Whether you should panic about Google's algorithm updates depends on what kind of SEO work you do. You might be more worried if someone is trying to game the system than if you had a clear conscience that everything was done with good intentions (i.e. over-optimized and regurgitated copy for search engines) Create content that is useful to people instead of creating content that is useful to people).
I don't mean to be frivolous. Of course, as an agency we always pay attention to these announcements, but you won't find a big red “panic” button here. That said, there seems to be more written about this update than usual, so I thought I'd tackle what's going on.
What is the latest core update?
It probably came as no surprise to anyone that Collins' word of the year for 2023 was AI. I felt like it was the only topic that mattered to the world of technology, and sometimes the world at large. AI has been applied to almost every field, often with great success; teeth It can be exploited when it comes to content creation. And that's what makes many people working in SEO uncomfortable today. More details later…
Google said This latest update is more complex than regular updates and includes changes to multiple systems. It also says it shows that the way we identify content's usefulness has evolved.
Hopefully, this update will reduce the amount of low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by as much as 40% in total. This is a fairly ambitious goal.
Need a new core update?
german researcher Professors at the University of Leipzig, the Bauhaus University of Weimar, and the Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence would argue that it is. They argued that Google's search results continue to go downhill, and that “a torrent of low-quality content, especially in product searches, continues to bury all kinds of useful information in search results.”
Returning to the topic of AI, it is now incredibly easy to use AI to churn out low-quality content. This update is likely aimed at reducing the amount of poorly written, unoriginal, and mostly useless content that is creeping into SEO practices. Google's own explanation is not very direct, but this is what many people are summarizing.
To some extent, Google has been lifted by its own petals. Those involved in SEO have always tried to create content according to relevant and high-traffic keywords. Trying to do this in the most efficient way possible isn't exactly a crime. In fact, it feels like Google is at a disadvantage with this update, but it's clear that Google is embarrassed by this lackluster content and needs to do something about it.
How this will unravel remains to be seen. It may be possible for Google to tell the difference between a site that uses AI exclusively and extensively and one that is created entirely by humans, for humans, but where does Google's sword fall? There are a lot of things that we don't know yet that will fall. Given the level of noise surrounding this new update, I suspect there are quite a few updates operating in these murky waters.
The second part of the update aims to reduce spam tactics. Abuse of expired domains, abuse of amplified content, abuse of site reputation. (I'll explain more next week if you're interested.) His deadline to comply with the new spam policy is May 5th, so you've been warned.
The overall size of this update is so large that Google says it will take a month to complete the rollout.
So buckle up, everyone. Even if your site is super clean, it could have a big impact on search results and rankings if people around you benefit from this update or face search penalties or worse, manual actions. Variations may occur. It could be an eventful journey for at least a few months.