March 2024 core update and new spam policies

Summary

1. The rollout may take up to a month - expect an increased level of rank volatility in the coming weeks. We don’t recommend making drastic changes during this period.
2. The Helpful Content ranking system is now integrated into the core ranking systems. (see more) There will likely be no more “Helpful updates”. Instead, helpfulness becomes one of the key pillars of the core algorithm.
3. The Helpful Content signals are applied at the page level rather than the site level. You may see different impacts on different parts of your website.
4. The Spam Update is targeting three areas:
1. Expired Domain Abuse
2. Scaled Content Abuse
3. Site Reputation Abuse (parasite SEO)

To allow time for site owners to prepare for this change, this new policy will take effect starting May 5, 2024.

4. Check Google’s Spam Policy page to review all current and new spam policies.
5. Scaled Content Abuse is likely addressing the recent development of AI-generated and programmatic content. AI-generated content is fine as long as they are providing value.

What is the update rewarding/penalizing

• Google has made it clear that this update is all about helpfulness. Google aims to reward content that provides genuine value to searchers and devalues unhelpful content.
• The helpful content signals are applied at the page level rather than the site level. That means it’s possible to see parts of your website improved and parts declined after the algorithm update.

Performance analysis should be conducted at the page level. If you see different reactions from different parts of your website, it’s a good idea to review the content on the page and theorize what works and what doesn’t.

• Google elaborates more about what is considered “helpful content” in this article, and this self-assessment guide.
• They generally want content primarily created to benefit people, not gain search engine rankings.

What type of websites will be impacted

• The Core update aims to strengthen the core ranking systems’ ability to reward helpful content and penalize content that are built primarily for ranking purposes. Overly aggressive SEO optimization tactics may put your content at risk.

• It’s much more serious if a website violates Google’s spam policies. Sites that violate spam policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all. If affected by Google Manual Action, site owners will receive a notice through their registered Search Console account.
• The Spam policy update specified three targeted types of abuse: Expired domain abuse, scaled content abuse, and site reputation abuse. Site owners should always review Google’s spam policies and avoid such practices.

On AI-generated content

• Despite not being explicitly stated, the scaled content abuse update is a clear response to the recent surge of AI content. Google states that AI content itself is not a problem, as long as they are helpful to the users. Google doesn’t care how the content is produced, Google doesn't want content created primarily for manipulating rankings.
• The “scaled content abuse” further targets content created at scale. If you use generative AI to facilitate content creation, use it with caution and always ensure the content is helpful.

How to recover if you are negatively impacted

1. Determine if you are affected by the core update or violated the updated spam policies.

You will receive a notice in the Search Console if your website violates Google’s spam policy and is caught. Go to the search console, under the tab “Security & Manual Actions”, and click “Manual Actions” if you see “No issues detected”, then your website is not “hit” by the spam update.

1. If you receive a Manual Action, depending on the severity of the violation, you may be given a chance to correct your mistake and submit a reconsideration request to Google.
2. If you are not affected by a Manual Action, the updated core ranking systems cause rank and traffic fluctuation. In other words, you are “hit by the algorithm”. Since this core update is applied on the page level, analyze the traffic and rank performance page by page, and try to identify patterns.
3. The rollout may take up to a month; you may check the Search Status Dashboard to confirm whether the rollouts are complete. Before then, we don’t recommend making drastic changes to your website.
4. After the rollout is completed, it’s a good idea to analyze and conclude areas of impact. Identify pages and keywords that are the most severely impacted, as well as pages and keywords that have seen positive gains. Try to identify patterns, optimize content, remove unhelpful content, etc.