Core Update Finished, BFCM Recap, Engagement Scores in Chrome & More
SEO TL;DR #51 09/12/2024
A warm welcome to the 32 new subscribers this week 👋 it's great to have you on board, and I hope you continue to find these updates helpful!
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Core Update
Google November 2024 Core Update Complete
Things finally wrapped up on December 5th, taking roughly 24 days to finish - almost twice as long as the usual two-week rollout. This was the third and likely final core update of the year.
Started: November 11th.
Finished: December 5th.
What it targeted: focused on rewarding genuinely helpful and high-quality content (but what that means is still up for interpretation).
Google’s official statement noted this update continues their work to show more content that people find useful and reduce content created purely to rank in Search.
If your site witnessed a drop in traffic, Google advises reviewing your content against their core update guidance.
The rollout coincided with Google expanding its site reputation abuse policy, leading to manual actions against sites like Forbes.
Barry Adams has been covering what the policy targets are and how sites have been manipulating rankings in great detail. If you’re involved in publishing, definitely subscribe to SEO for Google News
💡Takeaway: what to do if the update hit your site:
Focus on improving helpfulness and user experience.
Check for thin, outdated, or redundant content that might be holding the rest of your site back. Improve content to make it more unique or consolidate it to reduce keyword cannibalisation. You can also block pages you don’t want indexed using noindex or purge them altogether.
Remove redundant pages; start with your sitemap - search for the word ‘test’ or ‘2023’ - I did this when auditing a site the other month and found six test pages! Not something you want to be indexed.
Sort your pages by content length. While word count alone is not a ranking factor, it can help you determine pages of low quality. Remember that random competition you had 5 years ago? Is it still relevant?
For ecommerce sites: remove empty collections. This sounds basic but honestly, I come across this with EVERY proposal I write.
Remember that recovery takes time and may not happen until future refreshes.
Ecommerce SEO
Shopify Breaks Records for Black Friday-Cyber Monday
Shopify merchants smashed records this Black Friday, Cyber Monday (BFCM), hitting $11.5 billion in global sales - a 24% increase in 2023.
76M+ consumers shopped from Shopify brands.
Top-selling categories: Clothing, Cosmetics, Fitness & Nutrition.
Peak sales: $4.6 million per minute at 12:01 PM EST on Black Friday.
Average cart price: $108.56.
Shopify also handled staggering infrastructure demand processing:
57.3 PB of data
10.5 trillion database queries
1.17 trillion database writes
The numbers show how powerful Shopify is for merchants, handling record-breaking demand without a hitch.
🛒Considering making the switch, learn more about migrating to Shopify.
Technical SEO
Google Confirms Web Rendering Cache Lasts 30 Days
Google has clarified that its Web Rendering Service (WRS) caches page resources - like JavaScript and CSS - for up to 30 days. This cache is designed to help preserve your site’s crawl budget so Google can focus on crawling other important parts of your site.
Martin Splitt clarified on Bluesky that XHR GET requests may also be cached, but XHR POST requests are not. Developers relying on client-side rendering should take note and test updates carefully.
Why does this matter? Well, if your resources change frequently but lack proper fingerprinting, Google may serve outdated versions, which could impact how your site renders and performs in search results.
For the full technical details, check out Search Engine Roundtable.
UX
See Your Site Engagement Scores in Google Chrome
Apparently, this has been live for a few years, but new to me. Google Chrome has a feature that shows engagement metrics for sites you visit.
To see your top engaged sites, go to
chrome://site-engagement/
I might be brave sharing this, saying how ChatGPT is top (I am human, I swear), but it’s a pretty good overview of how I spent last week - monthly reports in Basecamp with Looker Studio, client meeting, Gmail, Ahrefs and a lot of Googling.
💡Takeaway: there are many theories that Google uses engagement as part of its ranking systems. Assuming it is (and even if it’s not), here are 4 easy ways to improve your sites overall engagement rates.
Create Engaging Content
Use visuals, videos, and interactive tools like quizzes to keep users hooked.
Make content easy to read with headings, bullet points, and strong CTAs.
Enhance UX & Navigation
Simplify menus, use internal links, and optimise for mobile to make exploration seamless.
Page speed: don't obsess over Core Web Vitals, but make sure key pages aren't unnecessarily slow.
Focus on Content Relevance
Match content to user intent and suggest logical next steps when users are browsing through your site.
Keep Content Fresh
Update existing pages regularly to stay relevant and reflect the latest trends or user needs.
General SEO
Sundar Pichai: Search Will Change Profoundly in 2025
In a recent interview, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Search will evolve dramatically in 2025, driven by advancements in AI.
Key takeaways from Pichai’s comments:
Google will tackle more complex queries than ever before.
AI Overviews and multimodal search (text, image, voice) will play a more significant role.
Trustworthy, useful content will become even more valuable as Google navigates the flood of information online.
Pichai’s comments signal a continued push toward AI-powered search experiences. This means businesses need to prioritise clear, high-quality content that builds trust and authority. Watch more on Pichai’s vision below.
AI
OpenAI Launches ChatGPT o1 with Pro Tier
OpenAI rolled out its new o1 and o1-mini models, which are described as the world’s smartest reasoning models for advanced problem-solving. A new Pro tier at an eye-watering $200/month was also introduced.
What’s new:
o1 Pro Mode: offers more computational power for reliable, detailed responses.
Usage Limits: plus users still get o1 access (50 weekly messages) for $20/month - with no price hikes.
Limitations: o1 doesn’t support file uploads (except images), unlike previous GPT models.
OpenAI says Pro Mode excels at tasks like data science, programming, and complex analysis.