OpenAI has confirmed it is working to restore access to a number of its services including its popular ChatGPT service, its APIs and Sora. OpenAI said it has found the cause for the issue and have started recovery. Some of the services are now being restored.
What happened. OpenAI said at 11 am PT on its status report, “We are currently experiencing an issue with high error rates on ChatGPT, the API, and Sora. We are currently investigating and will post an update as soon as we are able.”
Later the AI company confirmed, “This issue is caused by an upstream provider and we are currently monitoring.”
Fix coming. On X, ChatGPT added that it has restarted recovery of its systems:
Most of ChatGPT, the API, and Sora have been down for a couple of hours and we’re sorry for the trouble this is causing.
We’ve identified the issue and have started recovery. We hope to be back asap. https://t.co/YiG0F9YxNN
Service returning. It seems some are now able to use ChatGPT, although some are still having issues. This is what I see:
OpenAI should be able to restore access to these services shortly, so try back later.
Why we care. Outages like this can cause frustration to your day, especially if you rely on these services for your job. Many in the search industry use OpenAI’s tools for content, for workflow enhancements and productivity boosts.
It is a good thing it is a slow time right now with the holidays but still, for those working today, this may have caused some delays to your schedule.
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Google’s June 2024 spam update rollout is now complete. The spam update started on December 19, 2024, about seven days ago, finishing on December 26, 2024. This was the third spam update of the 2024 year and started a day after Google completed the December 2024 core update.
This update was a general and broad spam update, it was not a link spam update and did not automate the site reputation abuse policy, which is still only done via manual actions.
Google wrote, “The rollout was complete as of December 26, 2024.”
What we saw. While the update was announced the day after the December core update, it does seems that it hit very hard within a few days and was much more widespread than some previous spam updates. Although, it is still a bit too early to dig too much into the update. If you were hit by this update, you may notice the rankings drops in Search Console. Keep in mind, holiday traffic can be very volatile and low for many sites, so look at rankings and not traffic for this specific update.
Previous spam updates. The last spam update was on June 20, 2024 and was named June 2024 spam update, it completed on June 27.
Here’s our past coverage of confirmed Google spam updates:
Why we care. This Google update took a lot of us by surprise, since it happened only a day after the core update and just days before the holiday season. We were taken back by Google releasing an update that will end close to, or into the holiday season.
This is the 7th Google search algorithm update we had in 2024, including four core updates and now three spam updates. It is unclear exactly what type of spam this targets but if you noticed any ranking changes during this update, it might have been related to this spam update.
“While Google’s automated systems to detect search spam are constantly operating, we occasionally make notable improvements to how they work. When we do, we refer to this as a spam update and share when they happen on our list of Google Search ranking updates.
For example, SpamBrain is our AI-based spam-prevention system. From time-to-time, we improve that system to make it better at spotting spam and to help ensure it catches new types of spam.
Sites that see a change after a spam update should review our spam policies to ensure they are complying with those. Sites that violate our policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all. Making changes may help a site improve if our automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies with our spam policies.
In the case of a link spam update (an update that specifically deals with link spam), making changes might not generate an improvement. This is because when our systems remove the effects spammy links may have, any ranking benefit the links may have previously generated for your site is lost. Any potential ranking benefits generated by those links cannot be regained.”
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Google launched seven official and confirmed algorithmic updates in 2024, four core updates and three spam updates. The March 2024 core update was massive, updating several systems within the core algorithm, plus bringing in a few new large spam policies.
In 2023, Google had 9 confirmed algorithmic updates. In 2022 and 2021, Google had 10 confirmed algorithmic updates.
Google confirmed algorithm update summary
We whipped up this timeline documenting all the confirmed Google search algorithm updates in 2024, so you can visualize the updates over the year.
Four Google core updates in 2024
Google had four core updates in 2024, the same number as it had in 2023, but in 2022 Google only had two core updates. We had core updates in March, August, November and December.
March 2024 core update. The Google March 2024 core update started rolling out March 5, took 45 days to complete, and finished on April 19. Google told us this core update was its largest core update in history, updating multiple core systems.
The March 2024 core update is “more complex update than our usual core updates,” Chris Nelson from the Search Quality team at Google said. Google made “changes to multiple core systems,” he added. A Google spokesperson said, “The updates led to larger quality improvements than we originally thought – you’ll now see 45% less low quality, unoriginal content in search results, versus the 40% improvement we expected across this work.”
This update was a rather large core update, based on what the data providers showed us. Google updated its help page, including more in-depth guidance for those who may see changes after an update.
November 2024 core update. The Google November 2024 core update started on November 11 and completed 24 days later on December 5. This was a normal core update that “This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search,” Google said.
