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Google released the December 2024 Core Update on December 12, 2024, and abruptly completed it on December 18, 2024. The core update lasted six days, significantly less than the two weeks Google expected it to last.

Search Status Dashboard of the December 2024 Core Update

Google’s Official Announcement

Google announced the release of the December 2024 Core Update on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn. In both announcements, Google mentioned that the update is for a separate core system from the one updated during the November 2024 Core Update that ran from November 11 to December 5, 2024. 

Google’s announcement of the December 2024 Core Update on X: 

Google’s announcement of the December 2024 Core Update on LinkedIn: 

Google announces the December 2024 Core Update on LinkedIn

Google announced the completion of the December 2024 Core Update on X:

What Are People Saying?

The December 2024 Core Update is coming seven days after the November 2024 Core Update ended. Many bloggers and SEO did not see the update coming and had assumed the November 2024 Core Update was the last core update for the year. As expected, they voiced their displeasure on X. 

Bloggers Respond to Google’s Announcement

Brendon Boshell shared a screenshot from Google’s documentation. In the screenshot, Google mentioned that it tries to avoid releasing updates during the holiday shopping season between late November and mid-December.

However, in 2024, Google released two updates during that period: the November 2024 Core Update (November 11 – December 5, 2024) and the December 2024 Core Update (December 12 – Ongoing).

Early Volatilities Observed by SEOs

The December 2024 Core Update caused volatilities on search results pages right after its release. On December 15, 2024, Barry Schwartz shared analytic reports indicating that the December 2024 Core Update was causing a lot of volatility on search results pages. 

A day later, on December 16, 2024, Glenn Gabe shared analytic reports of sites that were gaining and losing traffic to the December 2024 Core Update. 

The same day, Lily Ray reported that a site that was recovering from the Helpful Content Update that ran from September 14 to 28, 2023, had suddenly lost its recovered traffic to the December 2024 Core Update. 

In another post, Barry mentioned Google had revealed that it was going to have more core updates often during the Google Search Central live event on December 12, 2024. 

Later Volatilities Observed by SEOs

On December 17, 2024, Barry Schwartz reported that the December 2024 Core Update was still causing intense volatility on search results pages. However, the update ended abruptly the following day.

In response to Barry’s post, Glenn Gabe mentioned that the results of the December 2024 Core Update were mixed. Some sites gained traffic while others lost. Notably, Glenn observed that multiple sites lost the traffic they gained during the November 2024 Core Update.

Glenn Gabe suggested that Google released the December 2024 Core Update to counterbalance the November 2024 Core Update. He even shared the report of a site that gained traffic during the November 2024 Core Update, only to lose it to the December 2024 Core Update. 

Talking of gains and losses, Glenn Gabe added that the update severely affected ecommerce sites that relied on the holiday shopping season for sales. Many ecommerce sites gained traffic, while many others lost traffic. 

Previous Core Updates

The December 2024 Core Update is the fourth core update Google released in 2024 and one of the multiple core updates we have reported on since 2021. Below are the details of the other core updates:

What’s Next – Dealing With This Update

The December 2024 Core Update started and ended abruptly. Its results were also mixed, with some sites gaining traffic and others losing it. You should monitor your site with Rank Math Analytics. If you lost traffic after the update is completed, refer to this guide on recovering from a Google algorithm update.

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