Home » Google August 2024 Core update: looking out for the little ones

Google August 2024 Core update: looking out for the little ones

August 21, 2024
Friday August 16th, Google announced that they’re rolling out their next core update over the coming weeks. This one is set to help some smaller publisher get back up again, after some disastrous losses after the helpful content hit they took last year. Let’s dive in!

What's changing this time around

The August Core update seems to mainly be an extension of the work that Google has already been doing over the past few updates: focus on helpful content and reducing spammy content and domains. In addition to this, Google stated this time around that it has taken the feedback (and backlash) from previous Core updates into account, and tweaked the algorithm accordingly. As with the previous updates, their main goal is stated to be to “help people find genuinely useful content” across the web.

Who this update will impact the most

Google's statement about incorporating feedback about the missteps of the past updates, and what their (negative) impact has been, suggests that we can expect smaller independent, high-quality websites to get a bit of a boost. Some of these smaller publishers completely dropped off of the map after the past update, but can presumably expect to see some rank recovery over the coming weeks.
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What to do during the rollout

As per usual, there's not much more to do than just wait out the effects of the Core update on your sites. Though there were a few things that did peak my interest:

  • John Mueller, Google's Search Advocate, has again emphasised the importance of what he calls ‘original content’. Looking at you, ChatGPT landing page creators… 👀
  • Over the past few weeks the SERPs have been quite volatile, with a lot of weird, inexplicable fluctuations and outages. It seems that Google is working on more stuff under the hood of their flagship product than they're letting on.

What to do when you get hit

You got hit! Now what? Well, about time that you started working on creating some fresh, actually helpful, content. We've all seen them before, but let's put the most important content quality factors in a list for you again:

  • Consider the reader: make sure that your content is written with your users in mind. What is your reader looking for, what questions drive them, why are they looking for these answers in the first place?
  • Make sure your content is original: Google doesn't like regurgitated content, and honestly, neither does your audience! If you're just going to repeat the different pointers that the competition already wrote about, without adding any input or insight of your own, you're better off not writing anything at all.
  • Focus on quality, not on speed: Sloppiness is spelling errors are bad… for users AND for your rankings! Yes, Google cares about spelling and grammar, so let's hope that you paid attention back in school.
  • Google recognizes authority: Google cares about who is producing your blogs, guides, cases, and pages alike! Use structured data for your author profiles and start building up some nice authority for the authors in your company. And yes, Google does some basic background checking if people actually exist, so con't go making up any AI writers my friends.

Conclusion

The key takeaways from this core update as of now:

  • August Core update will take about four weeks to roll out.
  • Small publishers will most likely see a (small) uplift if they lost a significant amount of traffic.
  • Keep calm, and produce high-expertise content!
Corporate Marketing Manager
Niels Krikke is the Corporate Marketing Manager at Seeders Zwolle. With a background in strategic marketing and a keen eye for detail, Niels is dedicated to creating effective marketing campaigns that drive results. With a focus on data-driven strategies and a passion for innovation, Niels plays a key role in developing and executing marketing initiatives that help us achieve our business goals.
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