Google has officially completed its March 2024 core update, ending more than a month of web ranking volatility.
However, Google didn’t confirm the rollout’s conclusion on its data anomaly page until April 26, a full week after the update was completed on April 19.
Many in the SEO community had been speculating for days whether the turbulent update was over.
The delayed transparency exemplifies Google’s communication problems with publishers and the need for clarity during core updates
March 2024 Google Core Update timeline and status
First announced on March 5th, the core algorithm update was completed on April 19th. It took 45 days to complete.
Unlike more routine core updates, Google warned that this one was more complex.
from Google documentation reads:
“As this is a complex update, it may take up to a month to roll out. There is likely to be more fluctuation in rankings than with a regular core update as the different systems are fully updated and mutually reinforcing .
The aftershocks were tangible, with some websites reporting losses of more than 60% of their organic search traffic, according to data from industry watchers.
The ripple effects also led to the de-indexing of hundreds of sites that allegedly violated Google’s guidelines.
Address manipulation attempts
In its official guidance, Google highlighted the criteria it looks for when targeting link spam and manipulation attempts:
Creating “low value content” just to get manipulative links and inflate rankings. Links intended to artificially boost site rankings, including manipulative outbound links. The “repurposing” of expired domains with content radically different from game search visibility.
The updated guidelines notify:
“Any link intended to manipulate ranking in Google Search results can be considered link spamming. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outbound links from your site.”
John Mueller, a Google search advocate, responded to the turmoil by advising publishers not to make hasty changes while the core update is underway.
However, he suggested that sites could proactively address issues such as unnatural paid links.
Mueller stated on Reddit:
“If you’ve noticed things worth improving on your site, I’ll go ahead and do those things. The idea isn’t to make changes just for search engines, right? Your users will be happy if you can improve things though search engines haven’t updated their view of your site yet.”
Emphasizing quality over links
The core update made notable changes to the way Google ranks websites.
Most importantly, Google reduced the importance of links in determining a website’s ranking.
In contrast to describing links as “an important factor in determining relevance”, Google’s updated spam policies removed the “important” designation, simply calling links “a factor”.
This change aligns with Google’s Gary Illyes’ statements that links are not in the top three most influential ranking signals.
Instead, Google is giving more weight to quality, credibility and substantive content.
As a result, long-running campaigns that favor low-quality link acquisition and keyword optimizations have been demoted.
With the update complete, SEOs and publishers must audit their strategies and websites to ensure alignment with Google’s new perspective on rankings.
Featured Image: Rohit-Tripathi/Shutterstock
