If your rankings started moving on November 2 or 3, the November 2023 core update is the most likely reason. Google started rolling it out on the afternoon of November 2, 2023, and says it may take up to two weeks to finish.
The short answer for most sites: don’t panic and don’t change anything yet. This is the third core update since late August, it is still rolling out, and Google says it improves a different core system from the one it updated in October. Below I explain what Google said, how this update fits with the others this autumn, and how I’d check whether it affects you.
What Google Announced About the November 2023 Core Update
Google posted the update on its Search Status Dashboard entry for the November 2023 core update on November 2. The note was short: the update was released, and the rollout may take up to two weeks.
On the same day, Google published a Q&A post on its Search Central blog about how search updates work. That post holds the most useful details:
- The November core update improves a different core system than the October 2023 core update did.
- Google’s guidance for core updates is the same for both, so you don’t need a new playbook.
- Google expects a reviews system update to start next week.
- After that, Google says it will stop giving regular notices about reviews system improvements, because those changes will become ongoing.
So in one post, Google told us about two updates, explained why they keep coming close together, and changed how it will talk about reviews updates in future.
What a Core Update Actually Is
A core update is a broad change to how Google’s main ranking systems judge content. It is not aimed at one type of site, one niche or one spam tactic.
Google’s view is that core updates don’t “punish” pages. Instead, they change how Google rates the whole web. If other pages are now judged as more useful for a search, they move up, and some pages drop as a result.
In my experience, this is the part people find hardest to accept. A drop after a core update often doesn’t mean you did something wrong. It can simply mean Google now thinks another page answers that search better.
Ranking Systems vs Updates
The Q&A post makes a distinction that helps here. A ranking system is one of the many automated systems Google uses to sort results. An update is a change to one of those systems.
Google uses several systems that it treats as “core”. The October update improved one of them. The November update improves another. That is why Google could run two core updates a month apart without either one being a fix or redo of the other.
Why a Third Core Update in Three Months?
This has been a busy autumn. Here is how 2023’s core updates line up so far, using the dates Google gave:
| Core update | Started | Finished |
|---|---|---|
| March 2023 core update | March 15 | March 28 |
| August 2023 core update | August 22 | September 7 |
| October 2023 core update | October 5 | October 19 |
| November 2023 core update | November 2 | Still rolling out |
Between those, Google also ran the September 2023 helpful content update (September 14 to 28) and the October 2023 spam update, which started in early October and finished on October 20.
That means many sites have barely had a quiet week since August. If you’re trying to understand a traffic change from the last few months, you need to keep all of these in mind. I covered the earlier ones in my posts on the August 2023 core update and the October 2023 core update.
Is Google running more updates than before? According to the Q&A, not really. Google says it makes thousands of changes to Search every year but only announces the notable ones. It shared 10 notable updates in 2021 and 10 in 2022, and expects about the same this year. They just feel more crowded this autumn because several landed close together.
The Reviews Update Coming Next Week
Google says a reviews system update will begin next week. This matters if you publish product reviews, service reviews, “best of” lists or comparison pages.
The timing creates a real problem: the core update may still be rolling out when the reviews update starts. If your review pages move in the next two or three weeks, it may be hard to say which update caused it.
Google admits this in its Q&A. It tries to space notable updates apart so site owners can tell them apart. But with so many changes, it won’t always manage that, and it won’t hold back an approved improvement just to avoid overlap.
The bigger change is what comes after. Google says it will stop announcing reviews system improvements regularly because they will happen on an ongoing basis. For review sites, that means fewer clear dates to point to when traffic moves. I’d start keeping your own change log now, so you can match traffic shifts to your own edits rather than waiting for a Google announcement.
How to Check If the November 2023 Core Update Affects You
The rollout only started yesterday. Early movement is normal and often settles. Here is the process I follow during and after a core update:
- Mark the start date. Note November 2, 2023 in your reporting tool. In Google Analytics 4 or your rank tracker, add an annotation or a simple note so you don’t forget later.
- Wait for the rollout to finish. Google says up to two weeks. Then give it about another week of data, so you compare full weeks, not half a rollout.
- Compare the right periods in Search Console. Open the Performance report and compare a period after the rollout with a similar period before it. Use the same days of the week and the same length.
- Look at pages and queries, not just totals. Sort by the biggest changes in clicks. A sitewide drop tells a different story from five pages losing a few positions.
- Check position before clicks. If average position held steady but clicks dropped, the cause may be seasonal demand or a change in the search results layout, not the update.
- Check search demand. November is a seasonal month for many niches. A drop in impressions with steady positions usually means fewer people searched, not that you lost rankings.
When I look at a core update, I always start with the pages that lost the most clicks, then look at what now ranks above them. That comparison teaches me more than any tool score.
Separating This Update From the October One
The October core update finished on October 19. The November one started on November 2. That gives you a short window of about two weeks of “settled” data in between.
