A Guide to Google’s Algorithm Updates and Changes in 2024

Sites See Unprecedented Traffic Volatility After August 2024 Core Update

Google launched a core algorithm update in August 2024, and since then, publishers have been experiencing dramatic shifts in web traffic. This usually happens after core updates, but it seems that this particular update has caused even more traffic turbulence that’s lasting longer than typically expected.

Another difference is that some publishers have reported an increase in web traffic that has since faded as if the improvements were reversed, according to SEO expert Barry Scwhartz over at Search Engine Roundtable.

In particular, publishers have reported intense traffic fluctuations around September 6, 10, 14, and 18 — but it didn't stop there. Schwartz reports that the fluctuations occurred in between those dates as well.

The unknown nature of the update and the peculiar traffic patterns since its rollout have publishers wondering what they can do to get their traffic back, and when the volatility will let up. So far, no official word from Google on the update or its impact on traffic.

It can be tough trying to figure out Google’s agenda with each new core update. While algorithm updates are notoriously mysterious, there are some things you can do to make sure your content is “algorithm proof.” Here are four strategies to keep in mind:

1. Focus on High-Quality, Evergreen Content: Ensure your content consistently provides value by being well-researched, accurate, and useful. Create evergreen content that remains relevant over time.
   
   
2. Improve E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): Strengthen your site’s E-E-A-T by demonstrating expertise in your niche, building authoritative backlinks, and maintaining trust through transparency and reliability. This also includes making sure your site has author bios, reputable sources, and showcases your credentials to both users and Google Search’s algorithms.
   
   
3. Diversify Traffic Sources: Relying solely on Google Search for traffic increases risk. By diversifying your traffic sources, including social media, email newsletters, and direct traffic, you reduce the impact of fluctuations from any one source.
   
   
4. Monitor Performance and Act Proactively: Regularly monitor your site’s SEO performance using tools like Google Search Console, analytics platforms, and third-party SEO tools. Pay attention to early signs of ranking changes and adjust your strategy as needed.

What We Know So Far About the August 2024 Core Update

On Thursday, August 15, 2024, Google announced the rollout of its latest core update, which was soon followed by a significant search ranking issue.

First, Google announced the core update, and to nobody’s surprise, said that the latest update was designed 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.” If you are new to following Google’s updates, most algorithm shifts focus on prioritizing quality content, and the August 2024 core update is no exception.

Google said the update reflects the feedback they’ve received from creators in recent months, but did not specify exactly what that feedback was. However, they did suggest that this update could help smaller, independent publishers:

"As always, we aim to connect people with a range of high quality sites, including small or independent sites that are creating useful, original content, when relevant to users' searches. This is an area we'll continue to address in future updates. This update also aims to better capture improvements that sites may have made, so we can continue to show the best of the web.”

The August 2024 core update will take up to a month to complete. But just hours after the core update was announced, Google experienced a search-indexing bug that disrupted search results for many users. However, Google said that the bug was not related to the August 2024 core update. Still, the bug ironically began the same day as the announcement and did not resolve until August 20, 2024.

As the August 2024 core update continues its rollout, many publishers and SEO experts have been left wondering if the fluctuations they experienced were due to the core update or the indexing bug. SEO journalist Barry Schwartz said that even though the bug was resolved by Google, it’s important to let more time pass to get the most accurate view of data to see how your site fared against the latest core update.

Google’s Senior Search Analyst John Mueller responded to a user on LinkedIn, agreeing with Schwartz that it’s wise to wait until the core update is complete before drawing any conclusions. However, he did add that there is no reason to wait on making improvements to your site to improve its ranking across search.

Schwartz put together a brief list of what he knows so far about the August 2024 core update over at SEO Roundtable:

• Name: Google August 2024 Broad Core Update
• Launched: August 15, 2024 at around 11 a.m. ET.
• Rollout: Will take about four weeks to roll out.
• Targets: It looks at all types of content.
• Penalty: It is not a penalty, it promotes or rewards great web pages.
• Global: This is a global update impacting all regions, in all languages.
• Impact: The normal core update stuff around helpful content, but this one should also reward small and independent publishers.
• Discover: Core updates impact Google Discover and other features, also feature snippets and more.
• Recover: If you were hit by this, then you will need to look at your content and see if you can do better with Google's core update advice.
• Refreshes: Google will do periodic refreshes to this algorithm, but may not communicate those updates in the future. Maybe this is what we saw the past couple of weeks, or all those unconfirmed Google updates.

To make sure your site is ready for Google’s algorithm changes, follow the search engine’s guidelines for helpful content, and get up to speed on how to prepare your site for the next core update.

