Happy New Year everyone! Hope you had a good break. SEO, of course, never sleeps and loves nothing more than keeping us on our toes, whatever the season.
This month’s updates feature a bumper bag of Google-related goodies. Strap yourself in and let’s get this new year SEO party started! Woo, and indeed, hoo.
1. Google completes its December Spam update roll out
In December, Google treated us to not one, but two updates. The first was yet another core update (more on that in a bit) and the second was the December spam update, launched on 19th December and completed by Boxing Day. It’s still too soon to assess the full impact on websites affected (most of us are just getting back into gear after the festive break) but chatter across X and LinkedIn suggest this update has proven about as welcome as a squashed fun-sized Bounty bar found down the back of the sofa.
While the purpose of the spam update was to predominantly target sites with poor E-E-A-T credentials (e.g. AI-heavy or low quality content), it would appear that legit sites also experienced ranking drops – not exactly the start to 2025 many businesses wanted!
What should we be doing?
2024 saw seven Google search algorithm updates and the timing of this latest one shows that Google is not messing about when it comes to spammy content on its platform. Just like the ghost of Jacob Marley wagging a cautionary finger at Ebenezer Scrooge about the importance of changing his ways, Google is hitting you with a similar earnest warning – ditch the crappy content in 2025 or suffer the consequences.
2. December core update: Who was affected?
As reported in last month’s SEO news article, Google rolled out yet another core update on 12th December which finished six days later, just a day before the launch of the spam update. As with all core updates, the aim was to improve Google’s understanding of web content to deliver more relevant search results.
What made us sit up and take notice with this one was the fact we’d only just had a core update a week or so prior. So much for winding down for Christmas.
“If you’re wondering why there’s a core update this month after one last month, we have different core systems we’re always improving.”
Evidence would suggest the December update was more volatile than the November one, occurring over a much shorter period compared to November’s mammoth 24-day rollout, contributing to its higher peak levels of volatility:
Some industries, such as real estate and health, saw especially sharp fluctuations. While many sites benefitted from restored rankings or boosted visibility, others, especially those relying on weaker optimisation strategies, faced declines.
What should we be doing?
Core updates occur regularly, so it’s important to implement sustainable, user-first strategies to protect and improve site performance.
Start by evaluating content quality against Google's guidelines for E-E-A-T, prioritising experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Use Google Search Console to identify significant traffic or ranking changes and pinpoint affected pages for improvement.
If your site is impacted by a core update, patience is key, as recovery often takes months and may rely on future updates. Prioritise long-term improvements to align with Google’s evolving standards.
3. AIO is taking over your screen
Google's AI Overviews (AIO) feature is steadily gobbling up more screen space in search results since its launch, according to new BrightEdge data. Initially occupying 600 pixels, AIO expanded to 800 pixels by the end of summer 2024, with projections suggesting it could reach 1,000 pixels - significantly exceeding the 600-pixel ‘above the fold’ threshold.
This will be grim reading for SEOs and site owners, many of whom have already seen organic results swamped by sponsored ads. The possibility of even less visibility will potentially impact online brands’ revenue streams and may even result in some having to cease operations.
What should we be doing?
AIOs aren’t going away, so businesses and publishers need to keep a careful eye on how they are displayed and what kind of content is cited. Ensure that any content published is specific, unambiguous and detailed. This will help Google identify authority and relevance more easily and boost potential visibility as an authoritative, cited source. For more information, check out our blog What do Google AI Overviews mean for how we search?
4. Google offers a solution to its search monopoly
Google has suggested a fix to address a US court ruling that found it illegally dominates online search (Google currently accounts for about 90% of all online searches globally, according to Statcounter).
The company proposes:
- making its agreements with Apple and other device manufacturers non-exclusive
- allowing browser developers to reconsider their default search engine choice once a year
- unbundling its Play Store from Chrome and search for Android manufacturers
These suggestions are more limited than the government's demands, which include selling Chrome browser and potentially Android, stopping payments for default search status and licensing search technology to rivals. A hearing is due to start in April, where both sides will present arguments for their proposals. Google plans to appeal the monopoly ruling once the case concludes.
5. Leaked exploit reveals Google ranking factors
An exploit revealing over 2,000 properties Google uses to rank content was uncovered last month. This discovery provides valuable insights into how Google defines query types, scores content and evaluates site quality.
Consensus scoring
Google counts the number of passages in content that align with, contradict or remain neutral to the ‘general consensus’ and then generates a consensus score, which subsequently impacts whether you rank on a specific query – especially debunking queries (e.g., is climate change a myth?).
Query classifications
Google categorises queries into eight semantic classes:
- Short fact
- Bool (yes/no)
- Other
- Instruction
- Definition
- Reason
- Comparison
- Consequence
Site quality scores
Sites below a quality threshold lose access to features like snippets or People Also Ask.
Click probability
Google predicts the likelihood of clicks for organic results rather than relying on click-through rates directly.
This information came from analysing 2TB of data covering 90 million queries, discovered through a security vulnerability reported by the exploit finders, Mark Williams-Cook and his team, who received a sizeable financial reward for reporting it.
That’s all for now – see you for more SEO updates in February!
