SEO: Dec 2020 core update

As much as we are used to the recurrent alterations of the core of Google's algorithm, every time one is announced it is inevitable to make your heart skip a beat.

The most recent confirmed one was in March last year. Or, to be more precise, it was until early December 2020.

What is this about? Who lost and who won?

Experience says that before a strong change there is usually a certain instability in the SERPS. This instability may (or may not) be followed by an announcement through the search engine's official channels, especially its Twitter account.

In the case of the December 2020 update, this social network was precisely the channel chosen to communicate that the new update was being launched. Specifically, on the 3rd they published the following message.

As you can read, Google said that the launch took place that the afternoon.

When it comes to changes in the core of the algorithm, we are always talking about very deep and global updates, which means that they cannot be completed in a matter of hours: they usually take days or, as in the case of the December SEO update, weeks.

That is why it is always advisable to wait for reasonable amount of time before assessing the real scope.

The different tools gave us the clue from day one. One of the most reliable applications for tracking is usually SemRush Sensor; and, curiously, it records days of apparent normality between the 3rd and 5th.

This is the question we are always most interested in answering. Let's see if we can shed some light, although the patterns when we talk about changes in the core of the algorithm are difficult to identify because, unlike filters or specific actions, they affect globally.

Even so, we can see something that has been felt: dictionaries and glossaries of terms worked only or mainly with SEO intentions are in the eye of the hurricane. This is demonstrated by some domains that have lost a lot of visibility, such as lexico.com.

On the other hand, we see that social networks are becoming more important in SERPs, which means displacing the results of other domains. According to Searchmetrics, all of them seem to have risen significantly, led by YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The only one that seems to suffer is Pinterest, with a fall of more than 4%.

Speaking of eCommerce, changes are seen in the visibility of marketplaces. Amazon and Aliexpress fall and Rakuten rises 16%, although it came from a very strong fall in the month of May that this rise fails to compensate. It is worth keeping an eye on this aspect.

... a part from that, this is a constant since the August 2018 update, the categories most affected by EAT (Experience, Authority and Trustworthiness) are those that require to be endorsed by a profile with proven knowledge. We are talking about sectors such as healthcare, financial services....

Now that some time has passed and the ranking results have stabilized, we have reliable data. Do you notice a downward trend in your rankings? Have you lost traffic and ruled out other non-SEO reasons?

Well, in that case you can say that you have been affected by the latest update. But that does not mean that Google has penalized you. In the case of core updates, there are simply adjustments that benefit some domains over others. It does not mean that your site is being penalized for not complying with some kind of guideline.

You should continue to work on your content and strengthen your authority as much as possible so that Google will consider you as good as possible again. We have discussed this before, but let's refresh a couple of key concepts to boost your content: 

The best we can recommend is to keep calm. There is no need to forget about the whole page or go crazy with links. This usually ends up making things worse.