Insights Into Google March 2024 Algorithm Update: What You Need to Know

Knowledge about Google updates is crucial for anyone in the business industry trying to improve online visibility. Whether you are a website owner or a digital marketer, you must remain updated about new algorithmic or rule changes. 

In March 2024, Google rolled out a new update and made some changes to the existing one. These updates will help you perform better in terms of overall ranking and visibility at the user’s end. Let us dive deep to understand the changes in a better way and their overall effects on a website’s performance.

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Understanding the Update

Google algorithm updates always aim to improve the quality of search results. The 5^th March 2024 update is not similar to the previous core updates by Google. Instead, the algorithm now focuses on bringing multiple changes to the major ranking system and spam protection policies. This further provides an attempt to reduce the presence of overall spammed low-quality content on a user’s front.

After Google’s famous penguin update in 2012, the March 2024 update is a critical step. It helps improve websites’ authenticity and reliability on the search engine. The 2012 upgrade marks a breakthrough for websites attempting unethical measures to top search engine rankings. These websites were providing low-quality content results by linking irrelevant websites and redundant keywords. This attempt would sometimes trick the search engine into recognizing the criticality of an authentic online platform.

Google took a major step by penalizing and removing such web pages. The overall decrease in website ranking and traffic is a significant effect observed as a result of the algorithm update. The substantial changes helped in

providing better reliable, accurate, and trustworthy results, for users seeking true information. Another August 2022 update is a similar one and focuses more on promoting helpful content on the search platform.

The Google’s 3-in-1 March Update

Google’s 3-in-1 March 2024 update has a sequence of action chronology. The new core update now primarily focuses on improving content quality and mobile usability for web browsers. Following is the timeline of events describing the sequence chronology of the big core update.

Event Chronology: 

Before moving further, let us break down the timeline of events for you to recognize Google core updates better – 

1. March 5^th—Google published its new core and spam update for March 2024. Website owners should acknowledge such changes, as they can potentially affect a website’s ranking. 
2. March 6^th and March 7^th – The search engine authorities took several manual actions to remove the webpages publishing content that breaches the spam policy. This resulted in the Google search results removing many of the websites. It is, hence, better to comply with new search engine policies to prevent penalizing. 
3. March 8^th and March 9^th – The Google search engine following on March 8^th and 9^th published a list of things that can severely affect a website’s ranking as per the new core and spam update. Several websites noticed a change in their ranking because of the core algorithm update. Webpages should now review these guidelines carefully and adopt measures to improve ranking. 
4. March 10^th and March 11^th—Although it takes time for the search engine to implement the new changes completely, some websites experienced a short-term reversal of better-improved ranking. This is mainly due to the search engine algorithm changes and manual actions by the browsing system. Website owners should closely monitor daily rankings and make adjustments to enhance search engine visibility. 

The Google search engine recently made big changes in how it ranks a website in order of appearance at a user’s end. The recent March 2024 core update is important because it covers three updates in one: 

1. How does the search engine rank different related websites in terms of better visibility? 
2. How does Google decide what content is helpful and reliable for a user? 
3. How did Google stop promoting spam content on its search pages?

Breaking down each in brief:

First, with a change in its algorithm, Google now focuses on improving its overall ranking system of different websites. The updated system ranks webpages as per their authenticity. It helps decide the websites that need to show up first on a user’s front. These websites are eventually the ones that provide the most accurate information on an individual search.

Second, the update now focuses on improving the overall experience of a web user. As a trusted platform, Google always aims to gain and retain a customer’s trust. Providing better search results and true information is one such step of the search engine in ensuring its credibility in user’s minds. The upgraded search engine algorithm change provides realistic information by eliminating the spam content in search results. People experiencing and complaining about spam material will hence, now encounter an improved version.

Third, Google has improved its internal system for dealing with and detecting spam websites. Many unethical websites initially used different malpractices to perform better in Google search ranking. However, the March algorithm update has tackled the ways to deal with such immoral practices. As of now, the search engine focuses on rewarding the information content and deindexing the junk material.

Major Considerations of the March 2024 Update

There are several other major considerations of the algorithmic update – 

1. Quality Enhancement – 

The newly launched ‘Helpful Content System’ upgrade by Google assists in reducing the number of low-quality content on a user search. This also helps eliminate the various unoriginal websites present on the search engine. 

2. Evolved Linking System – 

With an updated algorithm system, the linking system between the different websites has also changed. Initially, links were an important part of website ranking at the user end, but not anymore. 

