October Google Core Update: What we know so far and how we’re taking it

It was no longer enough to March core update, in August and the September Helpful Content, Google officially announced yet another core algorithm update, just two months after its update: the Google Core October Update.

Yes! The major updates will gain a name, after all, the algorithm is being updated constantly than before.

And if this news took you by surprise(and you don’t sign the The Beat), your website traffic is probably already suffering. Marketers and entrepreneurs who are prepared and connected to what’s new in content marketing are not anxious about each Google newsletter, as they are already delivering quality content to their buyer persona.

Did you want a summary of what I’m going to cover in this article? It’s simple: producing quality content for your buyer persona!

In this article, we dive into what we know so far about this October update and how Rock Content views Google’s core algorithm updates. If you want to be one step ahead in SEO strategies and understand the possible impacts of this change, keep reading.

What is the October Google Core Update?

On 10/05, Google officially announced yet another major algorithm update. This means that Google has made a new significant overhaul to its algorithm classification of search results, to improve the quality of information available on the web.

The announcement took place on X, announcing that the distribution deadline for this update is two weeks, according to the company.

What are the possible impacts of this new major update?

It’s difficult to predict this update’s focus when Google doesn’t release further details. In the case of Helpful Content, the article giving details about the update was published along with the announcement on the page of incidents.

In the announcement of this new major update, the attached page links to the page that explains what the major updates are.

To make matters worse, another update is happening at the same time: the October 2023 Spam Update. This fact makes it difficult for experts to analyze, as the impact on traffic could be due to any of the updates.

What we can try to do is conjecture the focus of the October core update by looking at previous communications. For example, take a look at the Helpful Content Update announcement timeline below:

2022 – How to create useful, authoritative, people-first content: the page about useful content was created and this is not the time when Google talks about prioritizing the reader when creating content.

08/18/2022 – article about “What Content Creators Need to Know About Google’s August 2022 Useful Content Update”.

04/19/2023 – The role of page experience in creating useful content: The topic of useful content came back in this article, even when the topic focused on page experience.

09/14/2023 – Google Search useful content system and your website: and finally the update announcement came.

Now, if we look at Google’s announcements in parallel to the announcements about useful content and spam, we have:

12/15/2022 – Our latest update to quality rater guidelines: E-A-T receives an additional E for Experience.

04/19/2023 – I already talked about the article “The role of page experience in creating useful content” bringing news about user experience to Google Search Console reports.

05/10/2023 – INP presentation for Core Web Vitals: company announcement about a big change to Core Web Vitals, switching FID by INP.

10/05/2023 – October 2023 core update: announcement of this core update, with the same five months between an article and the Helpful Content update.

Will we see greater attention to user experience in the coming years? This is just conjecture, but experience has already impacted SEO and they are not looking at it as they should.

How does Rock Content view Google algorithm updates?

Quality content for the buyer persona

The first thing I need to tell you is that Rockers don’t tremble when faced with Google’s update announcements. This is because, even though Rock produces content at scale, we are focused on quality.

And search engine updates are nothing more than an incentive for all of us to organize information. To achieve this, the information needs to be: reliable, accessible, and pleasant for the user to absorb.

Examples of this in our operation are the evaluation system for our talents that provides feedback from entrepreneurs and experts to improve content. And the training of our team that never stops training the best professionals on the market.

Observing trends in content marketing

Although we focus on the quality of the text, other technical elements that arise with Google updates enable us to increase the performance of the blogs we manage.

For example, a few years ago people didn’t look at updates to old content as much as they do today. Mature blogs tend to have articles that are essential for traffic, but that are more than two years old. Over time, if they are not updated, they will lose relevance, as Google understands that that information is outdated.

Nowadays, updates are a common practice in our content strategy.

Rockers produce content, create training and webinars, test new strategies and to this end, consuming news and being aware of trends is part of our routine. And looking at Google updates is nothing more than a sign of where we should pay attention.

The golden tip here is to anticipate these main updates, monitoring web traffic volatility.

Bet on experience

I am a “user experience bore” and I am deeply bothered by blogs that take a long time to load, fill my screen with pop-ups, or have usability defects. One time I was reading blog content and noticed the text scrolling up by itself. How does this company want me to stay on their blog?

With some frequency, Rock consultants observe improvements in experience and technical SEO that need attention, otherwise, no miracle content can be saved.

One of the ways that Rock found to innovate in experience is to change the way content is consumed. With interactive content, we deliver engagement and connection with the public.

So what can we say we learned after reading this? The Core Google updates are not a big deal.

Remember to monitor trends, anticipate updates, and track traffic volatility. This text summary highlights the importance of remaining agile and quality-focused in an ever-evolving SEO environment. See you in the next update!

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