As a whole, the November 2024 core update felt less volatile overall compared to the other two core updates that seemed to impact a larger number of sites.
December 2024 core update. The Google December 2024 core update started on December 12 and completed 6 days later on December 18. This update was a bit of a surprise, since it started a week after the November core update completed.
Why did Google release this core update so soon? “If you’re wondering why there’s a core update this month after one last month, we have different core systems we’re always improving,” Google told us.
Here is a chart from Similarweb comparing the volatility of these past core updates:
Three Google spam updates in 2024
March 2024 spam update. The Google March 2024 spam update started the same day as the March 2024 core update but completed in less time, only taking about 14 days to complete – it ended on March 20. Google did not say anything specifically new when it came to announcing the spam update. Chris Nelson from Google wrote on March 5, “Along with our new spam policies, we are also launching the March 2024 spam update today.”
June 2024 spam update. The Google June 2024 spam update started on June 30 and completed 7 days later on June 27. This update was a general and broad spam update, it was not a link spam update and did not automate the site reputation abuse policy, which is still only done via manual actions.
December 2024 spam update. The Google December 2024 spam update started the day after the December 2024 spam update took seven days to roll out and completed on December 26th. This update was a general and broad spam update, that applied globally and to all languages, Google said. It seems this update hit very hard within a few days and was much more widespread than some previous spam updates.
Other Google algorithm changes, updates, tweaks or topics
Other Google updates. While we had four core updates and two spam updates, Google also pushed out other search specific updates in 2024. Here is a list of those:
In May, Google began enforcing its site reputation abuse policy. While this is not algorithmic yet, it impacted many large and some small sites through manual action penalties.
In October, Google confirmed it has an algorithm that checks to see if portions of your site are starkly different from other sections and will adjust its site-wide signals accordingly.
Google Search bugs. Google also had several search bugs throughout 2024:
In January, Google confirmed a bug where sites would teeter in and out of the index on weekends. Google confirmed this on February 1 and fixed it on February 8.
In August, Google confirmed a ranking bug on August 15 and resolved it on August 20.
In June, Google confirmed an indexing bug that was confirmed and then fixed both on June 20.
In July, Google confirmed an issue with indexing fresh content on July 9.
When moving from non-conversion to conversion-based bidding, Google appears to automatically enable broad match on campaigns.
This affects existing exact and phrase match keywords, converting them to broad match without user confirmation.
Why we care. Advertisers switching to conversion-based bidding could unknowingly have their keywords shifted to broad match. Broad match can drastically alter campaign targeting, leading to spikes in irrelevant clicks.
The response:
Advertisers, including Navah Hopkins from Optmyzr, flagged the issue, raising concerns about wasted budget and campaign performance.
Navah led the criticism, reminding us that she isn’t one to just disapprove of Google with no cause – “Those of you who know me know I’m usually pretty balanced when it comes to Google “choices” but this is a pretty horrible one (especially for those who aren’t as comfortable with Google Ads).”
Harrison Jack Hepp (Founder of Industrious Marketing) questions what happens to the original keyword – “Ugh, now I’m wondering does it pause the old keywords or remove them? Not exactly a simple change in most campaigns”
Christi Olson (Sr. Director Digital Marketing) expresses how self-serving Google strategies are – “Google has always prioritized what makes them the most $$ … not what is efficient or effective for ad spend. It’s not shocking.
Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin responded, stating this behavior is not expected and is under investigation.
Be smart:
Regularly audit keyword match types after changing bidding strategies.
Monitor campaign performance closely and revert any unintended broad match changes.
The bottom line. While Google reviews the issue, advertisers should stay vigilant. Overlooking keyword match toggles could mean the difference between a controlled PPC strategy and runaway ad spend.
Starting December, Google will expand its “Abusing the ad network” policy to explicitly disapprove ads pointing to destinations penalized for violating Google Search spam policies.
The details:
Ads directing users to websites subjected to manual actions under Google Search’s Spam Policies will face automatic disapproval.
Site owners impacted by manual actions are notified through Google Search Console, giving them a chance to rectify issues.
The move aims to curb deceptive practices where advertisers attempt to drive traffic to spammy or manipulated web pages that have already been flagged by search enforcement teams.
Why we care. This update directly ties PPC performance to a site’s overall search health. If a site receives a manual action for violating Google’s spam policies, not only will organic traffic suffer, but paid campaigns driving to that destination will also be disapproved.
Neglecting site quality could now cut off both organic and paid traffic, amplifying revenue losses and disrupting marketing strategies.
Between the lines:
This enforcement raises the stakes for PPC managers (as well as SEO managers) . Sites hit with manual actions could see a direct impact on ad campaigns, not just organic search performance.
You will need to monitor Google Search Console closely and resolve any manual actions to prevent ad disapprovals.
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