Navigating Google's Major Search Update (March 2024)

Google’s launching a new core update that will remove up to 40% of unhelpful content from search results. Here’s what it means for you.

In the constantly evolving landscape of digital marketing, staying ahead of the latest trends is essential for success. Today, we're reaching out to inform you about Google's most recent core update, a significant change that aims to enhance the quality of search results by minimizing unhelpful and unoriginal content on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).

Here’s what you need to know and how it impacts your business.

Why Focus on Google?

Google, the most popular search engine in the world, captures more than 90% of the global search market (34 Eye-opening Google Search Statistics for 2024, Semrush). That’s not just a majority of search traffic, it’s a dominant majority. To this end, most SEO efforts are directed at achieving greater visibility in Google’s SERPs, and changes made by Google are often broadly felt by businesses that rely on their online presence.

Understanding Google's Search Update

Google implements thousands of algorithm updates a year. Most have a very narrow scope and little to no appreciable impact on search results. Google also implements core updates, which are much greater in scope and impact, but only a handful a year.

Core updates impact search more broadly and to a much greater degree, often causing significant shifts in organic search rankings. When core updates roll out, the ramifications can be profound. Sites might be deindexed and fall out of search, previously fruitful optimization strategies can become liabilities, site traffic could plummet to near non-existent levels - these are issues that far exceed concerns about keyword rankings.

The core update Google is currently rolling out has the potential to be one of these significant disruptors, and some of the aforementioned possibilities are becoming a very real problem for marketers, agencies, and the businesses they represent.

Consisting of a core, spam, and helpful content update all rolled into one (for all intents and purposes), this core algorithm update aims to remove approximately 40% of unhelpful content from search results. Considering Google’s index hovers around 400 billion web pages, that's an ambitious goal with profound implications for the digital space.

What Does it Mean for You?

The rollout of an update of this magnitude could take a month or so, but we anticipate positive outcomes for our clients. 

Our commitment to high-quality, original content and adherence to SEO best-practices positions you well within Google's new framework. Unlike sites burdened by bulk AI-generated content, parasite SEO, or questionably-built backlink profiles, your platform stands on the solid ground of authentic and valuable information optimized in accordance with Google guidelines.

Our strategies have always emphasized the quality and relevancy of content, ensuring not only compliance with Google but also an enhanced user experience for your audience. With the latest updates, we expect to see favorable outcomes related to your site's rankings, further solidifying your online presence.

How We Can Help

Our approach remains the same: to provide a digital marketing program that not only meets Google’s evolving standards but exceeds them, driving growth and success for your business. This update reiterates the importance of a buyer-first philosophy — creating targeted, meaningful content that serves your audience’s needs while boosting your traffic, visibility, and engagement.

We view these updates as opportunities to enhance our strategies so that you can not only navigate these changes successfully but emerge stronger.

If you have any questions about Google’s update and what it means for your strategy, please reach out to your account manager for support. We're always here to help and ensure you’re set up for success online.