Another Core Update, Why Over-optimisation Hurts Rankings & 2025 SEO Predictions 🔮

SEO TL;DR #52 16/12/2024

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Core Update

Google’s December Core Update

If this seems like Deja Vu, don’t worry, you’re not going mad. I posted that the November core update had finished rolling out only last week, and I quote…

This was the third and likely final core update of the year.

Google has surprised us with the December 2024 Core Update, which Danny Sullivan stated focuses on a different core system, which Google is constantly improving - so nothing as drastic as November.

Quick facts:

• 📅 Launched: 12th December 2024

• 🌍 Global: Impacts all regions and languages

• 📈 Content Impact: Not a penalty - focuses on promoting good content

• ⏳ Rollout: About two weeks to complete

• 🧩 Features: Impacts Discover, snippets, and other search features

Google also confirmed it would roll out “more core updates, more often”. This could potentially mean smaller, faster updates from now on with more ongoing fluctuations - time will tell.

The bottom line is to focus on Google’s mantra and create useful, high-quality content.

📝 What to do if you were hit by a core update

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Technical SEO

Google Clarifies Site Reputation Abuse Penalty with New FAQs

Google has added a new FAQ section to its site reputation abuse policy, clearing up what happens when you move or change content that’s been hit by a manual action.

The highlights:

• Third-party content isn’t automatically a problem. It’s only a violation if it’s clearly trying to manipulate rankings by piggybacking on an established site’s reputation.

• Moving penalised content to a subdomain or subfolder on the same site won’t fix the issue. Google could even hit you with broader penalties.

• Moving content to a new domain with no existing reputation is less risky, but you’ll still need to submit a reconsideration request.

• Redirecting or linking from the old site? Don’t do it unless you’re using nofollow links - otherwise, you’ll likely create the same problem again.

Google’s message is clear: there are no shortcuts here. Fix the issue properly or risk harsher penalties. See all of the FAQs on Search Engine Roundtable.

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Content SEO

Over-optimisation may be Seen as SEO spam

Over on Bluesky, Martin SEO McGarry‬ asked John Mueller:

Has Google recently targeted "over optimisation" Or is this hidden gems theory, easily confused? Example A long page with lots of detail, very natural, but unfortunately repetitive. Suddenly outranked by a demo page (left in the system) with no content but similar meta title.

John replied:

It sounds like you have a specific situation in front of you, so generalizing probably doesn't help much. Sometimes "over optimization" does drift towards "SEO-spam" (say you mention the keywords 1x, 10x, or 1000x on a page). My guess is you're just seeing something coincidental here though.

And again;

I don't know your pages, it's just that there's sometimes no clear border between "unoptimized", "optimized", "over-optimized", and spam (though often spam is obvious in isolation). (Also, what is even "unoptimized" vs "optimized"? :-))

I’ve seen first-hand how rankings can be improved by “unoptimising” content. I’ve worked on sites where all we’ve done is clean up old content, leading to ranking improvements - like pruning a hedge so it can thrive again.

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💡Takeaway: It’s hard to explain what over-optimised copy looks like, but you know it when you see it. Here are 5 of the biggest tells that your content is over-optimised for SEO

1. Keyword stuffing. Keywords appear unnaturally or too frequently, making sentences sound forced. For example:
   
   “Looking for budget smartphones? Our budget smartphone guide will help you find the best budget smartphones in 2025.”

2. Unnatural anchor text. Anchor text is important but should focus on natural phrases instead of keyword-heavy phrases. At either end of the scale, we have unhelpful anchor text such as ‘click here’, and at the other end, you have ‘find the best budget espresso machine for home 2025’ - find a balance!

3. Overdone formatting. Keywords are unnecessarily bolded, underlined, or italicised to "signal" importance (an ancient SEO theory), distracting from the content.

4. Alt text is written for SEO, not for users. Image captions and alt text are stuffed with keywords instead of being helpful, or for alt texts’ primary purpose, to assist those with screen readers.

5. Content doesn’t flow naturally. Content feels repetitive, stretched unnecessarily, or broken across multiple pages to increase word count or page views. Instead of answering a question in 1 sentence, it uses 10 (I’m looking at you, every American pancake recipe ever).

