December Core Update, Google's AI SERP Takeover, Reddit's SEO Domination, and more.

Hey again.

Another month, another Algorithmic Apocalypse (band name!). Google is speed running their Give SEOs Panic Attacks campaign with the release of another algo update.

In this newsletter I’ll cover a new core update that makes November's look like a practice run, AI taking more SERP real estate than Mark Zuckerberg settling down in Hawaii, and Reddit getting the algorithmic equivalent of a golden ticket to the top of the SERPs. Grab your sparkling CBD beverage: you're gonna need it!

But first:

1 - Really really really good content briefs

I just launched ContentBriefs.com and things are going well. We produce the best content briefs on the planet—all human-written, using a bunch of different data sources, and entirely comprehensive.

We have agencies that resell them, others that use them straight-up for producing client content.

Check it out, prices start at $99 and go down when you subscribe.

2 - An SEO service for big-time founders/executives

I built Ranks.com, to help you roll up your competitors and grab a bigger share of the given clicks for your most important keywords. I handle the the research, identifying good targets, outreach, and serve up ready-to-deal email intros straight into your inbox. Check it out if you’re into that.

All right, onto the most important SEO stories from last week:

Google's December Core Update Makes November Look Like a Warmup Act

Just when your nerves started to settle from the long roll-out of the November Core Algo Update—SURPRISE—it’s the December Core Algo Update!

The Main Thing: 

The December 2024 core update is hitting the SERPs harder than the ending of Gladiator (the first one, obviously). Every major tracking tool is showing massive volatility:

• Tracking tools showing some of the biggest movements in recent memory

• Semrush volatility hitting 9.3

• Sites reporting traffic drops up to 75% in just two days

Google dropped this bomb right after November's core update barely finished rolling out, and they're hinting at MORE frequent updates in 2025—it’s gonna be rough out there…

Google's AI is Eating Half Your SERP Real Estate (And asking for more)

Remember the good ole days when we only had featured snippets to complain about (unless you owned that featured snippet and it pushed everyone else down the page)?

Well, things have gotten worse for the increasingly worse-getting SERPs.

According to a new study, Google's AI Overviews are now appearing in nearly half of all searches—hoovering up 48% of precious mobile screen SERP real estate.

The Main Thing: 

When these AI Overviews show up with featured snippets (which happens 60% of the time), they can claim up to 76% of mobile screens.

Here are some devastating stats from the study:

• 47% of searches now feature AI Overviews

• 60% of searches are now "zero-click" (RIP organic traffic)

• Long-tail keywords trigger AI Overviews 73.6% of the time

• Commercial queries only get AI Overviews 19.4% of the time (for now...)

The best part is they've used YOUR content to generate these summaries, pushing the webpage you spent hours and hours writing (before the age of Gen AI) further into oblivion. WHOOPS!!

Google search is taking horse-dewormer for the SERPs

(that’s a parasite SEO joke)

Listen, if you've been slapping third-party affiliate content on your fancy authoritative domain and ranking for everything under the sun, Google's got some thoughts about that. And by "thoughts" I mean they're actively hunting you down and destroying your traffic (not sure they can do this algorithmically, yet).

The Main Thing:

Google's been rolling out a series of increasingly aggressive moves targeting what they're calling "Site Reputation Abuse" - which is means publishing content specifically designed to ran in the SERPs that piggybacks off a domain's authority to rank for stuff you have no business ranking for.

Here’s a nice graphic from that Moz article I just linked:

The body count so far:

• Major coupon subdomains like coupons.usatoday.com and coupons.cnn.com? Gone.

• Big financial advice sections on Forbes, MarketWatch, etc.? Decimated.

• Affiliate sites less than DR 85 pretending to be a legit review platform? Already dead.

If you're hosting third-party content that exists solely to rank for lucrative keywords and make that sweet affiliate cash, you're living on borrowed time.

Google and Reddit's Unholy Alliance

If you've been paying attention to the SERPs this year, you've noticed Reddit absolutely dominating. This isn't just some happy accident - it's the direct result of Google and Reddit's February 2024 partnership that gave Google direct API access to Reddit's content.

The Main Thing:

The deal is basically Google admitting that after failed attempts at social networking (pour one out for Google+), they needed access to actual human chatter to feed their AI models something other than the sanitized, SEO-over-optimized wasteland they carefully sculpted their own SERPs into.

The Quid Pro Quo of this deal:

• Reddit gets increased organic visibility and a nice traffic bump right before going public.

• Google gets access to real human discussions to feed their AI models.

Your brand's Reddit presence just became unavoidable in the buying journey.

This partnership signals a broader shift in SEO—as AI content floods the internet, people are desperately seeking authentic human perspectives (but look elsewhere for it, as the more SERP real estate Reddit takes up, the more it’ll be exploited by SEOs using AI content to rank well. Remember to hate the game, not they players…)

Google's Brutal War on Independent Travel Sites

A travel site called ViaTravelers just shared their story of getting absolutely demolished by Google's algorithm changes over the last year or two. This site went from 1 million monthly readers to 30,000 - a 97% decline.

The Main Thing:

The site didn't just lose traffic - Google is now using this site’s OG images to send visitors to competitors' sites. If the content isn’t good enough to rank, it shouldn’t be used in the SERPs to supplement the bland, lazy AI content of bigger, more authoritative sites to push more authentic content completely out of the SERPs (guess the site reputation abuse thing is based mostly on vibes?).

Some statistics from the article:

• Google's travel features have kneecapped organic traffic to legit travel sites by ~40%

• Large media companies now dominate 70% of first-page results

• Independent travel blogs have seen average traffic declines of 55% since 2022

• Content production costs up 45% while ad revenue down 60%

This isn't just about one site getting crushed. We're watching the systematic dismantling of independent publishing in real-time. The "Big 4" travel sites (TripAdvisor, Expedia, Booking Holdings, KAYAK) control 95% of the online travel market. Meanwhile, Google keeps pushing more traffic to massive corporate sites that have never set foot in the places they write about.

What can you do about it?

Just keep creating good content I suppose 🙄

Tweets Of The Week

Somebody better update their LinkedIn, damn… that is ROUGH.

LOL what are we doing here…

~

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading, hope you found something helpful here.

Do me a favor—if you’re not in the market for content briefs or acquisition SEO services, please FWD this email to someone with impeccable taste that would be interested in reading about SEO things.

Tryinna grow this list…

Until next time…

sean