Google Strikes Back: Spam Doesn't Stand a Chance! (March 2024 Google Algorithm Update)

While I kinda get it, it seems very much as if google think that they own the internet now.

I recommend all bloggers start networking with fellow bloggers. Find good articles and drop a helpful, friendly comment here and there. I use a simple RSS feed to follow the blogs I like. Its the kind of old school stuff we used to do back in the day. You know, real people connecting with real people. We all shared real, organic traffic and we all made money. Then Facebook came along and people ran there. Its a shame. But, 15 years later, we're back to where we started. Because that's what the average web surfer is looking for - genuine content from people. Not machines.

I'm very hopeful with what's happening right now.

Good explanation! One thing that bugs me is that the HCU also lowered rankings for many high quality websites of people that actually put a lot of effort and resources into creating content. It feels contradictive to what they are saying and telling us. At the same time, low quality Reddit/Quora discussions are dominating the SERPs. I hope Google will change this approach soon and reward high quality websites more. But I have doubts about that...

I have this web site since like 2019 with hundreds of articles and thousands of hours of work put into it. My site is not pretty but people read some pages and some reading stats are petty good. However, I was never able to take site off the ground because google does not think it is pretty enough, I guess. The rules are unclear. Now it marked my site as spam without providing any reason or guidance why it is a spam. At the same time, I occasionally encounter sites with articles written by AI with mistakes and errors, including language errors and with keyword staffing. Still. They somehow are not considered spam? Frankly, I am fed up with it. I am done. Let someone else blog. I found myself watching videos 90% of the time and reading 10% o the time online anyway. You must be part of mass media cartel to get green light on google nowadays and receive tons of traffic. On the other hand, I have Ezoic and they seem to be pushing ads quite hard, multiple ads per page. Anyway, to many rules, to little return on investment of energy and time.

I have a question about crawling. My website is new with about 11 indexed pages, then I added 20 more pages and it has been over a month without those pages being crawled. I just saw the last crawled date of my HOME PAGE, where all my new posts are linked, is march 4th which is 3 days ago. Why on earth does Google crawl the home page but not the new "discovered, currently not indexed" pages?

Thank you so much for the update.

Google doesn't know what good content is. How can they? I spend 4+ hours on each article and publish original images yet I got refused for Adsense. I have 19 years experience in my industry and include content that other websites don't have.

Thanks Ricky for the update, very clear

I’m not seeing niche websites being relevant in the future. Eventually society will just go to AI and ask the questions they need answered. I been selling my portfolio of sites the last few months.

Most people are super lazy and want to take the easy road. Do the opposite of what most people are doing. It’s about info gain for Google.

Good video as always. The thing is YOUR PROJECT 25 TIMELINE isn't working. It is saying 404 why?

Thanks for sharing this with us Ricky. For me the question is will this help some of our legitimately good sites that were "punished" by a helpful content update start coming back up? I purchased two large websites last year and both were hit very hard. I have not done much with them yet but plan to make the post more helpful and unique.

Google is saying "Now their update will destroy spam" that means their serp is full of spam 🙏

My site 3M traffic and now deindex 😄 using aged

Love this first principles approach. Genuine content. Too many cynics here saying Google is only concerned about ads, but that's based on people using their product, which has to be...useful. So much of page 1 has become garbage, and they know it.

I have an artist journal blog that ranked number 1 for my name. As of today it's like 3 pages back. Now I have a better idea why it dropped to much. Thanks for the info. Guess Google doesn't like my content

your making things up. my site was killed bc of AI nonsense

I don't believe anything will change. I started my site a dozen years ago and had no competition at all. Wikipedia was the only site to write on my topic, and they had no calculators like mine did.

I few years or so ago, 20+ sites started scrapping my content.. and just using synonyms every several words.. rearranging sentences.. making it a little longer with fluff... destroying my traffic. You can tell these people don't even understand the topic.

One particular site that supposedly has an executive team and many employees... they started by just rewriting my content. They've written thousands of pages, but many pages are just my pages.. many of these sites have higher domain authority, et cetera... even though my site has been referenced in college textbooks and academic journals.

There is one site that has done a great job and has extensive quality content, but it's the only one... but I think they're owned by the Wall Street Journal and have professional writers.. I can compete if I'm lucky... top level work.

Google doesn't like whatever you create, they just want a new, old drama everyday from a different angle.

That some how grab the attention and more eyes on theirs ads.
😅

As you mentioned naturally building content idea , if you play back you will find this what every blogger was doing but google was cheated by the masters and now we learned a bit of cheating with AI - So what NOW - google wants to be natural.😮

Google wants to be our darling that we will never understand.

🤣

Example - of new old drama is - 28 day chair exercises or yoga. It's an app with good drama and getting attentions.

Be a good director not content creator.

Google also wants to run the show 🎉😅

Thank you for explaining this clearly. I agree that high quality content should be the primary. Ironically, I run a gaming news site, and people have approached me to put sponsored content on my site, but I reject them for the reasons you've stated. I am worried the content they provide will not meet my standards, and its not worth damaging the sites reputation over a few $. Also, I have seen a lot of SEO's talking about creating content at scale with Auto AI or the like, or buying expired domains to get authority quickly. I feel like Google is watching what the SEO's are saying too and acting accordingly.

Some AI sites are already being deindexed, which is interesting.

I've heard that google cant read articles, so my question is (if that's the case) - How can they determine which one has original content to put at the top of serps,and which ones to add further down the list ?

i never bothered with written ai content primarily because you can't copyright it

Google has always been “telling” us about updates without actually telling us about the updates. All they care about is how to squeeze as much money out of ads as possible.

Follow the money - the rest is noise. It would be no surprise if the big players win again and the rest will be screwed again. Lets talk again in 3 months
Cheers from Bogota

Thank you for the update!