October 2023 Core Update: Another Broad Change Rolls Out

If your rankings or traffic started moving this week, the October 2023 core update is the most likely reason, but it is not the only one. Google released the October 2023 core update on 5 October 2023. Google says the rollout may take up to two weeks to complete. One day earlier, on 4 October, Google also started the October 2023 spam update.

So right now, two updates are rolling out at the same time. In this article, I explain what Google has confirmed, how this update fits into a very busy few months, and what I would check (and not touch) while the rollout is still running.

What Google Has Confirmed About the October 2023 Core Update

Google kept the announcement short, as it usually does with core updates. Here is what we know for sure.

• Start date: Google posted the update on its Search Status Dashboard on 5 October 2023.
• Rollout time: Google said the rollout may take up to two weeks to complete.
• Type: It is a broad core update. That means it is a change to Google’s main ranking systems, not a fix aimed at one niche or one spam tactic.
• Place in the year: It is the third broad core update of 2023, after March and August.

Google has not shared what the update focuses on. It rarely does for core updates. Google will mark the incident as complete on the dashboard when the rollout ends. At the time of writing, it is still in progress.

So any post that tells you exactly “what the October update targets” is guessing. I’d treat those claims with care until there is real data from a finished rollout.

Another Broad Change: The 2023 Update Timeline So Far

This update lands only about a month after the August 2023 core update finished. In between, Google also rolled out the September 2023 helpful content update. That is a lot of change in a short time.

Here are the confirmed ranking updates from this year, using the dates Google posted:

Why does this matter? Because many sites are now looking at traffic that has moved three or four times since late August. If you only look at a monthly chart, you will mix all of these together and draw the wrong conclusion.

If you want a refresher on the last broad update, I covered it in what we know about the August 2023 core update. The same basic approach applies here.

What a Core Update Is (and What It Isn’t)

A core update is a broad change to how Google judges the quality and relevance of pages across the web. It is not a penalty. You will not get a message in Search Console, and there is no single error to fix.

Google has said for years that a drop after a core update does not mean your site broke a rule. Often it means Google now sees other pages as a better answer for those searches. Your page didn’t get worse; others got rated higher.

That is why I think about core updates as a content question first. When a page drops, I want to know what the pages now ranking above it do better for the searcher.

A few points that often confuse people:

• It is not a manual action. Manual actions come from a human reviewer and show up in the Manual actions report. Core updates are automatic.
• It is not only about links or technical SEO. Technical problems can hurt you at any time, but they are not what a core update is about.
• Gains count too. Some sites go up after a core update. That is just as much a signal as a drop.

October 2023 Core Update vs the October 2023 Spam Update

This is the part that makes this month tricky. The spam update started on 4 October and the core update started on 5 October. If your traffic changed this week, the date alone will not tell you which one did it.

Google said the October 2023 spam update aims to catch more types of spam, including spam reported by users in several languages. Google named Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi and Chinese, among others. It said people should see fewer results with cloaking, hacked content, auto-generated content and scraped content. Google said that rollout would take a few weeks.

I wrote a separate guide on what the October 2023 spam update targets. Here is the quick way I separate the two:

• Look at your site honestly. If you don’t use cloaking (showing Google different content than users see), auto-generated pages or scraped content, and your site isn’t hacked, the spam update is unlikely to be your problem.
• Check for hacked pages. Open the Security issues report in Search Console. Also run a site:yourdomain.com search and look for pages you didn’t create, such as spammy pharma or casino pages.
• Look at the pattern. A core update usually moves many pages up or down by different amounts. A spam problem often hits specific sections that match a spam pattern, like a folder of auto-generated pages.
• Think about your language and market. The spam update was described with a focus on several non-English languages. A core update is broad and not limited to one language.

For most normal business sites, I expect the core update to explain more of the movement than the spam update. But I’d still rule out spam and hacking first, because that is quick to check and important to fix if found.

What to Do While the Rollout Is Still Running

My main advice for the next two weeks is simple: watch, record and don’t panic. Rankings often go up and down during a rollout. A drop on day two can partly reverse by day ten.

Here is what I do during a core update rollout:

1. Note the key dates. Write down 22 August, 7 September, 14 September, 28 September, 4 October and 5 October. Add any changes you made to your own site in the same period, like a redesign, a migration or a batch of new content.
2. Annotate your reports. Record 5 October somewhere you and your team can see it later. GA4 doesn’t have built-in annotations, so I keep a simple shared log next to my reports.
3. Check daily data, not monthly. In the Search Console Performance report, look at clicks and impressions by day. This shows when a change actually began.
4. Rule out other causes. Check the Page indexing report, the Manual actions report and the Security issues report. Make sure your tracking code still works and your server has been up.
5. Save a snapshot. Export your top pages and top queries for the four weeks before 5 October. You will need this later to compare against.
6. Wait for the finish. Do not make big content decisions until Google marks the rollout as complete on the Search Status Dashboard.

