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After nearly 16 weeks, Google has finally announced their first couple of updates for 2024. On March 4 2024, Google researched the major Core Search Update and a crucial Spam Update.
Apart from this, there have been some other developments in SEO that all website owners should definitely know about.
So today, we’ll take you through every Google SEO update of 2024, along with its significance and tips on how to proceed further.
Ever since Google first gained popularity, they have been doing everything they can to combat spammers. But it’s like a never-ending battle that keeps on evolving; spammers always find new ways to game the system while Google finds new ways to penalize them.
The crucial bit is that ordinary website owners are caught in the crossfire every time, so you’ve to stay on your toes. For March 2024, Google will introduce three new spam policies targeting these manipulative practices:
This refers to the practice of mass-producing low-quality, thin, or duplicate content across multiple pages to target specific keywords.
The primary goal is to increase the chances of ranking for many search queries at a time without providing any value.
Scaled content abuse often involves auto-generated content, article spinning, or other techniques to create content at scale with minimal effort. But with the advent of AI, scaled content techniques are becoming incredibly sophisticated. One way is by targeting popular questions regarding a topic and not actually providing any real answer.
This involves purchasing expired domains with a good backlink profile, high Domain Authority, or existing traffic and then redirecting the domain to another website, usually to some gambling platform. The intention is to take advantage of the expired domain’s ranking and appearances in the SERP to redirect that traffic to advertise another website. Expired domain abuse can sometimes involve domain squatting, where domains are purchased with the intent of profiting from the brand value of an existing business or individual.
This tactic involves exploiting the reputation of a well-established website or brand to manipulate search engine rankings. Site reputation abuse can take several forms, such as creating doorway pages, cloaking, or engaging in other black SEO marketing techniques. In some cases, hackers may compromise a reputable website and inject spammy content or links, piggybacking off the site’s good reputation to boost the rankings of their own sites.
Websites that violate these policies may face penalties, including lower rankings or removal from search results.
This Google algorithm update aims to combat a range of spam techniques, including scraped content, automated content generation, and link spam. Ensure your content is original, valuable, and adheres to Google’s quality guidelines to avoid penalties.
Expert SEOs recommend regularly monitoring your website’s rankings and traffic to identify any potential issues or penalties.
To stay ahead of the update, experts emphasize the importance of focusing on original content created with users’ experience in mind while adhering to Google’s E-E-A-T standards.
Perform regular content audits to identify low-quality or spammy content on your website, and take steps to improve or remove such content to maintain your website’s reputation and rankings. You can start by deleting or rewriting the content that receives no search impressions; this will improve your overall SEO health.
In an official blog post, Google stated that the March 2024 Core Update “involves refining some of our core ranking systems” to deliver more relevant and high-quality search results to users.
Google also mentioned that the update is designed to “reduce the amount of unhelpful, low-quality content in our results by 40%.” This phrasing suggests that websites with thin, unoriginal, or spammy content may experience a decline in rankings, while those with high-quality, useful content may see improvements.
Google also mentioned this is a “more complex update than our usual core updates,” confirming that the update involves multiple changes to various aspects of Google’s ranking algorithm and may broadly impact search results.
In a separate announcement, Google mentioned that the update includes “four changes to the link signal” that reflect the complexity of the new ranking algorithm. We’ll see a shift in how Google evaluates backlinks and their impact on search rankings, but we are yet to observe the full effects.
What’s interesting is that Google stated that the March 2024 Core Update “will take up to a month to fully roll out” due to the complexity of the update and the amount of systems involved.
Since this update was in the oven for a while, it will certainly mark major shifts for website owners and SEO.
In weather forecasting terms, there are major chances of significant ranking fluctuations and volatility throughout March and possibly into April.
But all hope is not lost. Google emphasized that its guidance for web creators remains the same: “focus on creating high-quality, original, and relevant content that meets the needs of your audience.”
Websites that prioritize user experience, quality content, and SEO best practices are likely to fare well in the wake of the update.
During the last few months, Google has been paying special attention to the user experience part; in fact, there is a lot to share about it.
Next Paint is a new performance metric introduced by Google to measure the responsiveness of a web page. INP is set to replace First Input Delay (FID) as one of the Core Web Vitals metrics on March 12, 2024.
Basically, interaction to Next Paint (INP) calculates the time from when a user interacts with a page (e.g., clicking a button or tapping a link) to the next update in the page’s layout.
A lower INP value indicates a more responsive and better user experience.
Just to keep things from being confusing, this update is called “the next paint,” while the actual metric is named “Interaction to Next Paint.”
The significance of INP lies in its ability to provide a more accurate representation of how users perceive the responsiveness of a web page.
By optimizing INP, website owners can improve the overall user experience, increase user engagement, and potentially boost their search engine rankings, as Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor.
To optimize INP, you should focus on:
This is one of the Best Google SEO updates of 2024 for professional writers.
Google has increasingly emphasized the importance of Author Entities in its ranking factors. Content linked to recognized and knowledgeable authors may gain an additional layer of trust and credibility, potentially boosting its visibility in search results.
Consequently, developing a strong personal brand and showcasing your niche expertise has become more crucial than ever.
Google’s E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is a key measure for assessing content quality, particularly for sensitive or impactful subjects.
Author Entities play a pivotal role within this framework, as Google evaluates content creators’ expertise and authoritativeness to gauge the reliability of their work. Ensuring that your content demonstrates these attributes is essential for fostering trust with both search engines and users, ultimately enhancing your online reputation and search performance.
The complexity of the March 2024 Core Search Update and the sheer scale of its changes will significantly impact search rankings, so expect to see major changes throughout April. This first 2024 Core Update reinforces the need for high-quality, user-centric content and underscores any automated or scaled content that provides little to no additional value. Once again, Google has reinforced its disapproval of low-effort AI-generated content if it is created specifically to manipulate search results.
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