RELATED: 2024 Google Core Algo Updates: Trends & Learnings

The March 2024 Core Update Is Complete

Google recently announced that the March 2024 core update was completed on April 19, but did not actually announce its completion until a week later on April 26. In total, the update took 45 days to complete and caused tremendous volatility across the open web during its rollout.

In its post on X (formerly Twitter), Google included a link to a form for publishers to submit feedback about the update, as well as resources on how to recover from dips in search traffic.

Some publishers reported a 60% drop in traffic as the update was rolling out. The reports of huge traffic hits were not unexpected — Google said in its announcement to expect the March 2024 core update to be more complex than usual because it involves updates to multiple core systems. Google is notoriously vague about the details of its updates, but they did say that the March 2024 core update “marks an evolution” in how they identify the “helpfulness of content.”

💡 Reminder: In August 2022, Google rolled out a major algorithm update dubbed the “helpful content update.” The helpful content update uses machine learning to deprioritize content that isn’t, well, helpful. According to Google, that includes content that is unoriginal, is low quality, and was created primarily for search engines — not for the benefit of users. Since its initial rollout, Google will periodically make adjustments to algorithms to continue to prioritize content that is considered helpful to users. Click here to learn more.

Elizabeth Tucker, Director of Product at Google Search, told SEO expert Barry Schwartz that the March 2024 core update officially made helpful content part of its core ranking systems. Like mentioned above, helpful content updates would previously roll out individually. With this change, helpful content updates will now be a part of core updates.

"This update involves refining some of our core ranking systems to help us better understand if webpages are unhelpful, have a poor user experience, or feel like they were created for search engines instead of people. This could include sites created primarily to match very specific search queries.

We believe these updates will reduce the amount of low-quality content in Search and send more traffic to helpful and high-quality sites. Based on our evaluations, we expect that the combination of this update and our previous efforts will collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%,” Tucker said.

Google said there’s nothing content creators need to do to adjust to this core update, except — of course — to create helpful, reliable content for users. Luckily, Google did publish a new FAQ page about what qualifies as helpful content. Click here to check it out.

Schwartz put together a brief list of what he knows so far about the March 2024 core update over at SEO Roundtable:

• Name: Google March 2024 Broad Core Update
• Launched: March 5, 2024 at around 12 p.m. ET.
• Rollout: Completed 45 days later on April 26, 2024 at around 4:09 p.m. ET.
• Targets: It looks at all types of content.
• Penalty: It is not a penalty; it promotes or rewards great webpages.
• Global: This is a global update impacting all regions, in all languages.
• Impact: Google said it will result in a 45% reduction in low-quality unoriginal and unhelpful content in its search results.
• Discover: Core updates impact Google Discover and other features; also feature snippets and more.
• Recover: If you were hit by this, then you will need to look at your content and see if you can do better with Google's core update advice.
• Refreshes: Google will do periodic refreshes to this algorithm, but may not communicate those updates in the future.

Fluctuations in web traffic could still occur even after this core update is completed. Click here to learn more about how you can prepare for core updates.

March 2024 Spam Update Completed

Also on March 5, 2024, Google rolled out a new spam update that took 14 days to complete. In this update, Google targeted three malicious practices that they’ve seen has become more prevalent across the web:

1. Expired Domain Abuse: This is when someone uses an expired domain to take advantage of the previous owner’s search visibility to post low-value content. Click here for more information.
2. Scaled Content Abuse: This type of spam is when someone generates numerous pages of low-value content to manipulate search rankings. The new policy around scaled content abuse in the March 2024 spam update has expanded to include auto-generated content, allowing action against scaled content abuse regardless of whether it's created through automation, human effort, or a combination of the two. Click here for more information.
3. Site Reputation Abuse: This occurs when a site publishes third-party pages with little oversight from a first party to manipulate search rankings. Often these pages are full of advertising content that serves no value to readers. Google's new policy distinguishes acceptable third-party content, such as native advertising, which doesn't intend to manipulate rankings and serves regular readers, from abusive practices. Click here for more information.

Much like frequent core updates are centered around the continued prioritization of helpful content, Google will also periodically tweak its existing regulations around spam content with updates throughout the year. Click here for even more details from Google about the March 2024 spam update.

Keeping up with Google Search’s updates is a huge undertaking for publishers and content creators that already have a huge task at hand — creating an experience that builds loyal audiences. At RebelMouse, we anticipate these algorithm changes proactively, and continue to update our platform and guide our clients on how to maintain maximum visibility across search no matter what.

If you would like to stay ahead of the search game, let’s connect to figure out how we can work together and grow your business.