How to Read Your Search Console Data After This Update

Once the rollout is finished, I like to give it about a week to settle. Then I compare a clean week after the update with a similar week before it started. Avoid comparing against a week that was already affected by August or September changes.

These are the steps I follow in the Performance report:

1. Set the date range to compare. Use the same days of the week in both periods, because many sites have weekday and weekend patterns.
2. Open the Pages tab and sort by the change in clicks. This shows which pages lost or gained the most.
3. Open the Queries tab for the biggest losers. Check whether they lost position, or whether impressions fell because the search itself got less popular.
4. Check Search type. Look at Web, Image, Video and News separately. A change in one area can hide inside the total.
5. Group pages by type. For example, blog posts, product pages, category pages and service pages. Core updates often hit one type harder than others.

In my experience, the size of the drop matters a lot. A page that slipped from position 3 to 5 needs a very different response from one that fell from page one to page four. Small moves are normal and often reverse. Big, steady drops across a whole section are worth a deeper look.

What I Would Not Do Right Now

After a core update, I usually see people make changes that cause more harm than the update itself. Here is what I’d avoid in the first few weeks:

• Don’t rewrite pages in a hurry. If you change pages now, you won’t know whether the update or your edits caused what happens next.
• Don’t delete content in bulk. Removing pages is a big step. It can be the right call for low-value pages, but only after a careful review, not as a first reaction.
• Don’t disavow links as a fix. A core update is not about bad links. Disavowing links you never had a problem with will not bring rankings back.
• Don’t chase rumours. In the days after a core update, there are always theories about one magic factor. Google has said there is no specific fix for a core update drop.
• Don’t change publish dates just to look fresh. Updating a date without updating the content does not make a page more helpful.

The one thing I would fix right away is a real problem you find while checking: hacked pages, a broken robots.txt, missing pages, or tracking that stopped working. Those have nothing to do with waiting for the rollout.

If You Were Already Hit in August or September

Many site owners asking about this update were already affected by the August core update or the September helpful content update. That makes the picture harder to read.

Here is how I think about it:

• If you lost traffic in August and are now seeing some recovery, that is possible. Google has said some recovery can show up with the next core update, after its systems pick up the improvements you made.
• If you lost traffic in the September helpful content update, that is a different system. The helpful content system looks for content made mainly for search engines rather than people. I covered the changes in what changed in the September 2023 helpful content guidance.
• If you made changes after August, they have only been live for a few weeks. Google has said its systems can take months to see that a site has improved. So don’t judge your work by this update alone.

My honest view: with three big updates in about six weeks, I would avoid reading too much into any single week. Look at the trend from mid-August to the end of this rollout as one period, then break it down by date.

How to Review Your Content Once the Rollout Ends

If you see a large and lasting drop after the rollout is complete, it is time for an honest content review. Google points site owners to its guidance on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content. It includes a set of questions you can ask about your own pages.

When I do this review, I focus on the pages that lost the most, and I keep the questions simple:

• Does this page fully answer the search? Would a reader need to go back to Google and look again?
• Does it add something new? Original information, real examples or first-hand experience, not a rewrite of what already ranks.
• Is it clear who wrote it and why they can be trusted? This matters more for topics like health, money and legal advice.
• Was it made for people or for traffic? Pages written only to target a keyword, with little real value, are the ones I’d look at first.
• Is the page pleasant to use? Too many ads, pop-ups or slow loading can make a good answer hard to reach.

Next, I search the main query myself and read the pages that now rank above mine. I’m not looking for things to copy. I’m looking for what they give the searcher that my page doesn’t, such as clearer steps, more current details or a better example.

Try to get an outside view as well. Ask someone who doesn’t work on the site to read the page and tell you honestly if it helped. Site owners are usually too close to their own content.

If you need a structured way to do this across a whole site, my guide on how to audit your site for unhelpful content walks through the full process.

What This Means for Small Businesses and Local Sites

If you run a local business, your Google Business Profile and map results work a little differently from regular web results. A core update can still move your website’s rankings, but a sudden change in calls or direction requests from your profile may have other causes.

I’d check both separately. Look at the Search Console data for your website, and look at your Business Profile performance for the profile. If only one of them moved, that tells you where to focus.

For small sites with few pages, one or two key pages can drive most of the traffic. In that case, I’d spend my time making those few pages clearly the best answer for the people you serve, rather than adding lots of new thin pages.

Final Thoughts on the October 2023 Core Update

The October 2023 core update started on 5 October and may take up to two weeks to finish. It overlaps with the October 2023 spam update, and it comes right after the August core update and the September helpful content update. So be patient with your data.

For now, rule out spam, hacking and technical issues, record your dates, and save a snapshot of your top pages. Then wait for Google to confirm the rollout is complete before you make big changes.

Your next step: once the update finishes, compare a clean week before and after, and start your content review with the pages that lost the most.