Just as most of us were anticipating the holiday chill, Google gave us an unexpected Christmas present – a new core algorithm update that officially rolled out on December 3, 2020.
Furthermore, SearchLiaison’s tweet verified that by the time it is Christmas, we will witness the full range of the third core update for 2020.
Early Hints of a Core Update with Abundant Impact
In the starting, the December 2020 core update seemed like it could have an impact that is greater than the core update in May.
Moreover, as per Semrush Sensor data, the average SERP volatility on December 4 had a count of 9.4 – similar to the May 2020 core update. Furthermore, the core update in January attained a comparably lower 8-point mark.
Since we are at the early stage of the roll-out, we would suggest that we should wait until the update gets a complete understanding of its full impact.
In the meantime, check your traffic and visibility changes. Even if you are hit pretty hard at the start of any core update, it is not strange to recover while the core update is still taking place.
Winners and Losers of December 2020 Core Update
On December 4, the second day of the core update roll-out, we see that multiple sectors got affected. Furthermore, SERPs for most site categories reached a 9.4 volatility mark. Moreover, most of the green zone categories (businesses that seldom experience any noticeable volatility) this time got hit pretty hard.
On the same day, we also detected an unexpected spike in Shopping results on SERPs, which then immediately turned to pre-update levels.
Source: SEMRush Sensor Data
#1. What are the affected industries?
In general, industries that are affected the most across both desktop and mobile devices are Health, Real Estate, and Law & Government. Furthermore, on desktop search, the Travel & Finance categories were also affected in the first days of the core update roll-out. However, on mobile, categories like Jobs & Education and Pets & Animals sector sites got affected severely.
#1. The most affected sites by domain
It looks like the larger domains are so far severely affected. Almost 50% of the biggest winners and losers are those domains that have traffic exceeding 1 million monthly visitors. Moreover, 1 in 3 web domains experiencing visibility drops are websites with over 10 million visitors per month.
#3. Google Core Update: SERPs Winners and Losers
As a core algorithm update, this has a significant impact across multiple industries. Below we have classified winning and losing domains by different industry verticals. On the winning side, we have sites operating within the Business & Industrial, Internet & Telecom, and Beauty & Fitness. On the losing side, we have domains like Online Communities, Shopping, and News sectors.
As we can see, the highest SERPs winners gained 20 positions, with sites like zoominfo.com that jumped 67 ranks on December 3 and 4. LinkedIn was another winner, moving up 47 ranks on December 3 and 4.
With the results of the COVID-19 pandemic still controlling the global economy, these substantial adjustments could display the rapidly evolving landscape in business and recruitment.
Here are the 10 sites that observed the highest spikes on the first day of the core update roll-out:
| Top 10 SERP Winning Domains (Dec 3-4) | |||
| Domain | Gained Positions | Average Position (Post-update) | Site Category |
| zoominfo.com | 67 | 13 | Business & Industrial |
| whitepages.com | 55 | 15 | Internet & Telecom |
| linkedin.com | 47 | 11 | Business & Industrial |
| ebay.com | 44 | 12 | Shopping |
| vimeo.com | 37 | 14 | Arts & Entertainment |
| loginbrain.com | 35 | 10 | Reference |
| yahoo.com | 33 | 13 | News |
| foursquare.com | 32 | 13 | Business & Industrial |
| businesswire.com | 30 | 13 | Business & Industrial |
| soundcloud.com | 27 | 14 | Arts & Entertainment |
Here are the top 10 sites that experienced the worst when December’s core update starting running out:
| Top 10 SERP Losing Domains (Dec 3-4) | |||
| Domain | Lost Positions | Average Position (Post-update) | Site Category |
| yellowpages.com | -94 | 16 | Internet & Telecom |
| newsbreak.com | -83 | 18 | News |
| gettyimages.com | -55 | 15 | Shopping |
| wish.com | -48 | 18 | Shopping |
| echovita.com | -39 | 16 | Reference |
| urbandictionary.com | -37 | 14 | Reference |
| local.com | -36 | 16 | People & Society |
| dnb.com | -35 | 14 | Business & Industrial |
| aliexpress.com | -35 | 15 | Shopping |
| findanyanswer.com | -34 | 16 | Reference |
Going Through the December 2020 Core Algorithm Update
The SEO society seems to have queries regarding the bad timing of the core update – as it was rolled out right after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but right before Christmas Holiday, that too in a year like 2020!.
As with all other core updates, Google’s advice remains steady:
- Invest in generating high-quality content;
- Make use of structured data;
- Fix any SEO issues that prevent a smooth user experience.
However, wait until the core update is fully rolled-out before you make any decision to execute any significant changes to your website.
Although Google declares that sites might get recovered in-between the core updates, if your site has been negatively affected then you will have to work on improving your SEO and content experience after this core update is complete:
- Ensure to perform a full site audit to fix any SEO issues (major and minor). Our website audit tool can help you identify SEO issues and provide improvement ideas.
- Always monitor your online visibility and rankings – SEMRush Position Tracking tool can be a big help if you want to find any position drops on time.
