Google Search was once one of the most powerful tools on the planet. I can’t tell you how many times over the years that I’ve heard someone say, “I just Googled it” or “You should Google it.” We still do it, but I’d be lying if I told you that I do so and expect anything other than SEO-gamed, spam results that are often useless and are clearly content created for the purpose of fulfilling my query. Google Search has sucked for a really long time because Google allowed the worst in the content industry to take advantage of it.
Today, Google announced what appears to be a huge update for Search dubbed the “March 2024 core update.” This new core update (as well as the March 2024 spam update) will try to reduce unoriginal content in results by surfacing “the most helpful information.” It’ll also aim to keep the “lowest-quality” content from Search that might be from expired sites that people have repurposed for spam results.
Google dove into its thoughts and changes here, saying that they believe this March 2024 core update “will collectively reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%.” That seems quite significant if they can achieve it.
They are targeting sites that “feel like they were created for search engines instead of people” and that might have a poor user experience or are unhelpful. Basically, if the content was created simply to “match very specific search queries,” it could be dropped in Search result rankings.
And on the spam side of things, Google says it is updating its spam policies to be able to take more targeted action on sites abusing rules. They specifically mention they want to go after “pages that pretend to have answers to popular searches but fail to deliver helpful content.” They also aren’t fans of sites hosting low-quality content from third parties that aims to boost off of the hosting site. And finally, they know about the folks who buy expired domains and then abuse their Google standing with low-quality garbage that ranks because of the domain’s history.
This all sounds like it could bring meaningful change to Google Search, but time will obviously tell. As this update begins rolling out, Search could get weird for a while until new rankings shake out.
Here’s to hoping these changes don’t accidentally rope in a bunch of small publishers and bury us all into oblivion.
Remember when Googlewhacking was a thing? I don’t think you can do that anymore.
Whenever my youngest comes to me with a question I don’t feel that I could answer to his satisfaction, I just say, “Google is your friend.” Then a minute later he turns into Young Sheldon and either asks my old Pixel 2 XL or or the Google hub, a long and drawn out question that more than likely goes beyond comprehension for the assistant.
Stopped using Google Search years ago.
Honestly this is more reason to not use search. After their AI DEI drama, why would I want Google to “curate” my search results more?
I used to take a Google search as gospel in the past but yeah it seems over the last 3 years it has lost my trust. It’s hard to put my finger on what it is but something is amiss there. Personally, I think Google needs to fire their CEO who has gotten lazy over the last 10 years and has allowed huge mistakes especially with AI. Like seriously, with all the data and huge leaps in Assistant, how did they totally get caught flat footed. I have been using Perplexity for the last month and search is amazing. It gives me the answer I need without all of the other crap that appears in a Google search.
I’m not sure if it’s the CEO specifically, but I definitely feel like Google has no direction going forward now that it looks like Search isn’t the cash cow it used to be. Google going hard into AI feels like a knee jerk reaction to the situation and not the direction Google was actually planning on moving in.
It makes me question going forward with their services outside of Maps and Gmail more now than ever.
Who determines low quality results, and what is their agenda for doing so?
*puts on tin foil hat* removing 40% of results during an election year…
If it starts with qanon, they can delete it by default. Seriously though, there are tons of spammy results that happen for nearly every query. A trend I noticed over the last few months is a site taking bits and pieces from legit sites containing key words and phrases. The same exact garbage phrase appears in multiple search results and the linked page is pretty much just a redirect to spam. Easy stuff to find and block, but Google has been ignoring it.
That is exactly the ten thousand dollar question. Conservatives? “low quality”. Right leaning?? “low quality”. Say one thing and do another….’it’s for sites that seem like they were made for search engines’….sure it is…..
Amazing.
Actually this is just what we need more of… Google deciding what is fit for our eyes.
How about give me what I search for and allow me to decide what is fit or not.
They already filter too much