If you notice any of these in your copy, find a better SEO or copywriter who can achieve growth without the gimmicks… I’m also on Bluesky 👀

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Ecommerce SEO

Shopify’s Winter ’25 Edition: 150 Updates That Smooth Out the Rough Edges

Shopify’s latest Edition delivers over 150 updates designed to streamline everyday tasks and help businesses focus on growth, customers, and innovation.

This won’t be for everyone, but some amazing things are coming to the platform, such as improved customer accounts with features like subscription management and loyalty programs. Product bundles have also improved to make everything more intuitive. Read more in Shopify’s Winter '25 Edition

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🛒 Thinking of Migrating to Shopify?

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AI

Google Gemini 2.0is here

On Thursday, Google announced Gemini 2.0, a model that will change how we interact with AI. Google showcased Astra - a “universal AI assistant” - around the streets of London, Gemini Live Stream, AI Glasses, Image and audio output and Project Mariner.

Project Mariner was super interesting: a virtual AI agent within Chrome with 100s of practical applications. In the demo, they show a spreadsheet of company names and ask Mariner to memorise them and find a contact email address for each. It then went off and Googled everything, extracted the information and passed it back to the sheet.

This was genuinely something I had to do in my first job working in sales. If only I had an AI assistant back then so I could play more Angry Birds.

It also showed an example asking…

Find the most famous post-impressionist. Find a colourful painting of theirs and add some colourful paints to my Etsy cart.

And it did just that! It’s experimental at the moment and has to run within the active window. Pretty soon though, I can see this working in the background for you while you work on other more strategic things (or whoever’s left for us to do).

If it can automate those tedious manual SEO tasks we all have to do, I’m all for it, but is this the beginning of the end for research assistant jobs?

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Looking back on the year

Google’s Year in Search 2024 – The Trends That Had Us Searching

As 2024 wraps up, Google’s Year in Search highlights the moments that sparked global curiosity, from major sports events to viral internet trends.

📰 Top news searches

With elections happening across the globe, the US Election topped the trending news category. Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were among the year’s most searched names.

⚽ Top sports searches

Epic events dominated searches this year. Copa América and the UEFA European Championship led the way globally, while a viral Olympics moment gave us an unexpected food trend - “Olympics chocolate muffins” - thanks to Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen.

🎤 Top pop culture moments

Inside Out 2 was the top trending movie, and “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar was the most searched song globally. Meanwhile, a viral video in August left people Googling “demure meaning.”

🏟️ Top maps trends

On Google Maps, Arena di Verona in Italy and Las Vegas’ Sphere were the top searched stadiums and attractions.

Explore the full list of trends here: Google Year in Search 2024

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Looking Forward

SEO Predictions & Tips for 2025

It’s that time of year again when we SEOs try to predict the future 🔮

While nobody predicted AI Overviews back in 2023, we’re pretty good at extrapolating data and at least giving you an idea of where to focus your efforts for long-term growth.

I’ve sifted through hours of content from the most respected titans in the industry to come up with these 5.

1. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) will become part of SEO

   • AI overviews and generative search tools will build traction in 2025, moving beyond informational queries to transactional ones. The shift may reduce the importance of the traditional ‘10 blue links’ and increase zero-click search. We could also see zero-interaction search with Project Mariner.

2. Brand authority and topical relevance

   • Building a strong, recognisable brand and demonstrating expertise in a niche will continue to be important for search engines. Google will continue favouring brands and entities it trusts, with topical authority being a crucial differentiator.

3. Diversification of traffic sources

   • Relying solely on Google search is becoming riskier. Brands are advised to diversify their traffic sources by leveraging social platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and Instagram, as these are gaining popularity for content discovery.

4. Content quality and authenticity

   • Low-quality, AI-generated content is expected to face penalties. Google will prioritise content with real expertise, unique value, and authentic experiences. Building communities and incorporating user-generated content will play an increasing role.

5. Integration of SEO with brand and marketing strategies

   • SEO can no longer operate in isolation. Successful strategies will involve a holistic approach, integrating traditional brand-building, audience understanding, and content personalisation to align with user intent and behaviour.

Here’s a great roundtable with a handful of my favourite SEOs if you want to delve further.

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