The Google December 2020 Core Update began rolling out on 3rd December 2020. Like previous updates, this global update was not specific to any region, language or type of website. It was a broad update, the impact of which was felt in every industry both positively and negatively.
Every SEO consultant in India and across the globe is trying to understand the impact of these updates, how they affect their websites and ways to improve and recover.
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Impact of the December Core Update
As always, Google never reveals all the information regarding an update and experts are always left judging and concluding the effects of the update with the results of the industries.
Like before, this update has divided people into two categories, the winners and losers. However, many websites have seen an initial loss when the update rolled out but ended up as winners in the latter days and vice versa.
According to Google, the core updates aim to provide relevant information and authoritative content in the search results. With these constantly changing algorithms, websites can fall or rise rapidly and may take very long to recover. This is why planning with SEO is important for websites.
The statistics presented by SEMRush indicate that the effect of the update was mostly felt on Friday, 4th December. Many saw a major impact of gains and reductions from 10% to 100% of their previous level of organic traffic.
Source: Semrush Sensor Data
Most desktop changes could be identified in the health, real estate, travel, finance, law and government sectors. While mobile changes were mostly seen in the sectors of health, law and government, jobs and education, pets and animals, real estate.
Learning From the Update
Content Matters
Google has suggested that websites focus on providing valuable content, the best they can. That is what, according to Google, the algorithms are looking for.
Creating content for the sake of content will only damage the brand even if it shows some initial gain.
The content a brand provides must have value, a good structure and must help the reader. Ineffective content also damages the authenticity of the site and its authority which can set back the website and the traffic it gained.
Importance of E-A-T
As mentioned in previous updates i.e. Google’s Core Update May 2020, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness are very important.
The content that is created must be accurate and created by a person who has expertise in the field.
Take time to create content that matters for the blog pages and sites the brand wishes to drive traffic to.
Those who are noticing a rapid decline in traffic can work on the E-A-T to revive in the future and gain traffic.
Source: Rank Ranger Index
Power of Correct Links
Understanding the authoritativeness in E-A-T, it becomes apparent that if Google is trying to understand how authoritative a site is, good and right links matter.
It is noticeable when analysing the gains and drops that some sites have a good amount of authority.
Quality is always more important than quantity and this problem will not be fixed if the site lacks authority. A business has to work towards earning links to powerful sites and can’t mention them just to gain authority.
While all these are speculations made based on the results from the update, websites must focus on presenting expert content. SEO service providers India must focus on the impact of the update and the recovery process wherever needed. With the right links that are trustworthy sources, a website can become trustworthy. If a website has seen reduced traffic, don’t give up, recover from the losses with time and effort.
