SEO Alert: Google Releases October 2023 Broad Core Update

If you are an SEO marketer, I assume you closely follow the October 2023 core algorithm update. But if you are not into SEO but are still interested in What’s in the October 2023 core algorithm update?

Here is what you need to know about it:

Website owners, web admins and SEO marketers are recovering from the back-to-back updates. The August 2023 core upgrade delivery concluded on September 7th, 2023.

The introduction of the Helpful Content Update shortly after caused widespread panic among search engine optimizers and website owners. Many users complained that high-quality sites no longer appeared in search results, while older sites with supposedly better content were demoted.

The industry’s worries were already high before the October 4th Spam upgrade and the accompanying core update.

It significantly changed when Google updated its search ranking algorithm in October 2023. After the March and August core upgrades of 2023, this is the third major update of the year. Website rankings may be significantly impacted by Google’s core changes, which aim to enhance the quality of Google’s search results.

Key Points About Google Core Algorithm Updates

Here is what you need to know about the October 2023 core algorithm update in detail:

Frequency:

Google will generally release many significant upgrades during the year. Each change may focus on a different facet of the search algorithm and may have varied repercussions for the rankings of individual websites.

Impact

Core upgrades may cause swings in website rankings; some websites may see considerable changes, while others are unaffected by the update.

Continuous Improvement

Publishers should routinely follow industry news, remain current on Google’s standards, and change their strategy to comply with Google’s constantly changing search algorithms.

User Experience

Having a good user experience is essential to a website’s rankings. How quickly a website loads, how user-friendly it is on mobile devices, and how simple it is to navigate are all aspects that Google considers when determining a site’s overall quality.

Recovery

If a website sees a decline in rankings following a core upgrade, it is essential to investigate the differences and locate possible areas for improvement.

Helpful Content:

Useful information Google places a strong emphasis on the necessity of having information that is of high quality, relevant, and authoritative. It is more probable for websites to keep or increase their rankings if they continuously present users with valuable content.

Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T):

Expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness are all factors that Google takes into consideration when ranking websites. It is possible to favourably affect rankings by establishing one’s reputation and exhibiting one’s knowledge in a specific sector.

Google’s October 2023 Spam Detection Update

Not barely a week after announcing the completion of the September 2023 Helpful Content change, Google has released yet another algorithm change, making life difficult for search engine optimizers and website owners. Google’s Spam Detection systems have received a new algorithm upgrade.

According to Google’s announcement, the update will improve spam filter detection for languages other than English, such as Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, and Chinese, where Google found significant quality gaps compared to its English search results.

Significant enhancements have been made to spam detection for English language results as a consequence of the latest release. Google SearchLiason’s official X account has verified this.

Categories of Spam Attacked

The revision should cut down on the following:

Cloaking is hiding one’s true identity online to trick search engines into giving false results. Different pages may be shown to search engines and users, and keywords can be added that people would never see.

Doorway sites or pages are made to rank for specific search keywords, sometimes at the expense of providing actual value to users. Sites that differ in URL structure or the content supplied to users are two examples.

“hacked content” refers to material added to a website without the site owner’s permission. Injections of code, pages, content, and malicious redirection are all excellent examples.

To influence search engine results, some websites may conceal text and links on the page from human visitors. For instance, you may use CSS to move text off-screen or use white text on a white backdrop.

Stuffing a page with keywords or numbers to boost its search engine position is known as “keyword stuffing.” Two examples are lists of phone numbers that provide no value and blocks of text that identify countries and regions.

The practice of artificially manipulating links to and from your site to improve its search engine results (also known as “link spam”). A few examples include engaging in link exchanges that are too frequent or employing automated software to generate connections.

Resource-sucking traffic that is created automatically by machines. Two examples are using automated inquiries and stealing results from Google without authorization.

Hosting malicious or unwanted software that degrades the user experience. Malicious malware and browser add-ons that slow down your computer are examples.

Sites with misleading functionality trick people into clicking on misleading advertisements or failing to provide the promised services.

Unoriginal material “scraped” from other websites without any modifications. Unoriginal and unattributed reuse of previously published material are two such instances.

Tricky redirects: sending visitors to a different website than they intended. Redirecting mobile visitors to a new site and serving alternative information to search engines are only two examples.

Unoriginal and useless content that was automatically created by a bot. Such examples include search-keyword-stuffed gibberish and content created by scraping feeds.

Affiliate “thin pages” just republish the original merchant’s content with their links, adding nothing of value to the reader’s experience.

In other words, spam has been created by people themselves. Several instances of this may be seen in the form of spammy accounts, forums, blog comments, and hosting platform files.

Wrap Up

If your site’s rankings or traffic changes after the modification, Google suggests reviewing your spam policy. This indicates that correcting fines or ranking reductions caused by this upgrade may be as simple as following Google’s recommendations.

Don’t freak out if you see a change in your website’s rating after the Google October 2023 core upgrade. Some jitteriness is to be expected with significant system changes. Your search engine rankings will ultimately improve if you consistently produce high-quality material.

Contact us for an SEO consultation if you’re worried about how the October 2023 core upgrade may affect your website.