Hamsterdam Part 48: SEO News Recap from 3/3 to 3/10, 2024
By Ethan Lazuk
Last updated:
A weekly look-back at SEO news, tips, and other content shared on social media & beyond.
Opening notes:
> Talk about a busy week! In light of Google’s updates this week — and this being an 8-day recap — I’ll need to be judicious in choosing which content to include.
> But don’t worry, a lot of the miscellaneous info about the March 2024 core update, spam update, and manual actions will be shared in April in a follow-up blog post to my last rankings volatility article.
> In light of the core update, here are a few of my blog posts that may be helpful:
- SEO basics in 2024
- User-first SEO tactics
- What is helpful, reliable, and people-first content?
- A framework for creative SEO content (11x content)
*Feel free to jump down to this week’s recap, or continue for an introduction and summary of the week’s news!
Introduction to week 48: “palm trees = ouch”
Last week’s Hamsterdam came a day early because I was traveling to Las Vegas for the Pubcon SEO conference.
It was a great experience to meet people in person who I’d only spoken with online.
Having been around other fields, what I enjoy about the SEO profession is how many people are down to earth and focused on the craft and knowledge.
While I was at Pubcon, two major things happened.
The first was Google began rolling out its March 2024 core update and spam update.
The second was I walked into a palm tree.
These events aren’t unrelated …
Let’s talk about the first one.
On Tuesday, March 5th, Google announced significant ranking updates and spam policies. We’d all kind of been expecting something, but these were notable for their overlapping and complex nature.
I’ll include articles in the Top Posts section below to explain everything, but here’s a quick recap of the highlights:
1. March core update is “more complex” than usual
Google launched the March 2024 core update this week and called it a “more complex update than our usual core updates” because it involves multiple core ranking systems.
(Compare this to the October 2023 and November 2023 core updates that involved different core ranking systems.)
The March core update rollout will also take about a month, which is longer than the usual two weeks or so.
2. No more helpful content updates
The legendary yet short-lived helpful content system — which was responsible for the 3rd helpful content update in September 2023 that portended a lot of this month’s rankings changes — no longer exists in isolation. Rather, the HCS it is now part of the core ranking systems and used with other systems to identify “helpful content.”
(We knew that “hidden gems” improvements were originally discussed like they were part of the helpful content system but actually launched as part of the core systems, so this makes some sense. The reviews system was also recently made into a rolling system.)
3. March spam update but also new spam policies
Google rolled out a March 2024 spam update in conjunction with the core update. This is in addition to new spam policies, including expired domain abuse, scaled content abuse, and site reputation abuse.
The overlap of algorithmic changes plus manual actions will make some site visibility changes difficult to diagnose or isolate, but Google’s guidance has been to look at the big picture, which I think this will reinforce that idea.
4. Manual penalties happening
While the core update and spam update are algorithmic, meaning automated systems enforce them, the spam policies can be applied with manual actions, and that’s what we’ve seen this week.
The scaled content abuse policy is one that I think people should become aware of. While a lot of attention on social media so far has been on marketing influencers on YouTube, TikTok, etc., who promoted AI for SEO content, I’ve also seen an openness among some high-level decision makers toward AI-generated content at scale. I was even pitched tools while agency side where the maker said they could publish like 10,000 pages in a week, and that “Google was OK with it.” (It’s not.)
I’ve maintained with clients then and now as an independent consultant that efforts to “manipulate search rankings” are SEO spam. We’d already seen evidence that mass-produced AI content can get manually penalized. Short-term cost savings for content creation will likely equal short-term SEO results. Focus on efficiencies over shortcuts, maintaining quality, and playing the long game.
5. A 40% reduction in low-quality content
Given its March 2024 core update, new spam policies, and the learnings from its helpful content updates beginning in August 2022, Google expects to “collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%.”
6. Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines updated
In addition to Search updates, the Google SQRG had updates about untrustworthy pages related to factual inaccuracies. This document is what quality raters use to gauge if proposed search result updates should launch. They likely also help with labeling data for fine tuning machine learning models used in ranking.
Something else I found interesting about the factual accuracy part is the coincidence with the 2024 U.S. election season and references to “fake news” in Google’s linked blog posts.
As mentioned, I’ll include a bunch of articles about these updates in the Top Posts section below, where you can dig in.
But what about that palm tree?
Oh yeah.
So, I was in the hotel courtyard at the Luxor, reading about these updates on my phone.
