What You Need To Know About the August 2024 Google Core Update
It is that time again, when everyone in the SEO world scrambles to understand why their traffic decreased or in some cases, why they got a surge of new traffic. As Google continues to fine-tune its search algorithm, especially in response to AI, search professionals see new changes. These changes are especially important for improving technical SEO performance.
Significant improvements from Google have been released in August 2024, including a new core version, the fixing of a ranking problem, and advancements in the DOJ's antitrust lawsuit against Google. While it is important to remember that some of these updates may take a month to roll out, putting finalization in mid-September to October, it is important to understand the impact, as this affects all geographies, languages, search types, and content varieties.
With that being said, let’s dive into the new August 2024 update:
Key Takeaways From Google’s August 2024 Update
Effect on the Sites the HCU Affected: There's good news if your website was affected by the Helpful Content Update (HCU) back in September 2023. Online discussions and data from various initiatives suggest that many sites are starting to recover from the damage.
Extended Google Search Central Documentation: To aid webmasters in navigating these updates more effectively, Google has revised its core update guidance. This includes performing your content self-assessment when rankings drop and not being rash when it comes to making content changes, such as outright deleting content.
While Google has not said the above should encourage human-written content, we believe that it does. If Google wants you to manually self-assess, including asking yourself specific questions and wants you to focus on any content modification that improves the user experience, then it wants content that, at the very least, is human lead.
Update Timeline for Google Core Update
As mentioned, these updates can take a full month to release when the updates are initially rolled out, which places a timeline of mid-September to October.
If you would like to see the status, we recommend looking at the latest documentation for Google Search Central as well as the Google Search Status Dashboard.
The Dreaded Ranking Bug Has Been Fixed
One of the biggest issues for some websites was a drop-off in search rankings due to a ranking bug. This was reported on August 15th, by Google dev and affected rankings across many different industries. While there was some speculation this related to the core update, Google Search Advocate, John Mueller noted that it wasn’t.
Regardless, Google has noted that it has fixed the bug. Thus, if your site is still experiencing a significant rank drop, there is likely another cause.
New Updates to Google’s AI Overview
There have been mixed reactions to Google’s new AI overview that pops up for many popular search queries. Whether you love it or hate it, Google has been listening to feedback and has implemented the following changes:
Organizing Source Sites: The websites that produce AI responses are now arranged as icons in the overview's upper-right corner. A panel containing links to the relevant pages will open when you click on these icons.
Embedded Links: To facilitate users' direct discovery of relevant material, certain AI-generated responses will now contain embedded links within the text.
New Save Feature: AI-generated responses now have a "save" feature that allows users to store them for later use. For English queries only, this function is presently available in the United States. Saved answers are accessible through the "Interests" area of your profile.
Global Expansion: AI Overviews have been rolled out to six new locations: the United Kingdom, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil. Each location also receives local language support, making these features more accessible to a global audience.
The “You May Also Need” Section Has Been Updated
The "You May Also Need" area of Google's interface is a new feature that is currently undergoing testing. Although there aren't many details, a screenshot appears to indicate that this function, which suggests relevant products to users, is intended for e-commerce. This might improve the purchasing experience by simplifying the process for customers to locate complementary products.
Here is an example, spotted by Kushal Bherwani on X.
Google Versus The DOJ
While this may be more geared towards paid advertising, we believe this might impact Google search in general.
As part of an ongoing antitrust case, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has indeed found Google guilty of monopolizing the search market.
What might this mean for Google, and what impact will it have on search?
Here’s what we think:
Possible Penalties
One of the possibilities Google could face is potentially breaking agreements to allow Google to be the default search engine on the Chrome Browser and Android Devices. Since this is around 2.5 billion for Android alone, this would have a major impact. It is worth noting that Google is not only the default option but also cannot be removed from these platforms.
What Does This Mean for Google Ads?
It is more than likely that the DOJ won't force Google to sell Google Ads. They might, however, establish criteria for interoperability to guarantee that Google Ads run without a hitch on alternative search engines. More information is anticipated to be revealed during a separate hearing on Google Ads in September.
Be Protative With Google Updates
This month has been exciting due to significant updates and possible changes in the world of SEO and search. Being up to date on the most recent core update, AI improvements, and legal developments is essential to effectively managing these changes.
