Google has announced a major update to its search algorithms and policies to combat spammy and low-quality content on its search engine. The March 2024 Core Update, which is more extensive than its usual core updates, is now being rolled out.
This update includes algorithm changes aimed at improving the quality of search results and reducing spam. One of the main focuses of the March 2024 Core Update is to enhance Google’s ranking systems.
“We’re making algorithmic enhancements to our core ranking systems to ensure we surface the most helpful information on the web and reduce unoriginal content in search results,” stated Elizabeth Tucker, Director of Product for Search at Google.
Since 2022, Google has been working to reduce unhelpful and unoriginal content, and the March 2024 update builds on those efforts. The refined ranking systems will better understand if web pages could be more helpful, have a better user experience, or be created primarily for search engines rather than people.
Google expects that combining this update and its previous efforts will collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%.
In addition to the ranking adjustments, Google is updating its spam policies to remove the “lowest-quality” content from search results. The updated policy will focus on the abusive behavior of producing content at scale to boost search ranking, regardless of whether automation, humans, or a combination of both are involved.
Google will now consider such content spam if it’s produced primarily for ranking purposes and without close oversight of the website owner.
Google’s updated spam policies will also target expired domain abuse, where expired domains are purchased and repurposed to boost the search ranking of low-quality content. This practice can mislead users into thinking the new content is part of the older, trusted site.
The March 2024 Core Update is starting to roll out now. Websites have a two-month window to comply with the new site reputation policy. The other changes come into effect this week.
