November 2023 core update: dates, what changed and what to do

What Google changed#

Google released the November 2023 core update on 2 November 2023. The same day, it published a Q&A on Search updates that answered the obvious question of why a second core update came so soon. Google wrote that “this month’s core update involves an improvement to a different core system than last month,” and that its guidance was the same for both.

Google did not describe the system involved. Its standing definition of core updates applies: broad changes that “don’t target specific sites or individual web pages.”

When it rolled out#

The Google Search Status Dashboard logged the release on 2 November 2023 at 12:09 PDT, noting the rollout could take up to two weeks. It took longer: Google posted that the rollout was complete as of 28 November 2023, a total of 25 days and 21 hours.

The November 2023 reviews update started on 8 November and ran until 7 December 2023, overlapping most of this rollout. Google’s Q&A acknowledged that separating notable updates is “not always possible.” A ranking change in November 2023 may come from either update.

What is known about its impact#

Google did not publish impact figures for this update. Its framing is that pages which move down after a core update “aren’t 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#

In its Q&A, Google said there is likely “nothing to do for most creators” already making helpful, reliable, people-first content. Its standing core update guidance adds the practical 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 cover October to December 2023 and compare clicks for the week before 2 November with the week starting 5 December. Because the reviews update ran until 7 December, check review pages separately and repeat after that date. 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 October 2023 core update was the core update before it.
• The March 2024 core update was the next one.
• The November 2023 reviews update overlapped this rollout.