Search engines close 2024 with a double punch: Google launches both a core update and a spam update in December, while Bing removes cache links and accelerates with new AI models. For SEO practitioners, these shifts set the tone for 2025 — content quality, crawlability, and multi-engine diversification are no longer optional. What happens in December doesn’t just move rankings; it reshapes strategy.
What Happened
Google’s December 2024 core update (Dec 12–18) rolled out in record time, completing in six days with significant volatility across health, finance, and retail. Days later, the December spam update (Dec 19–26) targeted manipulative content at scale, overlapping the holiday season. At the same time, Bing permanently removed its cache link on December 11, closing a long-standing diagnostic tool, and introduced Small Language Models with TensorRT-LLM, improving query throughput by up to 100×. Finally, Statcounter data shows Google dipped below 90% global share, while Bing and Yahoo gained marginal ground, underscoring diversification opportunities.
“The December 2024 core update was unusually fast and more volatile than the November update.” – Search Engine Land, Dec. 18, 2024
Who’s Impacted
• B2B: Analytics and reporting workflows need adjustments, as volatility from two updates in quick succession complicates attribution. Firms dependent on steady organic lead flow may see disrupted cycle times.
• B2C: Retailers hit by thin or duplicate content in December risked visibility loss at peak holiday traffic, directly impacting conversion trust and year-end revenue.
• Nonprofits: Awareness campaigns tied to seasonal giving faced risks if donor pages tripped spam policies, with compliance and discoverability tied more closely to perceived authority.
Why It Matters (Factics)
Factic 1
Fact: Google’s core update completed in just 6 days, producing an average ranking shift of 2.8 positions in sensitive categories.
Tactic: Audit top-performing YMYL content with user intent in mind and refresh expert authorship to align with E-E-A-T standards.
KPI: +10% CTR improvement on refreshed pages within 30 days.
Factic 2
Fact: The spam update affected ~1.8% of queries globally, with thin and AI-scaled content hit hardest.
Tactic: Conduct a content quality sweep, removing low-value AI text and bolstering with first-party data and human insights.
KPI: Reduce low-quality flags in Google Search Console by 20% within 60 days.
Factic 3
Fact: Bing’s cache operator was retired Dec 11, while AI query handling improved latency from 4.76s to 3.03s.
Tactic: Shift diagnostics to Bing Webmaster Tools URL Inspection and optimize for conversational search queries to capture Bing’s AI-driven indexing.
KPI: Ensure 90% of high-value URLs are crawled/indexed within 24 hours; +15% CTR increase from Bing queries.
Action Steps
1. Immediate: Run a year-end audit of content quality, especially YMYL topics, for compliance with spam and E-E-A-T signals.
2. 30–60 Days: Update ecommerce faceted navigation to block low-value filters and consolidate canonicals for crawl efficiency.
3. Quarterly: Rebalance SEO investment across Google, Bing, and Yahoo based on traffic contribution and SERP enhancements.
4. Optional: Test structured conversational answers optimized for Bing’s SLMs to capture zero-click visibility.
References
2024-12-18 – Search Engine Land – Google December 2024 core update rollout is now complete – https://searchengineland.com/google-december-2024-core-update-rollout-is-now-complete-449421
2024-12-26 – Search Engine Roundtable – Google December 2024 spam update done rolling out – https://www.seroundtable.com/google-december-2024-spam-update-done-38656.html
2024-12-11 – Search Engine Land – Bing officially removes cache link – https://searchengineland.com/bing-officially-removes-cache-link-453879
2024-12-16 – Search Engine Land – Bing Search gets faster, more accurate and efficient through SLM models and TensorRT-LLM – https://searchengineland.com/bing-search-gets-faster-more-accurate-and-efficient-through-slm-models-and-tensorrt-llm-449427
2024-11-14 – Google Search Central Blog – Updates to our faceted navigation documentation – https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/11/faceted-navigation
2024-12-13 – Search Engine Land – Decoding Google’s E-E-A-T: A comprehensive guide to quality assessment signals – https://searchengineland.com/google-eeat-quality-assessment-signals-449261
2024-12-31 – Statcounter – Search Engine Market Share Worldwide, United States, November 2024 – https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share
2024-05-16 – Search Engine Land – Google’s March 2024 core update and new spam policies shake up search results – https://searchengineland.com/googles-march-2024-core-update-and-new-spam-policies-shake-up-search-results-427113
Disclosure
Disclosure: This article is #AIgenerated with minimal human input for direction and approval. Sources are gathered by AI systems and may not have undergone full human fact-checking. Original works by Basil Puglisi are subject to comprehensive source verification.
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