Google updates are becoming more frequent, which makes it challenging to stay current with the latest changes and best practices. When updates – especially core updates – are pushed, it can take weeks for the dust to settle and for marketers to better understand how SEO may be impacted.
The March updates specifically target spam and low-quality, AI-generated content – not surprising given the meteoric rise of generative AI and concerns surrounding its impact on our digital landscape.
Google expects these updates, combined with previous efforts, to reduce low quality and unoriginal content by 40%. In the first month following the release, Google deindexed hundreds of websites that rely heavily on AI-generated content to manipulate search rankings.
For many of us, this news may alleviate the uneasiness and mistrust we feel within the new wild west of generative AI. However, as marketers, we’re also concerned with how these changes might affect our own digital properties.
Here we look at understanding the recent updates and ways you can retain – or perhaps even improve – your site’s rankings moving forward.
March 2024 Google Core Update
Google Search prioritizes content that demonstrates E-E-A-T principles: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. The March core update aims to reinforce content displaying these qualities while fine-tuning ranking systems to reduce unhelpful and unoriginal content. This includes websites offering a poor user experience or designed solely to rank well in search without providing real value.
This update was more complex than Google’s usual core updates, involving changes to multiple core systems. While AI-generated content in general was not specifically targeted, it’s clear that Google is making efforts to penalize low-quality content, whether created by humans or AI.
New Google Spam Policies
Google’s spam policy updates address practices that negatively impact the quality of search results. Sites that violate these latest policies may rank lower in search results, or not at all:
- Scaled content abuse: Producing content at scale to boost search rankings, but with little or no real value. This expands on Google’s long-standing spam policy, intended to reduce content that utilizes automation – including generative AI – to manipulate Search results.
- Site reputation abuse: Low-value, third-party content with little oversight that capitalizes on the hosting website’s strong reputation. (Published March 5 for enforcement on May 5 to allow site owners time to make necessary changes)
- Expired domain abuse: The practice of misleading users by purchasing expired domains and repurposing them to boost low-quality or unoriginal content.
How to Regain & Retain Your Search Rankings
The effects of the latest Google updates have been felt by a range of website owners, including those of legacy websites. Rankings losses happen after core updates, but there are steps you can take to avoid them:
Leverage AI-Generated Content Responsibly
- Remove AI spam content. If you’re spamming Google with thousands of articles generated solely by AI, remove or rewrite them. Even if you have not yet seen a reduction in rankings, know that Google’s latest scaled content abuse policies will catch up with you eventually. It’s best to get ahead of any future rankings loss and optimize your content now.
- Write for humans, not search engines. Create engaging, informative, and well-researched content that your audience will value. This will not only help you rank better but will also improve your user experience and help attract and retain visitors.
- If your website is deindexed, resubmit it to Google. Audit your site and make any necessary changes, then submit your sitemap to Search Console for reconsideration.
Check out our webinar, The Dos and Don’ts of AI-Generated Marketing Content, for more advice on best practices in this ever-evolving landscape:
Follow SEO Best Practices
- Prioritize and include keywords that naturally fit your content. Avoid keyword stuffing or over-optimization. These practices can hurt your rankings.
- Refresh old content that retains some value but ranks poorly. Update information, add new insights, and improve the formatting and readability of the content, thus making your old content more appealing to both users and search engines.
- Avoid duplicate content and add fresh content regularly. Unique, up-to-date, high-quality content is a necessity rather than a luxury.
- Don’t use AI to scale your content. We see websites using AI to push out 1,000s of blog articles in short periods. A general rule of thumb is if you are doing something that is scalable in SEO, you will likely get hit by a future Google Search Update – if you have not already. You need to think short and long term with your content strategies.
Following these steps will enhance your website's E-E-A-T signals and lift your chances of ranking well in Google's SERPs. Good content that ranks well needs to offer unique insights and perspectives and serve users first. Not only will you lift your chances of moving up in Google’s SERPs, but you’ll also build trust with your audience.
Takeaways
Google has made AI a strong focus of its latest core algorithm and spam updates, and that focus will certainly continue to evolve. As long as you’re creating good content in reasonable amounts and keeping up with evolving best practices, you shouldn’t experience any long-term repercussions.
If you need expert SEO insights and guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out! Our team can help you develop and execute an SEO strategy that gets results.