Google August 2024 Core Update: What You Need to Know

Google's August 2024 core update has been announced. So, we have compiled all the information you need to know about the updates. If you are a small website publisher, do not pacnick! It is a normal update, and Google is, as always, pushing high-value pages on top and low-value pages down! 

Google always wants us to meet the SEO benchmarks naturally. If you provide authentic service with clean reviews and authority, your service page can rank on top. But some fellows do not like to do things as told and violate the SERP with tricks. Let’s break down how the core update will fix that problem positively.

Key Highlights of Google Core Update August 2024:

• Content-centric website pages are preferred over pages that are not beneficial to general users.
• Google fixes the issue shared by the creators and publishers from the previous updates in 2024.
• Inspired the context-based publishing strategies over targeted SEO tactics-based strategies.

The latest Google algorithm is much more advanced compared to its March 2024 updates. On August 15, Google Search Central’s latest X post notified that they would prefer content ‘people find useful’ over content made for ‘performing well on search’ results.

Today we released the August 2024 core update. It continues our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.https://t.co/T6Qt0JUoWt

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) August 15, 2024

Google’s search advocate, John Muller, added that their goal is to capture the improvement that sites have made so far. That means the ranked website can still perform well after talking new strategies, if they had overdone SEO to rank their web pages. You edit your content with exact relevant information; you keep your ranking! Period!

Here is an example:

• Imagine you are giving a friend recommendations for the best restaurants in town. Your list is based on what you knew a few years ago. 
• But since then, new restaurants have opened, and your tastes might have changed. So, you update your list, considering the latest reviews, your friend's preferences, and your own experiences. 

This is similar to how Google's core updates work. These updates are designed to keep search results relevant and helpful to the audience. They're not about targeting specific websites or pages with heavy authority in their area. Just like your restaurant list, the search results may change over time. 

From our perspective, it is nothing to worry about for creators. But if they have ranked pages with overdone SEO tactics, we may fear that the pages will be ranked down to the 2nd and 3rd page. 

The Google developer's note on the new update claimed they are doing it only to ensure quality of the results on search engine result pages. There was no information on removing any page or deindexing someone who did not meet the latest criteria.

Google used to determine the website's relevancy by looking up keywords and website authority. The logic was simple: Crawlers will detect web page authenticity if a website has a trust signal from others. Plus, they will detect keywords to understand the content's relevance. But now Google is thinking of promoting high-quality content and demoting SEO-focused material. So, websites with hornets' intentions can rank their content.

Promoting High-Quality Content

The update highlights content that provides genuine value to users with the latest information, relatable descriptions, and vice versa. You do not need to forcefully optimize content with SEO-rich text and other features. Even the clean meta descriptions are not working properly on Google these days. Google itself selects the best parts of content as meta descriptions.

Demotion of SEO-Focused Material

In the past, companies tended to create web pages to rank on search results with different types of SEO, such as on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. But, the current update will decline all the optimization efforts for low-value content. It does not mean that you do not have to add SEO materials. Just make the information correct, then apply what’s needed. 

There are definitely positive and negative effects seen on different websites after the update rollout. Even the popular editor and journalist Barry Schwartz, showed a poll where we can see his site performance before and after the updates. 

The Poll Results According to Audience Feedback

(These statistics are taken at 06:40 am (GMT), August 3, 2024, from the ‘X’ poll shared by Barry Schwartz)

• Rankings and Traffic Are Down: 41.1%
• Rankings and Traffic Are Up: 26.5%
• No Change: 32.4%

So, what were the problems? Well, there have been many well-reputed business websites that had ranked pages. But now their Google Analytics and Search Console statistics are going down the curve. It is normal for them to get pissed for the drinking. But the main reason is that somebody has put more effort into crafting an informative web page, so they became on top. 

Glitch on Search Engine Update

It’s been almost 20 days since the Google August 2024 Core Update, but we have experienced some separate issues, which you may address as glitches. Search Engine Journal shared the fix of the incident in one of their posts. During that time, Google also verified that it did not come from the latest update. Instead, it was an external issue.

