Some may have noticed changes in their website rankings recently, either up or down. This may be due to Google rolling out a number of major changes to its algorithm from March until May 5, 2024. Here is a brief summary of the updates and some tips along the way.
Good to know about Google's updates March-May 2024
Camilla
2024-05-07
Background to Google's core update in March
Since 2022, Google has been working to reduce plagiarism/rewording of others' original texts and identify content that is not particularly useful and is primarily created for search engines rather than real users. Now, they are taking this work to the next level and making significant changes to the algorithm itself. As of May 5, 2024, Google has completed the rollout of the updates, which according to Google has resulted in a reduction of as much as 45% of low-quality, non-original content in search results.
Latest Google update in brief
Google is making changes to its ranking system to prioritize the most useful information and reduce plagiarized or largely copied content in search results. They also want to address large-scale auto-generated content for search result manipulation. Google is strengthening its policy to target large-scale content creation, either through automation, human efforts, or a combination of both, to manipulate the search engine.
Google is updating its policy to more strongly combat various tactics used by spammers to manipulate search results. This includes the method of reusing expired domains/websites for spam and other low-quality content:
Abuse of websites' strong authority: Google will now review third-party content that exists on reputable websites with a high domain rating. Content that doesn't really belong there but is exploited in the same way as spam.
Abuse of expired domains: Google will treat expired domains that have been reclaimed and loaded with low-quality content solely for the purpose of increasing search ranking, as spam. This may mean that links from such websites lose their link value.
The purpose of the updates, according to Google, is to improve search quality and provide users with useful and relevant information. Read more in-depth about Google's March-May updates here.
What should you do as a site owner to be prioritized by search engines?
- Create useful and original content, don't just repeat everything everyone else is writing about
- Create content for real users and not primarily for search engines
- Have a navigable, user-friendly, and fast website
- "Does it spark joy?" - Make the content interesting, appealing, and pleasant
- Optimize the content on the website for search engines according to Google's SEO guidelines.
- Regularly review the website to ensure it feels updated, modern, and attractive
- Publish reviews, customer ratings, and recommendations from real verified users
- If you buy links, carefully review what kinds of links you purchase to ensure those websites are not classified as spam by Google
Good luck!