Google Search August 2024 Core Update - Explained

Google Search August 2024 Update Explained

Written by Chris Glynn (Director of DL) – Published 21/08/2024

Overview on Google Updates

Before we look at the latest Google Search update in 2024, let’s just remind ourselves what these core updates are all about:

Several times each year, Google rolls out major updates to its search algorithms and systems. These are named core updates, Google keeps everyone informed about them on their Google Search ranking updates page, you can view Google Search status here. Often, most websites don’t need to stress over these core updates and might not even notice when one occurs. However, if you’re seeing major changes in your traffic overnight, it’s worth checking out the latest update and what it means for your website. In the past you may have worked with someone who did black-hat SEO by using piggyback linking for example which was forgotten about, this would be affected in one of Google’s updates. We also see some updates that help websites, everyone knows forums and large comment sites like Reddit have a track record of dominating search results, even though their results are not helpful, Google is on a mission to stop this by rewarding smaller sites with a lesser DR (domain rating) but with a strong topical authority. Let’s dive into the latest update.

August 2024 Google Search Update

So, Google dropped the August 2024 core update last Thursday, and right after that, they acknowledged a ranking bug that’s messing with thousands of search results (now resolved). Since then, we’ve been hearing from a lot of SEOs and site owners who are noticing some early signs of potential recoveries for sites that were affected by the notorious September 2023 helpful content update.

Whenever there is a new update, we look back to the last big shift. It’s been a while since the September 2023 helpful content update rolled out, and now we’re starting to notice a few sites bouncing back. However, not every site affected by that update is recovering—most still seem to be struggling. Interestingly, some sites that were impacted by earlier core updates are starting to see improvements, while others are facing their first hit. On a positive note, as we mentioned before, many publishers are getting their rich result thumbnails back, which suggests that the new core update is benefiting some of them.

How to Provision for Google Updates

Firstly, of course if your working with Digital Landscope, we are as up to date as possible with these changes and monitor them closely and will adjust your SEO strategy where applicable. You can monitor updates on Google ranking update page, we also report on the big updates here in our blog. It’s worth mentioning that the main way you can provision for these updates (that can see sites lose thousands of clicks overnight) is to always go content first – regular blogs, fresh imagery, changes to pages, consistent optimisation.

Thanks For Reading!

If you have any questions about the latest update or if you think you may have been affected, hit this contact link and we’ll arrange a free consultation with you!