I was half asleep and jet lagged still, yet hopped up on coffee, and I walked into a concrete abutment, which tripped me full speed and head first into a palm tree.
My coffee went flying and stained my shoes and hat.
My hands and face got scratched up, and my knee had one of those wounds reminiscent of when you fall of your bike as a kid.
Whoever said SEO isn’t a contact sport?
What did I learn? Simply, to pay attention, be patient, and be smart.
When environments get unfamiliar or chaotic, it’s easy to do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do.
I see a lot of people experiencing dips in their traffic presently and wondering what should be the immediate course of action.
If you got a manual penalty, I’d say dig into that right away, but don’t expect a quick resolution. Instead, focus on a thorough solution, and maybe thereafter a complete change of pace.
However, if you’re just in the throws of algorithmic shakeups, stay patient. We know the core update will take about a month. You’ll probably want to compare at least a few weeks of data prior and afterward, so we’re talking mid-April at the earliest. Then we’ll no doubt see shakeups from the site reputation abuse spam policies set to take effect on May 5th.
We were told to buckle up. We saw the third HCU and the manual action for heisted content. Now all we have to do is keep an eye out for those palm trees.
Buckle up for a FULLER week’s recap, and enjoy the vibes:
Summary of the week’s SEO news and content
- Google is rolling out the March 2024 core update, March 2024 spam update, and new spam policies, plus a slew of manual actions. The core update will take about a month, plus we have the site reputation abuse policy kicking off in early May.
- The Search Quality Rater Guidelines were updated with emphasis on factual inaccuracies; I wonder if it’s partly tied to fake news and the U.S. election.
- Google’s webspam team is issuing manual actions for sites violating spam policies; Ian Nuttall created a list of impacted sites.
- Bing Webmaster Tools introduced some new functionality, including IndexNow Insights; Ahrefs will now use IndexNow data for its Site Audit tool.
- There seemed to be a lot of tests and insights around local search this week.
- Wu Tang is for the children.
- And much more!
Missed last week? Don’t worry, I got you! Read Part 47 to catch up.
Thank you for supporting Hamsterdam and helping make SEO accessible to all!
Ok, time for (home)work.
Jump to a section of this week’s recap
- Top posts
- News, Google updates, & SERP tests
- SEO tips & tidbits
- Fundamentals & resources
- Articles, videos & case studies
- Local SEO
- Technical SEO
- Content marketing
- SEO tools, AI & reporting
- Humor section
- Miscellaneous & general posts
Or keep scrolling to see it all.
Also, feel free to support content you find valuable with a like, follow, or friendly comment.
Now, let’s step inside the white flags …
Top posts (all update related)
These are highlights of news items, tips, or other content for the week. Great for when you just want a quick recap!
SEO news, Google updates, & SERP tests
These are newsworthy events in the SEO world, search engine updates, or SERP tests to be aware of from the last week.
SEO tips & tidbits
This section has actionable tips, cool tidbits, and other findings and observations that can be teaching moments.
SEO (and AI) fundamentals & resources
If you’re new to SEO, this section is for you and includes essential information, concepts, or resources to learn more.
Articles, videos, case studies & more
These are longer-form content pieces shared on social and elsewhere.
Why information satisfaction is key to Google’s ranking algorithms – Pierre Far, SEL
Tools, AI & reporting
Here’s a recap of AI news, SEO tool updates, new tools, along with tips for reporting on data.
1-bit LLMs – IshaBytles (Watch on TikTok)
Wu is for the children – Wade Shaver (Watch on TikTok)
General Marketing & Miscellaneous
This is for great content that isn’t necessarily SEO or marketing-specific. PPC, PR, dev, design, and social friends, check it out!
Molson sponsorship for hockey (IWD) – Jordan Rogers (Watch on TikTok)
Great job making it to the end. You rock!
Please show your support for creators: If you liked any of the content shared above, show that person support by liking their post or following them. 🙂
Newsletter, anyone?
Hungry for more? Check out the past weeks of Hamsterdam.
Or sign up for the newsletter, which gets delivered every Sunday!
*All emails follow this website’s privacy policy.
Want help with your brand’s SEO?
I’m an independent strategist and consultant based in Orlando, Florida, focusing on holistic SEO strategies for brands. Currently, I’m taking new clients for 2024!
Feel free to visit my about page for more information about my background.
Let’s connect!
Hit me up anytime via text or call at 813-557-9745 or on social or email:
Cheers!
Leave a Reply