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Given that today’s digital marketing environment is constantly evolving Google’s algorithm updates are critical in steering the SEO approach and determining the rank on the search engine. Three years later in 2024, Google implemented several important changes that further defined the method of computing search engine results. Some of these are the updates from August and March, which focus on content freshness, user satisfaction, and the incorporation of multimodal search.
Further, November 2023 updates created the base for such changes by focusing on the value of the structured data and site safety. These updates by Google are saddened to be part of their continued struggle to ensure users of the search engine get relevant, authoritative, positive, and engaging content from the internet.
1. Latest Core Updates
Staying ahead in the evolving digital marketing requires a keen awareness of Google’s latest algorithm updates because it will continuously shape the search results.
The latest core updates are released on August 2024, March 2024, and November 2023 bringing a huge impact. However, these updates are mainly targeted towards key factors such as content, page experience, and search intent up to the point that Google has introduced the standards to businesses to enhance their online presence and interaction with their audiences in this saturated digital landscape. Let’s have a look at what are the latest core updates released by Google one by one here,
a)August 2024 Google Core Update: What You Need to Know
Today, we are rolling out the next major version of Google Search: the core update of August 2024. The goal of this update is to proceed with the process of providing the set of search results that will contain more content that helps people and less content created only to ‘game the system.’
This latest update incorporates some of the feedback we have received from some creators and others in the September 2023 helpful content update. Of course, we try to provide users with access to as many high-quality sites as possible, including those that are small or independent sites, which also generate interesting and unique content, if they are relevant to the user’s search.
Key Highlights of the August 2024 Google Core Update
The August 2024 Google Core Update is about improving the quality of search results so that users get the most out of them. Here are the major aspects,
📌 Search Console Recommendations: Google launched the “Search Console Recommendations” which gives information about optimization recommendations based on on-site data.
These may entail suggestions such as, better structuring the data, submitting sitemaps, or focusing on trending queries. This feature is still in the process of being launched but it is being done progressively.
📌 Refined Content Evaluation: It focuses on the article quality, which should be substantive, exclusive, and centered on the users’ needs.
Search engines that provide informational and useful sites can gain a higher ranking, while sites that contain less relevant or copied information can be demoted.
📌 Enhanced Focus on User Experience (UX): Google, therefore, adapts to the Experience of Users where it emphasizes navigational features of the page, mobile-friendliness as well as the speed at which a page is displayed.
Metrics including CLS, LCP, and FID continue to play an important role in ranking, thus making Core Web Vitals important.
📌 Changes in Crawling and Indexing: The latest version involved changes in the crawling and indexing process which is why web pages must apply updated technical SEO: sitemaps, structured, and other robots.
There comes the expectation of cascade style sheets, separation of content, images & animation in .gif or .jpg formats, and clear site architecture.
📌 Impact on Specific Industries: Specific industries that are impacted include health, finance, or what the author refers to as YMYL, information that reflects Google’s mission of delivering quality results.
Web sites in such zone areas are required to post high-quality content with stringent mechanisms.
Why This Update Matters
The aspects that have been released in the update of August 2024 are as follows in terms of assessment by Google on websites as well as the technical SEO factors.
It strengthens the mobility of the site, increases the level of protection, and becomes an advantage for the sites that are ready to take such aspects.
Steps to Take
Check performance in Google Search Console for any changes in rank and traffic.
This will include going through the various contents on website and the blog to check whether it has met Google criteria of uniqueness and relevance.
👉 Use the new recommendations offered in the new version of Search Console to improve your website.
👉 Optimize the small details such as page loading time and the organization of website structure.
👉 Improve the usability and organization of the website and improve its mobile friendliness.
👉 Ensure you are informed of the changes in Google algorithm so that you do not fall behind the competition.
b)March 2024 Core Update: Insights for Digital Marketers
The March 2024 Core Update may describe a particular shift in an algorithm that Google introduced in March 2024 and which affects the way it ranks websites supported by the search engine. These core updates are released by Google from time to time in a bid to enhance user experience via high-quality search results.
Highlights for the March 2024 Core Update:
☑️ Purpose: The update is said to improve how Google interprets content on the web so that better ranking is given to quality relevant web pages.
It pays attention to content quality as well as user experience and does not contradict Google’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust) guidelines.
☑️ Impact on Websites: This suggests that frequently visited websites may have noticeable fluctuations in ratings, occupy different places, and potentially lose visibility.
This is not a penalty; rather, Google is reacting to a better seize of what “relevant content” implies.
☑️ Recovery: If overall ranking is lowered across a site, site owners should concentrate on the quality of the content, user experience, and the fact that the site needs to establish the site’s relevance and authority to the topic or issues being discussed.
☑️ Google’s Advice: It is also worth noting that Google repeatedly encourages webmasters to produce useful, reliable, and people-centric content rather than focusing on algorithm changes.
This change is the part of constant updates and changes that Google makes to provide the best search experience. If you have a particular issue or if you require any clarification concerning how it can affect your website, feel free to contact me!
2. Other Core Updates (2023)
✅ The most recent core update was the November 2023 core update that began on November 2, 2023 and ended on November 28.
✅ The October 2023 core update is on October 5th and completed on October 19
✅ The August 2023 core update was from August 22 and concluded on September 7.
✅ The March 2023 core update was on March 15th and ended on March 28th.
✅ The last broad core update was on September 2022, which was less impactful compared to prior core updates and concluded on September 26.
✅ The May broad core update 2022 is the most recent one which was a big update but it was released in a very short period.
✅ The latest core update that occurred in November 2021.
✅ The July 2021 core update is the most recent core update released by Google to date.
✅ The June 2021 core update, a slow release but large update.
Furthermore, Google algorithm updates can go through here: https://status.search.google.com/products/rGHU1u87FJnkP6W2GwMi/history
3. Why We Care About Google Algorithm Updates
Google algorithm updates are crucial for websites, businesses, as well as organizations why because they impact the page search rankings directly and cause a positive or negative churn on organic traffic and in terms of lead conversions and revenue generation.
Ranking up leads to greater visibility and traffic while ranking down leads to less business. Therefore, it becomes necessary to know whether these Google algorithm updates assist website or business owners to know whether fluctuations in traffic originate from changes they made on their website or the evolution of Google rank.
This knowledge serves as the foundation for a quick change in SEO tactics, adjustments in content, or changing and achieving improved search results. It keeps one pertinent to Google’s ever-changing policies and safeguards online growth.
