Google has officially rolled out its December 2024 Core Update, marking the fourth significant algorithm change this year. These updates can cause concern for businesses and website owners, so it’s essential to understand what’s happening, how it might impact you, and what you should be doing (if anything).

In this post, we’ll break down:

1) What a Google Core Update is

2) What’s changing in the December 2024 update

3) What this means moving forward

What is a Google Core Update?

Google rolls out Core Updates multiple times a year to improve its search results by refining how its algorithm evaluates and ranks content. These updates focus on ensuring that users receive the most relevant, high-quality information when they search.

The December 2024 Core Update began rolling out on December 12 and is expected to take two weeks to fully deploy. During this period, you may notice temporary fluctuations in your website traffic or Google Business Profile performance. This is entirely normal and part of the process as Google adjusts its rankings.

Key Changes in Google’s December 2024 Core Update

While Google doesn’t disclose every specific change, there’s a clear trend:

Google is doubling down on rewarding “people-first” content.

What does this mean?

Content that genuinely helps users and provides value will perform better. Websites relying on content created to game search engines (like keyword stuffing or low-quality articles) may see drops in rankings. As Google continues refining its ranking systems, we anticipate this focus on helpful, user-focused content to become even more prominent in 2025.

Google also made it apparent that their significant and “cadenced” core updates are going to become more “continuous.” What I believe they mean by this is that they will make more frequent changes to their algorithm and website owners may get more immediate feedback on their SEO efforts. So, the good news- if you are doing the right things and staying up to date, you can see success sooner rather than later. The bad news- the evolving space of SEO is now evolving even faster, so failure to keep up with ongoing changes will quickly expose you.

How does Google Evaluate Content?

Google evaluates content based on a core principle: delivering the most valuable and relevant information to its users. At the heart of this process is the E-E-A-T framework—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. These factors help Google assess whether the content is created by someone with genuine knowledge of the topic, whether it provides helpful insights, and whether it can be trusted by its audience. Pages with clear, factual, and well-supported information are favored, while content that feels misleading, overly promotional, or low-quality may struggle to rank. Google's systems analyze signals like page structure, keyword relevance, user engagement metrics, and the content’s ability to satisfy search intent. This allows Google to determine not just what your content says, but how well it serves its intended audience.

How Should you Prepare?

Google released a series of questions to consider when evaluating your content:

• Does the content provide original information, reporting, research or analysis?

• Does the content provide a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the topic?

• Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

• If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?

• Does the headline and/or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?

• Does the headline and/or page title avoid being exaggerating or shocking in nature?

• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?

• Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?

Expertise questions.

• Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?

• If you researched the site producing the content, would you come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic?

• Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?

• Is the content free from easily-verified factual errors?

• Would you feel comfortable trusting this content for issues relating to your money or your life?

Presentation and production questions.

• Is the content free from spelling or stylistic issues?

• Was the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?

• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?

• Does the content have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?

• Does content display well for mobile devices when viewed on them?

Comparative questions.

• Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?

• Does the content seem to be serving the genuine interests of visitors to the site or does it seem to exist solely by someone attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?

(Source: Google Search Central)

If you prioritize creating valuable, authentic content for your audience, you’re already aligned with Google’s goals. Businesses that focus on SEO best practices—such as high-quality content, strong user experience, and technical SEO—are well-positioned for success. If you’re managing your website or Google Business Profile independently, here’s what we recommend:

Focus on High-Quality Content

Review your website content to ensure it provides clear, helpful, and unique value to your target audience. Avoid creating content purely to satisfy search engines—Google’s algorithm will catch it.

Audit your Assets

Make sure both your website and Business Profile are up-to-date with accurate information, high-quality photos, and recent posts/content that are useful to your customers. As the year comes to a close, it is a natural time to evaluate your assets and understand your strong performers. Businesses that produce helpful content and focus on their customers will be rewarded. Companies still relying on outdated SEO tricks or low-quality strategies will likely see diminishing returns.