2023 Google Algorithm Updates in Review: Core Changes, Reviews, Helpful Content, Spam, and More

In 2023, Google unveiled nine confirmed algorithmic updates along with a new AI search engine called the Search Generative Experience.

In comparison, Google rolled out ten confirmed algorithmic updates in both 2022 and 2021. Unless a new update is released this week, 2023 will have seen one less update than the previous two years.

Summary of Confirmed Google Algorithm Updates

We have created a timeline documenting all the confirmed Google search algorithm updates in 2023 to help you visualize the progression throughout the year.

Four Core Updates in 2023

In 2023, Google released four core updates, compared to only two in 2022. These updates occurred in March, August, October, and November.

March 2023 Core Update. The March core update began on March 15, took 13 days to complete, and concluded on March 28. The volatility was similar to previous core updates.

Here’s a chart comparing the volatility of this update:

August 2023 Core Update. The August core update started on August 22, took 16 days to complete, and ended on September 7. This update showed generally less volatility compared to previous updates.

Here’s a chart comparing the volatility of this update:

October 2023 Core Update. The October core update began on October 5, took 14 days to complete, and concluded on October 19. This update overlapped with the October spam update, making its volatility more noticeable.

Here’s a chart comparing the volatility of this update:

November 2023 Core Update. The November core update began on November 2, took 26 days to complete, and finished on November 19. This update showed greater volatility than the October spam update and overlapped with the November reviews update.

Here’s a chart comparing the volatility of this update:

From Product Reviews Update to Reviews Update

Google rebranded the Product Reviews Update to the Reviews Update to encompass all types of review-related content, beyond just product reviews. There were three reviews updates in 2023, with the last one in November being the final confirmed update of its kind.

February 2023 Product Reviews Update. This update started on February 21, took 14 days to complete, and ended on March 7. It was more significant than previous product review updates and marked the transition before the rebranding to Reviews Update.

Here’s a chart comparing the volatility of this update:

April 2023 Reviews Update. The April reviews update began on April 12, took 13 days to complete, and concluded on April 25. This update impacted more categories of review content, leading to widespread volatility.

Here’s a chart comparing the volatility of this update:

November 2023 Reviews Update. The November reviews update started on November 8 and took 29 days to complete, ending on December 7. Similar to the April update, it also encompassed various types of review content but its volatility was difficult to measure due to overlapping updates.

Helpful Content Update

The September 2023 helpful content update started on September 14 and took 14 days to complete, ending on September 28. Despite there being only one helpful content update in 2023, it was a significant one, greatly impacting businesses and clients in the SEO industry.

The volatility was notably high, especially within the SEO community. This update had a substantial impact, particularly on sites focused on SEO rankings.

Here’s a chart comparing the volatility of this update:

Spam Update

Amidst all the updates, an October 2023 spam update was also rolled out. It started on October 4 and lasted for 15 days, ending on October 20. This update aimed to reduce spam in search results, particularly in languages like Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, and Chinese, by targeting cloaking, hacked, auto-generated, and scraped spam.

Other Algorithmic Changes and Updates

• In May, Google introduced a topic authority system to better surface news content, though it was not a new algorithm.
• A separate update was released to reward hidden gems, possibly part of a more personalized search experience.
• In November, the local ranking algorithm was adjusted to strengthen the “openness signal” for non-navigational queries.
• A bug with the core update affected Discover-related traffic from October 5 to October 31.
• In September, Google improved its language matching systems to better match search results to the language used in queries.
• Google updated its ranking systems documentation, clarifying that page experience is a signal, not a ranking system.
• On November 16, Google updated its search quality raters guidelines to focus more on user intent and meeting user expectations.
• Google relaunched its ranking updates page in March for easier tracking.