Google Core Algorithm Updates: 2024 Trends and Learnings

Craig Kanalley
Fri, 27 Sep 2024 14:19:59 +0000
Google algorithm updates, Google algorithim, Google strategy, Search strategy, Content strategy, Google, Search engine optimization

As a CMS that works with so many websites across multiple industries, from media organizations and news outlets to brands and hobbyist blogs, we have a unique view into how Google’s core algorithm updates can impact publishers. Here’s an overview on the overarching trends that we’ve seen in 2024 — the type of content that is doing well, what’s being penalized, and a path forward to grow for those who have been impacted.

The Sites Who Are Winning

The Sites Who Have Lost Ground

How Sites Negatively Impacted Can Recover

The Sites Who Are Winning

There are certainly sites who are winning and growing as a result of Google’s updates over the last several months, including the update in August 2024. We applaud Google for consistently making updates to reward the sites who are putting the work in and doing things the right way. Here are common themes that we see across these sites:

Establish expertise and authority on the topics that they write about (E-E-A-T)

Consistently generate helpful content for users

Regularly publish new content at a healthy cadence (publish “early and regularly”)

Provide a significant amount of context, including related links and multimedia, as well as subheadings that answer questions users may have about related topics

Implement author structured data that clearly articulates their expertise

Incorporate user-friendly experiences with a clean design and UX, along with elements like tables of contents and jump links

Focus on first-in-class technical SEO that delivers the best user experiences and fast-loading pages

Ultimately, these are the sites that should be winning. The best websites today — and the best experiences around the web — focus on creating helpful content for people, not robots or algorithms. This is something we always emphasize with our clients and it’s in lockstep with Google’s direct guidance on “helpful, reliable, people-first content.”

AI, But Used in a Smart Way

Can AI be a part of the picture? When used lightly and intelligently, we’ve found that, yes, it can. It can make editors more efficient and improve editorial workflows, and we have sites that do this in a smart way that are growing. For example, AI headline recommendations can improve the creative process and speed up mundane optimization-related tasks. But they should still get an editorial review, which is why we offer three variations for each prompt related to headlines. Another good use of AI is building an editorial chatbot that draws on your content archives and allows your team to repackage the hard work you’ve already completed over the years in a way that makes sense. Both use cases are geared toward improving the reader experience.

The Sites Who Have Lost Ground

Broadly speaking, any site that is unoriginal, where the content it offers can easily be found elsewhere, is at risk. We’ve found that sites that curate content from elsewhere have been increasingly having trouble. One reason is Google itself can effectively curate from elsewhere and package that in various ways, most recently with AI Overviews. Repackaging content from others is essentially a technical issue that can be solved, and rising sites like Perplexity also specialize in doing this.

Another observation is that it appears websites in the lifestyle category have been particularly hit by the August 2024 core update. By nature, they face an uphill battle already: There are countless websites offering lifestyle advice, news, and insights. Add AI Overviews on top of that, plus the growing prominence of Reddit in search results, and there’s plenty of competition. Industries similar to lifestyle that have become oversaturated have also been impacted.

For a site to succeed, it needs to offer an exceptional, first-in-class user experience, fully matching up to user intent on specific searches (less focus on general keywords and more on specific terms and phrases) and delivering the results they’re looking for. E-E-A-T is more important than ever — making authors’ credentials clear to your users, wrapped in author structured data (plus implementing other structured data), demonstrating firsthand knowledge of topics you’re writing about. And offering complete context is vital, addressing related questions and providing links to additional content, both from your site and elsewhere. Our Publisher Blueprints help with many of these areas, and sites who have implemented them have not fallen in this “lost ground” category, prioritizing structured data and smart recirculation units that surface the right content at the right time.

How Sites Negatively Impacted Can Recover

As stressful as it can be to see your numbers go down and revenue impacted, those who are hit should be hopeful because there are definitely steps you can take to recover and grow:

CONTENT AUDIT: First, it’s a great opportunity to do an in-depth content audit, an analysis of the type of content you regularly produce, how you position that content, and making sure you’re in line with best practices. A useful resource to assess your content is Google’s “content and quality questions.”

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: You’ll also want to check the competition to see what they’re doing well and what you can learn from them. But most of all, you want to see how your site can offer the best possible user experience and be the most helpful to readers who turn to search to seek answers. Deliver on user intent and provide the most comprehensive pages possible. Answer related questions, provide additional resources, and make sure you are in tip-top shape on technical SEO.

ESTABLISH EXPERTISE: Establish your expertise and authority and ultimately provide the differentiator — why your website is the best place to get the answers users are looking for. As you create more original content around your expertise, you can really find your voice and that’s when you’ll excel. Consistently generate helpful content for users and scale back on anything that doesn’t focus on that.

VOLUME CHECK: Another consideration: Volume isn’t always a good thing. If you’re doing high-volume, low-quality work, it’s time to immediately switch to lower-volume, higher-quality content to offer up the best answers to the questions that people have.

AI AND AUTOMATION CHECK: You’ll also want to do a quick check on how you’re using AI. If you’re using it in a light and intelligent way, described in the “winning” section above, you can have success. But if you’re overly reliant on it, that could be a part of the problem. For example, the March 2024 core update penalized sites reliant on AI, and AI-related issues are a consideration for other updates, too. Think of it this way: Any time you have automation or you produce large amounts of content at scale in an automated way, that’s a red flag and it needs review. Because with the right technical tools, anyone can do that, and it’s not very unique or interesting. You should have your own expertise and authority and create content around that; those are the winning sites.

When you focus on doing things the right way, the winning way — prioritizing the best user experience possible for your readers so that they will want to come back — combined with our platform, with its focus on technical SEO and high-performance Core Web Vitals, that’s when the real magic happens. We’ll help get your incredible work to the right audience and Google will reward those efforts as well.

Looking for more guidance or ready for strategic advice on your own site? Contact us today to get started.