The Google November 2023 Core Update Is Tremendous Unstable

The Google November 2023 core update that started to rollout on November 2nd, Thursday afternoon, has been incredibly volatile, heated and in a very short time. We saw the fluctuations maybe even before Google announced the update and it has been super heated since, throughout this weekend.

This update came as a surprise to many of us. Most of us did not expect a new core update only a couple weeks after the last core update, the October 2023 core update finished rolling out. Not only did this November core update take us off guard, it seems way stronger and more impactful than the October core update.

As a reminder, the Google November 2023 core update started to roll out last Thursday, November 2, at 3:09 pm ET. Like most Google updates, it can take about two weeks to roll out. This is the fourth core update of the 2023 year, and the eighth official Google algorithm update of the 2023 year.

The tools are almost all showing massive volatility and the chatter is off the charts. Let me share what I see. Let’s start with the chatter and we will get to the tools later.

SEO Chatter

Here is some select quotes from WebmasterWorld, Black Hat World, comments from this site and from X:

And here are some drops based on the Nov core update. I’ll continue digging in and sharing what I’m seeing. Eager to see how sites fare based on the other major updates that rolled out over the past few months… Core, HCU, Spam, Core… Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/Es91gkqhcv

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 4, 2023

Between the October core update and now the November core update, I’m seeing a number of parasite SEO sites drops (the directories or subdomains). So maybe Google implemented what Gary Illyes was referring to about their algorithmic solution for addressing that content. Hmm… pic.twitter.com/mp2Zh1nvbm

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 4, 2023

More from the November core update: Quite possibly the worst time ever for this site to drop. I’m seeing a big decline in super-important keywords for this site so far. And the holiday shopping season is huge for them. Eager to see if this sticks throughout the rollout… pic.twitter.com/sg3rW7qNO3

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 5, 2023

Yep, those examples were on the directory or subdomain level. Very interesting…

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 4, 2023

This is a “news publisher” (I won’t blow up their spot) that started accepting sponsored posts (AKA parasite SEO) in the blue subfolder. It worked until it didn’t.

What did they do?

Launch a new sponsored post folder – the red one. Wonder how that will shake out. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/nF5wKU4gSz

— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 5, 2023

Interesting one. Looks like https://t.co/t2dJYmkrXL is an ecommerce platform for small bookstores to sell books online. Each bookstore has its own subdomain & 1 is surging with the core update.

Also saw a 2nd small bookstore surging recently too. (Real businesses w/ NAP) pic.twitter.com/xcNx3tdNyY

— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 5, 2023 Crazy drop today, I hope they undo the mess they did with the Oct updateThe very early initial impressions of this November Core are positive. But its too early to tell what is going on.

October Core was also positive for my main site, the “Oct 27th” update was slightly negative and I hope this November one will be more like the October Core.

So far site +13% and Youtube +15% not a bad start to the month. How long will it last is anyone’s guess.Yesterday’s surge, as suspected, was brief…this morning USA traffic is -52% and Australia is -27%. Fridays are typically a low traffic day these days. Conversions have literally been NIL for the entire month of October and so far in november…so these constant updates on top of the war, etc have killed off the brief steady period in late August and Sept. It lasted perhaps two weeks and back to the crapper for google.I do see some SERP rankings up today, but still very volatile. Guess we will find out more once this update is done rolling out. I’m pretty sure once it is done rolling out, that another is just going to come out hahaHuge boost yesterday for my oldest biggest best site. Traffic at levels I have never seen (in 17 years).

My other sites are super dead and more dead than before. I wouldn’t care if the big site remained at these levels.

Unfortunately, most likely part of this boost may be related to temporary shuffling and technicalities in the way this new update is being rolled out.

Huge drop today, after a big increase yesterday. USA -41% at 3pm. CA -46%, AU -46%. S.O.S. with Google I guess…we can’t even expect 48 hours of normal traffic anymore. Interesting how the drops are all so similar percentagewise…Yes, today is a lot weaker than yesterday.Our websites are going through a disaster. Traffic is as close to 0 as it gets. Websites that got a boost from the October Update crashed really badly with this November Update.

Funny enough, one of our websites dropped for a page that was original content today but (!) a website scrapping content now ranks for it. It is not even a larger publisher that took the content. It is a scrapper. A scrapping website is outranking us. Google is doing great.

When I look at the current data from Xovi today, Google is simply winding up my site. Visibility has dropped even further, almost all the top 10 keywords have been lost, etc. (my direct competitor’s site is doing the same). I’m particularly annoyed that copies of our articles are ranking well.

Other sites that I monitor have also suffered massive losses. My conclusion that Google no longer sees any point in niche sites/blogs and is weeding them out unfortunately remains.

Big drop for my main site today. All of the Nov 3 gains are reverted. My not-so-great smaller sites (competing for same keywords) that were down are now up. It looks like a “reversal” but in reality, I think its just the nature of the rollout. As I expected.More spam and old Reddit articles are ranking high in my main niche. Curiously enough, a site in the gaming niche that happens to have a random page in the niche I’m in is ranking above mine.

The content on it is absolute garbage, it reads as though it’s been written after a few Jack and cokes.

Seeing big spikes in clicks and impressions on my new 3 month old site. Breaking all time highs every day since 1st of November.Haha, my website’s traffic has also dropped.

This isn’t fun.

I have never seen Core Update start out so right and fail so badly in space of 3 days….Is anyone else experiencing a massive drop in traffic today after recovering over the past couple of days?Yes, exactly the same. Google got something right for a couple of days and then quickly “fixed it” to be wrong again.yes, drop in traffic today, no sale, What level of traffic are you recovering to?finally my traffic is back on the last 2-3 days.
it’s better nowExtremely low traffic levels, Saturday at 52.5% and si far today coming up to 16 hours of my Googleday 27%!

This is not a ranking issue insofar as I am concerned, the sheer huge volume of image ads for my popular keyword products is incredulous.

Traffic is swinging widely today…first a drop to zero, then a big surge, then a drop…all before 11am. USA is at average but UK traffic down 32% today. Overall search traffic is -3%. I’m noticing that weekends tend to deliver traffic later in the day from the afternoon onward. I suspect another bust of a holiday season is coming if this keeps up…Huge drop today. Now I feel the effect of the november core update.

That is just a sampling of the comments around the SEO community on this update.