were largely unaffected and maintained their positions.
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It’s also worth mentioning that in 2023, the SEO community noticed many unconfirmed updates — tracked by various services — which sparked lively discussion. Particularly notable were the so-called “March Core Update,” the May update following Google I/O, June volatility, the July “calm,” and the current unconfirmed update that began in late November and is still ongoing. In summary — Google’s search results were very unstable throughout the entire year. This has forced many SEOs to reconsider their approach and accept that stability in rankings is now hard to expect. It seems we have entered a new era where constant change is the norm.
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