Did Your Google Rankings Recently Tank? Here’s why

If your website tanked in Google, specifically around December 4th then you’ve likely been hit by the December 2020 Core Update.

On December 3rd, Google announced it was rolling out the update that we anticipate killed tens of thousands of already struggling small businesses right before the holidays.

Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the December 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before. Please see this blog post for more about that:https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 3, 2020

What’s a Google Core Update?

A core update happens when Google makes a significant and broad change to their search algorithm and systems. While these changes aim to improve the search experience, they typically cause havoc.

In 2013, Google’s former web spam assassin, Matt Cutts said that Google tries to minimize major updates right before the holidays.

Welcome to 2020 – where anything goes.

@Bessian Actually, we try to minimize major updates right before the holidays.

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) December 18, 2013

According to the chatter around the internet, this update was the final dagger in the back for many businesses who were hanging on by a thread due to COVID. Thanks, Google.

Recent news broke about the Federal Trade Commission calling to break up Facebook and rightfully so. We anticipate Google will be next. Moves like this confirm that King Google has gotten too big for its britches and is now doing more harm, than good.

How to Recover From a Core Update

Google has regularly sent mixed signals on whether or not you can recover from a core update. That being said, we typically take what King Google says with very limited weight their word is often found misleading, or inaccurate.