March 2024 Google Core Algorithm Update Rolls Out

Google’s March 2024 Core Algorithm Update is set to reduce unhelpful, spammy content in search results by as much as 40%.

As Google continues to tackle low-quality search results, the latest core update announced on the 6th March 2024 ushers in new changes to improve search result quality, as well as new spam policies targeting scaled content abuse, site reputation abuse, and expired domain abuse.

As always, confirmation of the latest core algorithm update come from X where the Google Search Central and Google SearchLiaison accounts both confirmed the start of the update.

Today we announced the March 2024 core update & new spam policies that, in combination, are designed to show less content made to attract clicks and more content that people find useful.

A second tweet from the Google Search Liaison X account confirmed that the update welcomes in a new way of determining helpful content.

As part of our news, we’ve also shared that we now use a variety of innovative signals and approaches rather than a single system to identify helpful content.

Off the back of the announcement, Elizabeth Tucker, Director of Product for Search at Google published a new post for Google titled “New ways we’re tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search”. In the article, Tucker explains some key points around what the March 2024 Google Core Algorithm Update means for publishers:

For publishers that have been left scratching their heads through a core update, this specific and actionable article from Tucker provides real value in addressing potential fluctuations to rankings and traffic.

Key Changes in the March 2024 Core Algorithm Update

The March 2024 Core Update can be broken down into two key areas. Firstly, changes to improve the quality of search results by tackling spammy, low-quality consent that is designed to attract clicks – not provide value. And secondly, changes to Google’s spam policies targeting scaled content abuse, site reputation abuse, and expired domain abuse.

Changes to Improve Search Result Quality

The first focus of the March 2024 Core Update is a change to Google’s ranking systems that are intended to match searchers with specific, helpful content. Specifically, the changes will target websites creating content that is designed to match very specific search queries.

Reading between the lines, websites involved in programmatic SEO efforts where hundreds or thousands of pages are created targeting very specific or long-tail search queries are likely to be impacted by this change. Following the September 2023 Google Helpful Content Update, we saw a number of these sites pop up. While these sites did see a downturn through the November Core Update, that have been (at the time of writing) been performing strongly in the search results.

Changes to Google’s Spam Policies

The second part to the March 2024 Core Update is further refinements to Google spam policies in an effort to prevent low quality content appearing in the search results. The changes are designed to address the evolving nature of search spam with targeted action against scaled content abuse, site reputation abuse, and expired domain abuse.

1. Scaled Content Abuse

Scaled content abuse has been on the rise with more site owners rolling the dice with thin content, low-quality content, scraped content, or automatic content generators.

Google states:

“Today, scaled content creation methods are more sophisticated, and whether content is created purely through automation isn’t always as clear.”

The changes to Google’s spam policies targeting scaled content abuse will weed out websites creating large-scale content intended to address specific queries but providing little or no value to users.

2. Site Reputation Abuse

Google’s updated spam policies will further address the issue of site reputation abuse where reputable websites may also host low quality content.

Google provided the following example:

“For example, a third party might publish payday loan reviews on a trusted educational website to gain ranking benefits from the site.”

There are a number of famous examples of these sites which are seemingly separated into valuable and advertorial content. Unsurprisingly, the sites linked to the advertorial content tend to receive a nice boost from this association.

Sites involved in Site Reputation Abuse have been given fair warning of these changes with two months to prepare for the changes.

With Google stating:

“We’re publishing this policy two months in advance of enforcement on May 5, to give site owners time to make any needed changes.”

3. Expired Domain Abuse

Expired domain abuse or the act of purchasing an authoritative domain for the sake of benefiting from its perceived reputation is nothing new.

Google provided the following example:

Expired domains that are purchased and repurposed with the intention of boosting the search ranking of low-quality content are now considered spam.

It is unclear whether this is referring specifically to expired domains that are purchased, repackaged, and used to link to a target website, or whether this is referring to expired domains that are sent as a 301 redirect to a target website. In any case, site owners that engage in either of these actions with the explicit purpose of manipulating search results should be on notice.

What Now?

In most cases, Google’s Core Algorithm Updates will take two weeks to fully roll out. In this case, Google has not provided specific guidance on the timeline for the update outside of the two-month window for sites involved in Site Reputation Abuse.

Google has been unusually explicit in what the March 2024 Core Algorithm Update will be targeting. If you believe that your site is publishing low-quality, unoriginal content with the explicit purpose of manipulating search results, then now is the time to remove it. Similarly, if your site is involved in any of the spam practices being targeted by Google’s new and improved spam policies, then now is the time to address these issues.