December 2022 Google Algorithm Updates

If you’re a website owner it can be important to stay up to date on the latest Google algorithm updates. Google regularly updates its Google Search ranking algorithm throughout the year to ensure search results are relevant and to improve user experience. Here are the most recent December 2022 ranking update releases:

Link Spam Update – December 14, 2022 

This global update was released in mid-December and affects all languages. Google says the rollout could take two weeks. 

Google’s automated systems detect search spam and are being updated consistently to improve their ability to accurately detect spam. If your site sees a change following a spam update review the Google spam policy to ensure your site is in compliance. Sites that violate the spam policy will notice lower rankings so be sure to check your spam standing if you notice a drop in your ranking in the next month or so. 

Helpful Content Update – December 5, 2022

This global update is meant to improve the Google classifier and also affects all languages. Roll-out should have occurred by now.

Google’s helpful content system generates a signal that identifies low-value or unhelpful content. Whether content is original and/or helpful is a factor that Google considers when determining search ranking. Websites with a lot of Google-identified unhelpful content perform worse in search results. Since this is an automatically generated signal that Google updates to ensure it is performing and identifying content properly. 

If you believe your site might be affected in Google Search by having excess unhelpful content, Google has a list of quality questions you can ask yourself about your content or you can reach out to ShoreSite to have new content written for you!

If you want to stay ahead of SEO best practices and Google Updates, contact ShoreSite to learn about our SEO services.