3. Spam Reduction – 

Reducing spam content is another crucial step. Many web pages available on the search engine try to sell links to improve their overall search ranking. However, this has been altered with the March Google core update. 

4. Improve Link Quality – 

Another significant breakthrough is out-linking by different websites. Initially, websites tend to increase traffic by providing irrelevant links to low-quality content. Nevertheless, the upgraded system now focuses on penalizing such websites that tend to manipulate ranking by any unacceptable measures. 

5. Expired Domain Misuse – 

Expired domains are old website pages that are no longer in use. Several web pages use expired domains to increase online traffic. This practice is ‘Expired Domain Abuse’ and may mislead people about a product or service.

Since every problem has a solution, similarly, there are ways to tackle Google’s new core algorithm updates. Website owners can easily align with the policy updates by providing high-quality, original content to increase brand visibility. Also, adding relevant links instead of entirely relying on link-building tactics helps improve efficiency. These links need to be from verified authoritative sources and should prevent immoral measures to increase website traffic. Lastly, web owners should not consider using expired domains as it can severely affect a website’s reputation and credibility. 

Spam Policy Update

The initially launched spam-fighting systems and spam policies by Google were some of the major ways search engines used to prevent irrelevant junk material on their web pages. However, with the March 2024 core algorithm, Google has introduced some new changes to its existing spam policies.

Google considers low-quality, AI-generated content that appears on SERP (Search Engine Results Page) as spam. Also, adding promotional links that provide irrelevant information is unsolicited. However, strict and targeted actions are now taken against websites that use manipulative behaviours to top search engine ranking systems.

Let us now look at some of the ways how Google is improving: 

1. Scaled Content Abuse –  

Scaled content abuse is a practice used by different web owners to create huge redundant content using software machines to top Google ranking. Initially, recognizing such content was unfeasible as it’s difficult to track whether it’s human-made or machine-made. However, publishing enormous material just to appear better in terms of Google ranking is not feasible, even if it is entirely man-made or machine-made. This will result in deindexing pages that pretend to have answers to popular searches but do not provide any relevant needful information. 

2. Site Reputation Abuse – 

Many times, several reputable web pages allow hosting low-quality content on SERP to rank better in terms of Google ranking. For example, an education website may publish reviews about payday loans. This misleads browsers looking for high-quality vital content on search engine pages. Google has now introduced ways to tackle such unethical practices. It considers websites publishing inadequate low-quality content to enhance ranking spam. Thus, it is better to eliminate such material from web results before May 5^th to prevent penalizing. 

3. Expired Domain Abuse – 

Sometimes, different websites have expired link domains that are no longer in use. This is again an attempt by web owners to top search engine rankings. Internet explorers, when searching for something, may click on these links, assuming they are from the original relevant website, though the same is not the case. Henceforth, search engines consider such websites spam that use expired domains to enhance ranking through low-quality content.  

What’s ahead?

After the March 2024 big Google core update, here are some of the steps that can help you improve your overall search ranking – 

1. SEO professionals should pay attention to these recent changes, as they can severely affect a website’s ranking. Web owners should adhere to search engine guidelines and publish high-quality, realistic content for a better online appearance. 
2. Google, a trusted online platform, always aims for a good user experience. Thus, it is preferable to focus on improving customer satisfaction and gaining user trust by providing authentic, seamless, and logical content. 
3. E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness are the major criteria of the Google algorithm search. 
4. Publishing top-quality, accurate, and well-researched content helps increase authoritativeness. Also, customer reviews and a backlinking strategy with reputable sites help establish credibility in a user’s mind. All website owners must ensure to fulfil these three domains to rank better in terms of Google search engine ranking. 
5. The search engine system prefers websites with high-security systems. Thus, using a secure HTTPS connection and other security measures – such as regular system updates and keeping strong passwords – helps webpages perform better. Protection from cyber threats by regularly updating software, using firewalls, and preventing unauthorized access also enhances website security. 

Conclusion

Google algorithm updates are a true sign of the search engine’s ever-evolving nature. Trustability and authenticity are two important measures for Google search engine ranking. With the March 2024 core update, Google has also introduced a new way to fight spam content on its search engine result pages. 

Website owners can continue performing well by focusing on generating high-quality content, improving overall user experience, and adhering to new search engine guidelines. They can also better position their websites for success in search results. 
So, partner with  6sMarketers today. Our expert team of professionals can implement effective strategies to help you create quality content and enhance your website trafficking, credibility, and presence. Explore our services now!