Started on November 11, 2024, the November Google Core Update, perhaps the last of this year, closed on December 6, 2024. This is the third major update of the Google algorithm. So should we now tackle checking the performance of your website? What steps should you take if your site has been affected? Here are our tips…
Core Update November 2024: it’s over!
Let’s go back in time a little. Google experienced three Core Updates in 2024: the March 2024 Core Update in March, August and November. During and after these updates, many websites saw their SEO position and traffic drop drastically!
The volatility of search results intensifies especially during the 48 hours following an update. Some sites even lost up to 60%, or even 80% of their traffic following a major update.
A real nightmare for SEOs and website publishers!
But Google always repeats it: these updates aim to improve the user experience by favoring useful, relevant and quality content! Editors of affected sites therefore have their work cut out to adapt their content to the changes brought by each Google Core Update.
The November 2024 Core Update in particular ended on 6 dDecember 2024.
Have you already taken a look at the performance of your site? Have you noticed any changes, negative or positive, because it is time to analyze the different updates.
Switch to your SEO analyzes following a Google algorithm update
Google suggests waiting a week following the deployment of the Core Update to obtain clearer post-update data, to compare with the data from the week preceding its deployment.
Some impatient SEOs have surely already started their analysis well before. If this is not your case, consider doing so now.
Sort and compare your positioning data to detect the most serious losses
In Google Search Console, sort your keywords by impressions. But if you use a third-party positioning tracking tool (SEMRush sensor, Monitorank, SErank, etc.), do it by search volume. This will allow you to analyze the keywords that generate the most traffic first.
In this case, focus on the most significant changes. Pay more attention to keywords that have lost at least 10 positions. It is not necessary to modify your SEO strategy for pages that are little affected, those with a decline of only 3 positions for example.
Audit the content of each of your web pages objectively (don’t mislead yourself by distorting the analysis)
Most often, post-update SEO positioning drops are linked to the content and/or user experience offered by your site. It’s rare that these are due to a technical problem! Carrying out an audit of your content is therefore important: remain objective and honest in your analyses.
You can evaluate the content of your site yourself or entrust it to an external SEO specialist, based on Google Search Central documentation.
There you will find the different questions to ask in order to have people-first, reliable and useful content.
Another interesting tip: comparing your content to that of a better positioned competing site is another.
Play a little spy by looking at the SEO developments of other sites in your sector
Once the Core Update is complete, some of your web pages have experienced SEO drops.
Does this mean that your SEO strategy no longer complies with Google’s requirements and user expectations? Not necessarily!
The cause of your drop in positioning may be your competitors: they may have outperformed you on certain points. So, always stay on your guard.
The first instinct to have is to analyze the actions implemented on other sites in your sector over the last six months at least. This will allow you to identify those that worked well for your competitors, but that you missed.
On SEO tools like Ahrefs for example, you can see changes to URLs in your sector using the “Top Pages” report.
What to do in the face of a strong SEO drop?
Once the audit of your pages is complete, plan the SEO improvements to be made for each problem identified:
- Reevaluate your keywords;
- Identify and correct unsuitable patterns;
- Update non-updated content;
- Recycle your content if necessary;
- Correct cases of duplication;
- Fix UX or UI issues;
- Improve content that has no added value or lacks originality.
Some e-commerce site editors can make the mistake of using overly generic descriptions or images taken from other major e-commerce platforms. A bad sign for SEO!
In some cases, backlink analysis can also be useful, because the trust of your site relies on these elements. Check for toxic links that are harming your positioning. If you found low-quality backlinks, remove them using the Disavow Links tool in Google Search Console.
All this takes time and investment, but recovering lost positions and traffic doesn’t wait. This is even vital so as not to further harm your online business.
The ideal is to call on an external SEO expert to ensure corrective actions are taken quickly.
Also consider this SEO training eligible for the CPF to determine what to do to improve the SEO of your website. As soon as the end of the Lively and stimulating training offered by our partners, you will be able to set up rapid analyzes on the performance and referencing of your site.
In any case, even if you notice ranking drops after the November 2024 Core Update, always keep a cool head! Avoid making drastic decisions in haste. These drops may only be temporary.
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