Google’s August 2024 core update is now done rolling out, a Google spokesperson told us. It started on August 15, 2024 and completed 19 days later on September 3, 2024. This update caused a lot of ranking movement and changes to the overall Google Search results.
As we said before, this update is not just a normal core update. The August 2024 core update took into account the feedback Google heard since the September 2023 helpful content update that seemed to have a negative impact on many small and independent publishers.
What we saw. In fact, we saw some movement for the first time with some (not all) sites hit by that update. I recent poll I ran showed that most who took the poll were negatively impacted by the last core update:
44% said My Rankings/Traffic Are Down (total votes 1,583)
27% said My Rankings/Traffic Are Up (total votes 993)
29% said No Change (total votes 1,038)
Overall, it seems like while we saw some recoveries from the September helpful content in 2023, that was only for a few sites and limited recoveries. Most sites did not see significant or meaningful recoveries, from what we can tell. And even more sites saw even more declines or just stayed the same.
Ranking bug. The first four or so days of the August core update, we also had a big search ranking bug that was fixed 4 days later. So, you should disregard any movement you saw during those first four days or so. You should compare the rankings and traffic you have seen from Google this week, going forward, compare to the weeks prior to the release of the August core update.
What Google said about the August core update. John Mueller, Search Advocate at Google, wrote when the update was originally released.
“Today, we launched our August 2024 core update to Google Search. This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.”
Google said this update aims to promote useful content from small and independent publishers, after Google listened to feedback it received since the release of the March 2024 core update. Mueller added:
“This latest update takes into account the feedback we’ve heard from some creators and others over the past few months. As always, we aim to connect people with a range of high quality sites, including ‘small’ or ‘“’independent’ sites that are creating useful, original content on relevant searches. This is an area we’ll continue to address in future updates.”
This August 2024 core update “aims to better capture improvements that sites may have made, so we can continue to surface the best of the web,” Mueller added.
Guidance updated. Google posted several updates to its help page about core updates, including more in-depth guidance for those who may see changes after an update.
Previous core updates. The previous core update – the March 2024 core update – was the largest core update, according to Google. It started March 5 and completed 45 days later on April 19.
Here’s a timeline and our coverage of recent core updates:
The March 2024 core update was on March 5th and ended on April 19.
The November 2023 core update was on November 2nd and ended on November 28.
The October 2023 core update was on October 5th and ended on October 19
The August 2023 core update was on August 22nd and ended on September 7.
The March 2023 core update was on March 15th and ended on March 28th.
The September 2022 broad core update was less impactful than previous core updates and finished on Sept. 26.
The May 2022 broad core update was a significant and fast update.
The June 2021 core update, which was slow to roll out but a big one.
What to do if you are hit. Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. Google has not really given much new advice here.
There aren’t specific actions to take to recover. A negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages.
Google has offered a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update.
Google said you can see a bit of a recovery between core updates but the biggest change would be after another core update.
In short, write helpful content for people and not to rank in search engines.
“There’s nothing new or special that creators need to do for this update as long as they’ve been making satisfying content meant for people. For those that might not be ranking as well, we strongly encourage reading our creating helpful, reliable, people-first content help page,” Google said previously.
Why we care. By now, you should probably see the trend of this update and how it may have affected your website. If you noticed improvements, then great – if not, then maybe you have more work to do so Google will deem your site helpful enough to rank better in the Google search results.
Google releases core update every few to several months, so you should always continue to work on improving your site and the content on your site. Future updates may benefit your site’s ranking and Google traffic – so always be working on improvements – not just for Google Search but also for your website users.
Google did tell us there won’t be a feedback form for this update.
