Search Engine Recap - Week 50 (2024)

This week brought another new core update, an update to Google’s crawler documentation, and recommendations for your 2025 SEO strategy. Here is an overview.

Google Rolls Out Another Core Update

Google has begun rolling out its December 2024 core update, just weeks after the November update, marking the last major change of the year.

This update, expected to take two weeks to complete, continues Google’s focus on improving search quality and content relevance.

Businesses are advised to monitor site performance closely and implement necessary improvements, prioritizing user-centric content.

Google has emphasized that core updates do not target specific domains but aim to improve the overall quality of search results by rewarding valuable, well-structured content.

Google Updates Crawler Documentation

Google has updated its crawler documentation and now recommends using ETag headers to improve caching efficiency and reduce unnecessary crawling.

ETags, a mechanism for validating cached content, allow crawlers to determine if a resource has changed without downloading it again. This optimizes server resources and conserves bandwidth.

This guidance is part of Google’s broader efforts to make crawling more efficient and prioritize valuable content.

Website owners are encouraged to implement proper HTTP caching headers to align with these recommendations and enhance website performance.

Key Focus Areas for Your 2025 SEO Strategy

As 2024 comes to a close, planning for the year ahead is crucial. It’s time to set your efforts for January and beyond, ensuring a strong start to 2025.

One effective approach is to evaluate this year’s top-performing content and carry those insights forward while updating content that needs improvement.

Building on the lessons from Google’s core updates, businesses should map out a content velocity plan. This involves producing new content and consistently optimizing existing content month by month to increase crawl activity and engagement.

If 2024 taught us anything, it’s that "consistency is key" to achieving top performance in search rankings.

Need an assessment of your content plan’s strength or ideas for optimization? Bonzer can help. Request an SEO analysis on our website to get started.

Takeaways and Recommendations

The headline for this week is undoubtedly Google’s latest core update, which comes just days after the one in November.

This suggests that Google either didn’t fully achieve its goals with the previous update or that this one addresses a different core system.

We also saw updates to crawler documentation, reinforcing Google’s focus on improving domain crawling efficiency—something businesses should take note of.

Finally, the importance of preparing your SEO strategy for 2025 cannot be overstated. By evaluating your 2024 performance and creating a content velocity plan for the new year, you’ll set your business up for success.

Need help understanding your current performance or building a plan for the new year? Contact Bonzer. As a specialized SEO agency, we help ambitious businesses reach the top of search engine rankings every day.