What Did Google's March 2024 Algorithm Update Deliver for SEOers?

Vũ Khôi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

In early March 2024, Google announced a new algorithm update aimed at improving search quality, tackling spam content, and delivering an even better experience for users. Join us as we walk through the updates in the article below.

1. Google's algorithm ships its first major update of 2024

By using multiple methods and signals from various advanced systems, Google has improved its core ranking system to produce more useful results. Website rankings may fluctuate during the update. If your page isn't ranking well, you need to review your content — Google's system will prioritize aspects such as experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (known as E-E-A-T, short for "experience", "expertise", "authoritativeness", and "trustworthiness").

The new spam policies will target tactics that negatively affect the quality of Google's search results. Specifically, there are 3 new policies addressing today's most common tricks: exploiting expired domains, scaled content abuse, and site reputation abuse. Violating the policies will affect a website's ranking, pushing it lower or even off the search results page entirely.

2. The Google algorithm's important new spam policies

2.1. The Google algorithm excludes expired domains exploited to manipulate search rankings

This is the practice of buying and reusing expired domains whose primary purpose is to manipulate rankings on Google Search by hosting content with little or no value for users. For example, buying a domain that used to be a medical website and using it to host low-quality content about sports betting and gambling, hoping to achieve high search rankings thanks to its former reputation.

‍

These are domains Google considers of no value to visitors. Of course, you can absolutely reuse an old domain for a new website, but the goal of serving users must come first.

2.2. Scaled content abuse that is of no use to users

Scaled content abuse is behavior typically focused on producing large volumes of unoriginal content with little or no value to users. Whether the content is generated automatically, by hand, or through a combination of both, scaled content abuse will be dealt with by Google.

2.3. Exploiting a site's reputation to achieve high search rankings

This case can be recognized on websites that host third-party pages with or without any first-party oversight. Such third-party pages are usually used to manipulate Google Search rankings; they may be sponsored pages, advertising pages, or partner pages... offering little or no value to users.

3. The new Google algorithm that blocks violating content on Google Search, in use since 2021

3.1. Blocking violating content with the SpamBrain AI

SpamBrain was launched in 2018 and has been continuously improved in performance. By 2021, the tool was identifying nearly 6 times more violating websites than in 2020. Google's spam-detection algorithm — SpamBrain's ability to identify destructive and malicious content across billions of web pages has helped Google keep more than 99% of searches spam-free.

3.2. Protecting search quality on the web and user safety

Google's notable advance in 2021 was identifying, preventing, and blocking violating, fraudulent, or harassing links that affect search quality. The Google algorithm update also helped reduce fraud rates by more than 40%. Google also extended SpamBrain to tackle online harassment as well as websites set up to extort or blackmail users into removing content.

3.3. The new Google algorithm reduces ranking manipulation on Google Search

Beyond violating content, Google never stops working to improve the Google algorithm against practices that try to game quality guidelines and degrade the user experience. For example, instead of writing genuine reviews to improve rankings for product-review search terms, the content turns out to be rewritten product descriptions. Two methods are effective for product review articles: first, provide photographic, audio, or link evidence that accurately shows your experience to add authenticity to the review. Second, consider linking to multiple sellers so readers can choose for themselves (if this approach suits your website).

These new policies and the ongoing updates to Google's algorithm keep being developed to ensure users receive useful content. The main goal is always for creators of quality content to succeed on Google Search rather than spam content. If you are a website owner or content creator, this is surely something you should care about.

Related articles