Our study observed two of the business websites who are in the good eyes of Google’s latest algorithms! Here are two recent case studies:

HouseFresh Recoverd after August 2024 Update

Thomas Jepsen from HouseFresh shared his recent graphs of website traffic and ranking, where we can see how he went from zero to near 100k organic traffic withing some days. He expressed his feelings on the recovery of a dead website. Of course, the latest update helped crawlers find his website among authoritative websites full of spam content.

Morgan Overholt Doubled Her Website Visits after August 2024 Update

Graphic designer Morgan Overholt shared her recent stats alongside the last 3 months' stats to show the progress after the latest core update. It nearly tripled her web traffic and ranking on behalf of her content. Hundreds of her followers shared that it looks too promising for Google to push real author sites.

Google has released new guidance for website owners dealing with core algorithm updates. In the updated document, you will get more practical advice on using Search Console. All the efforts will make content improvements. 

• There will be new sections on using Search Console to know your traffic drops.
• You have advice on improving the content patterns with some quick fixes.
• Removal of some doubtful content about the impacts of core updates.

EEAT became a primary factor in Google's August 2024 Core Update due to a growing emphasis on providing users with trustworthy information. You know that the internet has become a primary source of knowledge, so Google had to ensure that users need with content created by experts. 

Here, EEAT serves as a quality signal, helping Google identify content that is likely to be helpful and accurate. 

We have listed the key areas to consider in building impactful EEAT for content. During making a webpage, you have to ask yourself five questions—

1. Does your content offer unique information or analysis from a user perspective?
2. Is the author or site knowledgeable and authoritative on the topic?
3. Is the content free from errors and presented in a trustworthy manner?
4. Is the content well-written, free from technical issues, and presented in a visually appealing way?
5. Does the content serve the genuine interests of visitors and provide substantial value compared to other search results?

Once you do it, Google has a higher chance to consider your content genuine, and they will match the Google August 2024 Update criteria. Even when you are working on local SEO, do not forget to include readable descriptions and titles besides putting the geological information on Google Business Profile.

Time Required for Any Changes after Changing Content

The new information suggests that improvements are appearing more quickly than previously thought. Although some changes could be seen within days, the best practice is to wait till the final filtering by Google. 

Things to Remember Before Making Changes in Content

Google has expanded its guidance on core update assessment. The new information is more specific and aims to address misinformation that followed recent updates.

• Avoid making small changes. Instead, focus on substantive improvements. Add missing things and eliminate unnecessary parts.
• Improve content and user experience. To do that, make sure your content is helpful, relevant, and easy to use by visitors.
• Do not delete deleting useful content. If a large portion of the content is outdated, consider revising it entirely rather than deleting it.

Large business sites have higher domain authority as credible sources, so Google used to rank them on top. They also practice the standard content criteria. But the problem is that they were keeping other talents hidden for the sake of their off-page and technical SEO practices. So Google thought to encourage small businesses to regularly publish content on Google. Since 2022, Google has been introducing the people-first content policy. 

Experienced SEO service providers do want to find any gaps to rank websites. They organize page content in a way that Google prefers. For instance, VISER X SEO executives shared their thoughts on a podcast speaking about how they should overcome the challenges from the Google updates. 

 

As usual, the Google Core update will also impact some websites negatively. Many business websites will claim they have followed each policy carefully, yet they are losing traffic. But they should know that someone has made better content; that’s why Google is drinking them. Instead of feeling pissed, they can create high-quality content and web pages to keep their rank. And it must be remembered that the update has just been deployed. So we need to keep patience for sometimes until Google has time to analyze each and every indexed data and reorganize the ranking.

How many Core Update does Google have per year?

Google typically runs two or three core updates annually. They do it so that they can solve the problems shared by the website publishers and content creators. But Google also runs thousands of small updates and fixes throughout the year.

Why did Google’s August 2024 Update make a panic situation?

The website owners created their authority after applying a lot of techniques and waiting for too many years. But in the end, they can lose their ranking to some new websites. This incident created a panic situation because they spent a lot of money on technical and off-page SEO all these years.

Are social media and forums excluded from the impact of the new core update?

Google does not see whether your posts are made from a website page or social media posts. From now on, they will always look for the EEAT and content relevancy. Social media posts provide the exact content topic by a real user, so we often see them in top search results.