Google Search Update Will Reduce Low-Quality Content by 40%

Google Search was once one of the most powerful tools on the planet. I can’t tell you how many times over the years that I’ve heard someone say, “I just Googled it” or “You should Google it.” We still do it, but I’d be lying if I told you that I do so and expect anything other than SEO-gamed, spam results that are often useless and are clearly content created for the purpose of fulfilling my query. Google Search has sucked for a really long time because Google allowed the worst in the content industry to take advantage of it.

Today, Google announced what appears to be a huge update for Search dubbed the “March 2024 core update.” This new core update (as well as the March 2024 spam update) will try to reduce unoriginal content in results by surfacing “the most helpful information.” It’ll also aim to keep the “lowest-quality” content from Search that might be from expired sites that people have repurposed for spam results.

Google dove into its thoughts and changes here, saying that they believe this March 2024 core update “will collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%.” That seems quite significant if they can achieve it.

They are targeting sites that “feel like they were created for search engines instead of people” and that might have a poor user experience or are unhelpful. Basically, if the content was created simply to “match very specific search queries,” it could be dropped in Search result rankings.

And on the spam side of things, Google says it is updating its spam policies to be able to take more targeted action on sites abusing rules. They specifically mention they want to go after “pages that pretend to have answers to popular searches but fail to deliver helpful content.” They also aren’t fans of sites hosting low-quality content from third parties that aims to boost off of the hosting site. And finally, they know about the folks who buy expired domains and then abuse their Google standing with low-quality garbage that ranks because of the domain’s history.

This all sounds like it could bring meaningful change to Google Search, but time will obviously tell. As this update begins rolling out, Search could get weird for a while until new rankings shake out.

Here’s to hoping these changes don’t accidentally rope in a bunch of small publishers and bury us all into oblivion.