If you work in the SEO industry, you are surely aware of the 2024 Google March algorithm update. Marketers across the world are experiencing the impact of this core update, which, like its predecessors, Panda and Penguin, is poised to change the face of search results. Starting on March 5th 2024, the rollout was officially completed by the 19th of April and became public knowledge only by April 26th.  At regular intervals, Google creates algorithms to upgrade its own content assessment criteria, to ensure that only insightful and valuable content ranks high on SERPs.

What is the main motivation behind Google’s March 2024 Core Update? 

Basically, Google will penalize webpages with inferior user experience and ones that appear to target search engines rather than people. By Google’s estimates, they will be trimming down 45% of unhelpful, unoriginal and low-quality content in Search. The official stance is that Google will be, “Keeping more spam out of your results.” The aim is to make sure the only most valuable content finds its way to the top of the SERPs, not being forced to vie for attention drowned by spammy, unhelpful content.

The Impact in a Nutshell

Since its rollout, Google’s March algorithm changes have resulted in hundreds of websites getting deindexed. What this means is that those sites can no longer be found on Search. Sites that have outlasted previous updates have not got a free pass, getting hit by manual actions that have drastically lowered website traffic that they previously enjoyed. Sites have experienced a drop in the ranks due to out-of-date and error-riddled content as well. Many webpages that have not focused on the E-E-A-T guideline have suffered negatively from the Google March algorithm update. While AI generated content is not being penalized in and of itself, a number of sites that use mass-generated AI content that is outdated, insignificant and unoriginal are being manually penalized.

E-E-A-T Guidelines

Site owners need to consider various Google ranking factors to make sure their sites are compliant with the current guidelines and principles. The current core update builds on Google’s 2022 E-E-A-T guideline. 2014’s EAT term received an update in 2022 with the addition of an ‘E’, standing for experience. Through the E-E-A-T principles, Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, Google prioritizes pages with content that indicates expertise of the content creator in the field, shows that they have authority in the industry, that they are trustworthy, also whether the site on which the content is hosted offers a positive user experience. YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages or sites particularly need to ensure that their E-E-A-T score is high if they expect improved rankings on SERPs.

Google’s March 2024 Core Update – Everything You Need To Know

It is important for site owners to check updates from Google, especially the core updates, to make sure they are not on the receiving end of its penalties or worse. Here is what you need to know about its Core Update of March 2024. 

Cutting Down Unoriginal, Low-Quality Results

Based on what we are seeing, the March update’s main goal is to cull the herd, that is, it will recognize poor quality and overused content and punish it by not allowing it to show up on search results. The core update is integrated with Google’s helpful content system, rewarding people-first pages and sites that are not trying to trick search engine rankings. AI-generated content (without human inputs), scraped content, mass-produced articles and so on will be relegated to low positions on Search as Google concludes that they provide little or no value and insights.   

Sites dependent on AI-assisted content or content farms will experience low visibility on SERPs. The algorithm is now sophisticated enough to tell the difference between sub-standard fare and genuinely valuable content. Content creators are being held to high standards, having to produce original, insightful content meant to engage people, not search engines.

Manual Actions and Deindexing

Google’s March algorithm update has brought in strict and to some extent brutal measures against sites that fail to comply with their policies. Outright deindexing and manual actions are in store for those in violation of the policies. Websites containing spammy content like AI-generated content that provides no value or those attempting to take advantage of expired domains, will have to suffer the consequences of the current Google update. The algorithm involves highly sophisticated detection capabilities that have deindexed several websites severely hurting their organic traffic and visibility. Site owners should not expect any notification that will tell them whether their site was impacted by the algorithm update or not.

Impact on Link Signals

Google will not be evaluating link signals like it used to. Even though links will continue to affect ranking, it now has lower priority in comparison to quality signals. This is in keeping with Google’s current strategy favors user experience and content value over the former link-based ranking. It’s no longer possible to depend solely on backlinks to raise your rankings, site owners will have to produce engaging, people-centric content that earns them organic links from authoritative sources. It would also be advisable to let go of manipulative link-building practices, including, generating links from link farms, acquiring links through link exchanges or gaining links unrelated to your industry.

User Experience

As it has been in the past, Google is more partial to sites with a consistent user experience spanning different platforms and devices, and the March core update has only reinforced this stance. Websites that have a responsive design, high load speed, logical navigation and also ones that elicit active participation from users are performing well under the new update. Additionally, it’s becoming increasingly important to get rid of distracting features that could cause friction for users. 

Site Reputation Abuse

This is a type of abusive SEO activity where one site becomes a parasite to another site. In this case, a website (typically one with higher authority) plays host to a page/s published by a third-party website, without involvement of the host site.  Here, the third-party website is attempting to piggy-back on the host site’s authority to boost its own ranking. This can be seen when third-party sites publish  content on a host’s site that is unconnected to what the site is primarily about or when they puff up their site’s authority by dishonest means.

The March Core update has mechanisms in place to spot offenders, giving them a two-month grace period to rectify the issues and adhere to the guidelines. Say for instance, an educational website includes pages on casinos, they would be flagged by the algorithm and get pushed down on the SERPs. What the update does is to make sure sites stick to their core offerings, publishing information that is consistent with their primary expertise, basically anything that their target audience would find valuable. Sites will need to make sure that their content practices are on the up and up, building a reputation based on genuine integrity, not using tactics to exploit search rankings.

Expired Domain Abuse

Another deceptive technique that the algorithm is targeting is when a formerly reputable, now expired site’s domain name is bought and the residual authority is leveraged in order to artificially boost search rankings. Unlike the genuine reputation that the site enjoyed previously, the new avatar often attempts to rank low-quality, spammy content using reputed backlink history. Once more, this tactic of repurposing a previously authoritative site is done to take advantage of its earlier reputation and benefit from higher search rankings.

Tightening its reins with the March core update, Google has put in measures to detect sites of this nature and make the outcome of their manipulative efforts null and void. The algorithm examines the historical use and the current avatar of a domain, assessing any discrepancies and not allowing the site to receive unfair advantages based on the credibility of the expired domain it is using. To avoid getting penalized, site owners that have purchased expired domains will have to host high-quality, valuable content that’s consistent with their core offerings and build a reputation on their own merit.

Summing Up

The Google March Algorithm Update is having a seismic impact on the digital landscape. Their aim is to only rank content that they deem helpful and valuable, which is bad news for sites with unoriginal, thin content. Google has taken up arms against spammy content and is cracking down on deceptive SEO methods and sub-par content. The bottomline is that Google wants to raise the bar in terms of what is considered quality content, ensuring that search results continually remain above-board and that user experience is as seamless as possible.

Also Read:  Google Algorithm Update: Top Things to Consider