November 2023 Core Update

Google announced the rollout of November 2023 Core Update on November 2, 2023. The update was completed on November 28, 2023.

This is the fourth core update Google has released in 2023 and exactly two weeks after the October 2023 Core Update, which ran from October 5 to 19, 2023. 

Google’s Official Announcement

Google announced the November 2023 Core Update in a post on X (formerly Twitter). 

Today we released the November 2023 core update. We'll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete: https://t.co/hgjEkfpbA2

Related to this, we’ve posted a Q&A on Google Search updates as a refresher about how updates work: https://t.co/N5p3KsJ0ta

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) November 2, 2023

Google provided more insights into this update in a blog post. In the post, Google clarified that its ranking process relies on several core systems. The October and November Core Updates are updates to different core systems. 

On November 28, 2023, Google replied to its post, stating that the update had been completed. 

 

The roll-out of the November core update is now complete.https://t.co/geIJA2Bg8g

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) November 28, 2023

What Are People Saying?

Several commenters replied to Google’s official announcement. They were displeased with the update, mainly because of the proximity of this update to the previous one, which had only been released a few weeks prior.

This is the first "two months in a row" core update ever.

In case you tried to fix your site after the last one, get ready again. pic.twitter.com/T3Ga1SPyjb

— Onur Aydın (@onuraydin_) November 2, 2023

Barry Schwartz posted about the update on X. He also mentioned Google’s upcoming Reviews update.

Google November 2023 core update released today with new improvements and a reviews update is coming next week https://t.co/NUKh70YPWg

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) November 2, 2023

Glenn Gabe also shared some reports indicating the November 2023 Core Update had begun taking effect. However, it went both ways, with some sites gaining traffic while others lost traffic. 

OK, here we go. The November 2023 core update has landed (very quickly…) I'm seeing some big surges and drops already. I started seeing signs of this yesterday, but they are much clearer today. Check your stats. Things are moving. 🙂 First, some surges: pic.twitter.com/RmpCxUYqwT

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 4, 2023

After the rollout was completed, Barry shared more reports showing the volatility caused by the update. 

Here is the reported volatility over the month for the Google November 2023 core update – more at https://t.co/QjsMobt4lo pic.twitter.com/ZjOCrcopSt

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) November 29, 2023

It is noteworthy that this update took longer than the estimated two weeks. It lasted for 25 days. At one point, Google’s John Mueller could not give a date for when it was expected to be completed. 

ICYMI: Google has no estimate for when the Google November 2023 core update and reviews update will be completed https://t.co/UaIYMgMPcd pic.twitter.com/GRbj48QBzG

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) November 24, 2023

Barry also posted about this, calling it the longest-running core update in Google history. 

The Google November 2023 core update started on November 2nd and took almost four weeks to roll out completing on November 28 (it was the longest core update in history) – more at https://t.co/QjsMobt4lo pic.twitter.com/Gl6b0rwsCA

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) November 29, 2023

Previous Core Updates

The November 2023 Core Update is one of the many Google Core Updates we have documented since 2021. We have provided a rundown of the others below: 

• October 2023 Core Update: October 5 – October 19, 2023
• August 2023 Core Update: August 22 – September 7, 2023
• March 2023 Core Update: March 15 – March 28, 2023
• September 2022 Core Update: September 12 – September 26, 2022
• May 2022 Core Update: May 25 – June 9, 2022
• November 2021 Core Update: November 17 – November 30, 2021
• July 2021 Core Update: July 1 – July 12, 2021
• June 2021 Core Update: June 3 – June 12, 2021

What’s Next – Dealing With This Update

This update is reported to have caused volatilities on several websites. So, you should begin monitoring your site with Rank Math Analytics right away.

If you discover you have been affected, refer to the video below for tips on recovering from a Google update.