I’d use that gap as your baseline. Compare late October against the period after the November rollout finishes. If you compare against September or August, you’ll mix the effects of several updates together and won’t learn much.
If your review pages move after the reviews update starts next week, try to note the date the movement began. A change that starts on November 2 or 3 points to the core update. A change that starts later, after the reviews update begins, may point there instead.
What to Do If You Lose Rankings
Google’s guidance for this update is the same as for every core update. There is no specific thing to “fix”. The advice is to look closely at your content and ask whether it is truly the most helpful result for the people searching.
Here is how I put that into practice:
- Compare your page with the pages that now beat it. Do they answer the question faster? Do they show real experience with the topic? Are they more up to date?
- Read your page as a stranger would. Does the first screen answer the search, or does it start with a long intro? Is it clear who wrote it and why they know the subject?
- Check for thin or repeated pages. Many sites have pages that cover the same topic with small changes. In my experience, merging those into one stronger page often helps more than writing new ones.
- Look at the whole site, not just the losers. If a big part of the site is low-value, it can weigh on how Google sees everything else.
- Update facts and dates. Old prices, dead links and outdated steps are easy signs that a page hasn’t been cared for.
Google’s helpful content guidance is useful here too, because both point in the same direction: content made for people first, by someone who knows the topic. I wrote about what changed in that guidance in my post on the September 2023 helpful content update.
One more point from the Q&A is worth repeating. A drop after a core update is not a spam problem. Google says changes after a non-spam update don’t mean your site is seen as spam. So you don’t need to file a reconsideration request or disavow links because of a core update.
How Long Before You See a Recovery?
Be honest with yourself here. Improvements to content don’t usually show up the next day. Google has said in the past that some changes may show up between core updates, but the bigger shifts often come with the next one.
With three core updates in about ten weeks, that next chance may come sooner than usual. But I wouldn’t plan around a date. I’d plan around making the pages better, and treat any rebound as a bonus.
What Not to Do While the Update Rolls Out
Rankings can swing up and down during a rollout. I often see site owners react to day-two data and make things worse. Here is what I’d avoid:
- Don’t rewrite pages in a hurry. If you change content mid-rollout, you can’t tell whether a later move came from the update or your edits.
- Don’t delete pages on a hunch. Removing content is hard to undo. Wait until you understand what happened.
- Don’t change URLs or site structure. Big technical changes during an update add noise to an already noisy period.
- Don’t trust one tool’s score. Third-party “volatility” trackers show that something is moving. They can’t tell you why your site moved.
- Don’t chase quick tricks. Adding a block of keywords or an author box with no real substance behind it won’t fix a quality gap.
The one exception is anything clearly broken. If you find a technical fault, like pages blocked by robots.txt or a broken template, fix it right away. That has nothing to do with the update.
What About the Holiday Shopping Season?
A lot of store owners worry about updates in November. It is a fair worry, because this is the busiest selling period of the year for many of them.
Google’s Q&A says it tries to avoid notable updates from late November to the middle of December. But it also says this is a goal, not a promise. If an improvement is ready, Google may still release it.
The November core update started early in the month, so most of it should be done before the late-November rush. The reviews update will add some movement after that. If you run an online store, I’d keep a close eye on your category and product pages this month, and I’d hold off on big site changes until after the holidays.
Where to Keep Track of Updates
The best place to confirm an update is Google’s own Search Status Dashboard. It lists each notable ranking update with start and end dates. Google also offers an RSS feed so you can get notified. I explained how the dashboard works in my post on the Search Status Dashboard launch.
I check the dashboard before I believe any rumour about an update. Social media fills up with “Google update!” posts every week. Only some of them line up with something Google actually confirmed.
The Q&A post from November 2 is also worth a read if you want Google’s own words on why updates overlap and what to do after one. You can find it on the Google Search Central blog.
My Take on This Update
I think the most useful thing Google said this week isn’t about the core update itself. It’s the honest admission that updates will overlap and that reviews changes will now happen quietly in the background.
That pushes site owners toward a habit I already recommend: track your own changes, watch your own data, and don’t rely on Google announcements to explain every move. The sites I see handle core updates best are the ones that improve their content steadily, not the ones that react after each announcement.
I’d also say this: three core updates in a short time doesn’t mean Google is “testing” or “rolling back”. Google says each one improves a different system, and that’s the simplest explanation.
Conclusion: Watch the November 2023 Core Update, Then Act
The November 2023 core update started on November 2 and may take up to two weeks. It changes a different core system from October’s update, and a reviews update is due to start next week, so expect some overlap.
For now, mark the date, avoid big changes, and wait for the rollout to finish. Then compare clean periods in Search Console and look honestly at the pages that dropped. Start with the steps in the section above on how to check if the update affects you, and keep a simple log of every change you make from here on.
