The August 2024 Core Update highlights Google’s ongoing commitment to rewarding quality, relevance, and authority. By focusing on user-generated content, building a strong, niche-focused brand, and maintaining robust SEO fundamentals like backlinking and domain relevance, you can position your website to thrive in this updated search environment.
What’s New in SEO with the August 2024 Google Update:
- Increased Importance of User-Generated Content (UGC):
- Google continues to prioritize forums and user-generated content. Even older threads on platforms like Reddit or niche forums are ranking highly. This suggests that Google values authentic user interactions and discussions, potentially as a countermeasure against generic AI-generated content.
- Expansion of AI Overviews in Search Results:
- Google has begun rolling out AI-generated summaries (AI Overviews) more broadly, even for users in incognito mode. These overviews are appearing in more searches and might expand further, affecting click-through rates (CTR) for organic search results.
- Greater Emphasis on Local and Niche Businesses:
- Local businesses are increasingly visible in national search queries, particularly if they are hyper-focused on a specific niche. Google seems to favor businesses with a clear, specialized expertise in their field over more generic or affiliate-driven sites.
What Has Stayed the Same:
- Domain-Level Relevance Continues to Dominate:
- Relevance at the domain level (not just individual pages) is crucial. Sites with domains that are tightly aligned with their content’s topic are performing well. This means that Google’s algorithm still highly values a strong overall theme or niche for a website.
- Strong Backlink Profiles Are Still Critical:
- Brands and websites with robust, trusted backlink profiles continue to dominate. Google still heavily favors sites that are well-linked from authoritative, relevant sources.
- Influencers with Strong Off-Google Presence:
- Websites or brands driven by influencers with large, engaged audiences continue to do well. Google rewards sites that have a significant presence outside of Google, such as strong followings on social media platforms like Instagram or YouTube.
How to Use This Update for Your Benefit:
Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC):
Encourage more user interaction on your site, such as through forums, Q&A sections, or customer reviews. This content not only builds community but also signals to Google that your site is valuable and engaging.
Capitalize on Local SEO:
Optimize your website for local search queries, even if you operate nationally. Use location-specific keywords and ensure your Google My Business profile is fully optimized.
Focus on Domain-Level Relevance:
Ensure your domain name and overall site structure align closely with your primary topic or niche. Consider investing in keyword-rich domains if possible.
Maintain a Robust Link Building Strategy:
Continue or start an active link-building campaign that focuses on acquiring links from high-authority, relevant websites. Consider using PR-based link-building services if necessary.
Create Highly Relevant Content:
Focus on creating content that is tightly aligned with your site’s niche. Use tools to analyze and optimize for the most relevant keywords and topics.
IS THIS UPDATE GOOD FOR AI SEO SITES?
Some AI-powered automated websites have significantly improved their traffic following Google’s core update in August 2024. Here I mention some ideas and tools to make the most of this technology, from niche selection to content creation and backlink building.
Niche Selection: To choose the right niche, you should focus on prioritizing keywords that have high search volume and low competition.
Keyword Research and Clustering: To find the most relevant keywords, you can use tools like Ahrefs. Then, group these keywords into thematic clusters to ensure they are organized logically and to avoid keyword cannibalization. For this process, I suggest using tools like ChatGPT.
Content Creation: It’s important to semantically optimize the content, which will significantly improve the chances of ranking in search engines. Once the content is generated, review and edit it carefully to ensure its quality and relevance.
Launch Strategy: When launching a new site, make sure to publish 50 high-quality articles from day one. This will help you establish thematic authority immediately. Backlink Building and Authority: To strengthen your site’s authority, conduct outreach campaigns to secure natural and quality backlinks.
Here is an ongoing issue with Google search ranking that is still being corrected. This, along with the main update and the expansion of AI-generated summaries, is creating a volatile environment for SEO.
- UGC (user-generated content) sites like Reddit continue to see traffic increases, indicating that this type of content remains an important ranking factor.
Additional Case Studies:
- Some sites that were hit by last year’s “Helpful Content Update” have not seen significant improvements in their traffic following the August 2024 update, suggesting that results may vary.
- Sites like Forbes and Reddit have had mixed performances, with some seeing declines and others increases in their traffic. Implications for SEO Strategies: The update is still recent, so it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions. However, it appears that sites with strong brands and good backlink profiles are more likely to recover.
Implications for SEO Strategies:
The update is still recent, so it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions. However, it appears that sites with strong brands and good backlink profiles have better chances of recovery.
Overall, the update appears to be a continuation of Google’s effort to reward genuinely valuable content, especially from smaller and independent sites, which were often overshadowed by bigger players in previous updates
It is important to recommend not making hasty changes if you observe drops in search rankings during the rollout of the update, as these fluctuations may be temporary.
Examples and comments:
Here are an example of how sites were affected the September 2023 Helpful Content Update, and further negatively impacted by the March 2024 Core & Spam updates:
Many of the affected pages are part of the gaming category, where we can see how Google’s spam policy drastically affected this page. This website has no indexed pages on Google despite having received traffic and visibility up until March 8th
Most of the affected pages had AI-generated content, which for Google meant very poor quality content. The image shows how certain pages lost visibility with the September Helpful Content Update.
Here is a graphical representation showing the impact of Google’s updates on VPN and software sites. The bars illustrate the significant decline in traffic for these sites after the update, with VPN sites experiencing a 75% drop and software sites seeing a 70% decline. This visual demonstrates how these types of sites, particularly those with deceptive practices or lacking transparency, were heavily impacted by the changes in Google’s ranking system.
CNET EXAMPLE:
This visual provides a snapshot of how CNET might perform in these critical areas, with some strengths in On-Page SEO and Trustworthiness, but potential weaknesses in areas like AI-generated content and SEO visibility.
Experience: The extent to which the site shows real-world experience.
Expertise: The level of expertise of the authors and content.
Authoritativeness: How authoritative the site is within its niche.
Trustworthiness: The overall trustworthiness of the site.
On-Page SEO: The effectiveness of on-page SEO practices.
User Experience: The quality of the user experience, considering ads, pop-ups, and page speed.
AI-Generated Content: The presence and quality of AI-generated content.
Content Originality: The uniqueness of content and imagery.
SEO Visibility: The site’s visibility in search engine results over time.
are these the notes?