Understanding the Major March 2024 Google Core Update—A Painless Primer

Google's March 2024 shake-up is all about kicking low-effort, weak, BS content to the curb. It's beefing up its algorithms to spot and junk bad websites and content, and uplift actually helpful content. The goal? Slash the trashy search results by 40%. Mostly the dregs that are thin on meaningful content. This is a lot like when Google made the update some years ago to punch those link farms in the face but now for weak content.

Original and Actually Useful Content, You Say?

Google's got a sharper eye for quality now, so the old “spray and pray” method with keywords isn't going to cut it. Ensure your content is something you'd want to bookmark yourself. We know from lawsuits that when people show up to a website and don’t return and engage, Google is using that signal in the algorithmic ranking.

Opportunity Knocks, Will You Answer?

In the past, to rank for your keywords, people have looked at the page 1 results and wrote content that looks like that. Now, if you bring original thought to your content, you can bypass the “me too” content in search results to rank higher. Craft content that answers real questions, search intent, dives deep, and maybe even makes someone smile or think. That's the content that’s going places.

The Spam-ocalypse Is Real

Google’s cracking down on web pages that are the digital equivalent of junk mail—think content mills churning out the same old stuff. If your strategy involves mass-producing meh articles to get clicks, it’s time to pivot. Focus on, say it with me, “quality over quantity.” And if you're hosting content from others, keep a tight leash. Your site's rep is on the line, and guilt by association is real in Google’s eyes.

E-A-T This

There is renewed focus on the E-A-T principle used by Google to check how good or reliable web content is, especially for important pages that could impact people's money or health. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

• Expertise means the person writing the content knows a lot about the subject.
• Authoritativeness is about the content and its creator being recognized as trustworthy leaders in the topic area.
• Trustworthiness refers to how honest, clear, and reliable the content and the website are, making sure they are safe and accurate for users.

Your Website Is Stupid, And You Dress Funny Too

Slow load times, mobile-unfriendliness, and a messy site structure can throw a wrench in your rankings. Give your site a once-over, or better yet, a full-on spa treatment. You can check your website speed with PageSpeed Insights (https://pagespeed.web.dev/) and GTMetrix (https://gtmetrix.com/). I love SEMRush’s website audit to find core technical fixes that are needed. It prioritizes the issues too!

Getting Your Website Delisted By Google (Nothing Funny to Say About That)

One day you're getting all kinds of yummy organic traffic from Google, and the next day your traffic drops like a dead cat. Ouch! With Google’s latest update, websites that keep playing the same old dirty tricks will get slapped upside the head. You really have to be bad for this to happen, but if you’re doing any of these, stop:

• Prioritize monetization over readers’ experience (think lots of popups and ads you can't dismiss).
• Creating spammy or irrelevant content solely for the purpose of manipulating search rankings.
• Using deceptive practices to trick users, such as misleading links or hidden text.
• Publishing low-quality content that provides little to no value to the reader.

It’s Not Rocket Surgery

Regular audits of your site to check for anything that might raise red flags are a good move. Got old, forgotten pages that are a bit, well, dusty? Time for a cleanup. Review your website’s informational structure while you are at it. And remember, if you’re in doubt about what Google might not like, chances are, cleaning it up or making it better is your best bet.