Google Algorithm Update 2024: Three Key Takeaways
Why is the Google algorithm update being released?
This is a response from Google to address web content created by AI or automation and the thousands of “spam repositories” that create toxic backlinks to other websites.
Takeaway #1: Interactive websites are more important than ever
First Input Delay (FID), a metric targeting how quickly a website reacts to a users behaviour on a page, is being replaced in March 2024 with Interaction to Next Paint (INP). In typical Google lingo, this looks like nonsense, however it is an extremely important change which could impact your website’s overall search engine rankings.
Interaction to Next Paint in basic English is: “How long does the webpage take to visually show a user that it is reacting to their input?” This could be a click on a menu, a product added to a shopping cart or details entered into a contact form.
The longer the delay there is in a visual change, then the lower the INP score and the greater the negative impact on search rankings. A fast, responsive website with a focus on user interaction will always score well.
Need to know if your website scores well for Core Vitals and INP?
Takeaway #2: Artificial Intelligence in Google Search Rankings
Google is now actively monitoring the uniqueness and usefulness of website content. Google Search Results will now penalise websites where content or articles that appear to have been heavily influenced or generated by AI content. Content that appears generic, batch created through automation or tailored for search specifically by AI will now be de-ranked in search results.
This means it is more important than ever to create unique content that is specific to your organisation or brand. To measure this, look for Content Uniqueness Scores or equivalent in your SEO platform. The higher the content uniqueness score, the better the performance of the webpage or article.
Not sure how to find out your content uniqueness score, or need help researching your SEO performance?
Targeted, original website content is now more important than ever.
The March 2024 Google Algorithm Update is heavily cracking down on spam websites and websites with irrelevant or spam third party content. As with the measure on content uniqueness, this metric will be de ranking pages that are clearly “link farms” or obsolete URLs that have been commandeered by spammers to influence search rankings.
Google’s example of irrelevant third party data is “…a third party might publish payday loan reviews on a trusted educational website to gain ranking benefits from the site”. Where websites don’t have control over their advertising blocks (outside of Google’s own ad platform) or has guest blogs, having very off-topic adverts could get flagged by Google as spam. This would then appear as a “Spam Manual Action” in Google Search Console. You can spam check your website in most SEO platforms such as Moz.