Google has just announced its first core update of 2024. Read our blog to find out more about the changes you can expect to see and how you can minimise the impact on your website.
Google has just announced its first core update of 2024. This March Core Update has been described by Google as “an evolution in how we identify the helpfulness of content”.
This is all part of Google’s aim to provide its users with the information that is most helpful and relevant to them. It all started with the Helpful Content Update that rolled out in August 2022, and Google has been improving this ever since.
Elizabeth Tucker, Director of Product, Search at Google said: “We expect that the combination of this update and our previous efforts will collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%”.
It’s estimated that this particular core update will take around one month to fully roll out, but it’s worth being aware now to mitigate any effects as soon as possible.
Google says its more extensive than the usual core updates but the key aim is to improve the quality of search results and reduce spam.
Google’s update just means when you search for something on Google, you’re more likely to find the information you want without having to scroll through pages and pages of search results. In fact, now you might even find the information you need without even having to click away from the Google results page.
If you’re following best practices when it comes to SEO, i.e., conducting keyword research, optimising your content accordingly, and making sure it's relevant and helpful to your users, you’ve probably got nothing to worry about.
On the other hand, if you create content for the sake of it and your website isn’t fully optimised for user experience or helps users find the information they need, you might find your site penalised.
Our first piece of advice is not to panic! Until the update has rolled out, it’s going to be hard to know exactly what the impact on your website will be.
Here’s what you’ll need to do over the next few weeks:
When you’ve been creating helpful content as standard for the last few years, you probably won’t see a negative impact. In fact, your hard work might even uplift your keyword rankings.
However, you may also see keyword rankings dropping off. Keep an eye on your website’s performance for the next month and avoid making any drastic changes. Rankings can fluctuate until the rollout of the core update has finished.
Once the update finishes, if you’ve still seen a negative effect, now is the time to start considering changes you can make to your website to see improvements.
If you find that your keyword rankings have dropped and the rollout has finished, now is the time to review your website.
Make a list of the pages that have seen the biggest drop in terms of keyword rankings and organic performance. We recommend reviewing the following elements:
As with any aspect of digital marketing, it’s important to always measure and review the changes you’ve made. This is the only way to know whether the changes you’ve made have had a positive impact or not. It will also help you make further changes to ensure your website is performing as well as possible.
If you’re not sure whether your site has been impacted by the new update or your website isn’t performing in the way that you want, please contact our team for advice on hello@logica-digital.co.uk.
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