November 2021 core update: dates, what changed and what to do

What Google changed#

Google released the November 2021 core update without a separate explanation of what it changed. The Search Status Dashboard entry says “Released the November 2021 core update.” Google describes core updates in general as “significant, broad changes” to its search algorithms and systems, designed to present helpful and reliable results.

When it rolled out#

The dashboard records the rollout from 17 November 2021 to 30 November 2021, a total of 13 days, all times US/Pacific. The dashboard did not exist in 2021: the entry and its completion note (“The rollout was complete as of November 30, 2021”) were added on 22 March 2023.

No other confirmed update overlapped it, but two sat close on either side. The November 2021 spam update finished on 11 November, six days before this one began, and the December 2021 product reviews update started on 1 December, one day after it ended.

What is known about its impact#

Google did not publish impact figures for this update. Its core update guidance says these changes “don’t target specific sites or individual web pages,” and that pages which move down are not necessarily bad; other pages may simply serve the searcher better. Treat any percentage you see attributed to this update as a third-party estimate, and check its method.

What site owners should do#

Google’s standing core update guidance sets out the steps:

• Wait until the rollout has finished, then at least one more full week.
• Compare the week after with a week before the update began, not with the rollout window.
• A small drop (position 2 to 4) needs no drastic action; a large, sustained drop warrants a site-wide self-assessment against Google’s helpful content questions.
• Avoid quick fixes. Improve content in ways that help readers; delete content only as a last resort.
• Recovery can take months and may not show until a later core update.

How to check whether it affected you#

In Search Console, set the Performance report to a range from November to December 2021 and compare clicks for the week before 17 November with the week starting 8 December, a full week after completion. That later week also falls inside the December 2021 product reviews update, so check review pages separately. The Google Algorithm Updates timeline lists every confirmed update with its dates, so you can rule out overlapping rollouts before attributing a change to this one.

Related updates#

• The July 2021 core update was the previous core update.
• The November 2021 spam update finished six days before it began.
• The December 2021 product reviews update started the day after it ended.
• The May 2022 core update was the next core update.