What Does the Latest Google Update Mean for your Website?

Back in March, Google’s latest updates included Core updates and Spam updates that came into immediate effect.

While details were a little hazy, business owners and marketers alike have had a few weeks to see its impacts. If you have yet to pay attention and adapt your strategy accordingly, now is the time to start.

But what are the focal points of the latest Google Update, and how can you ensure that your marketing campaigns continue to satisfy the Google algorithm? Here’s all you need to know.

Understanding the Latest Google Update

The latest Google update primarily aims to improve user experiences by reducing poor-quality results and content by up to 40%, leaving users with high-quality and relevant solutions. 

Google is aware that many websites actively try to trick the algorithm in order to gain higher positions on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Some examples include;

• Copying and pasting content or using content spinners.

• Using high domain authority websites to gain links and promote their websites.

• Keyword stuffing and spamming. 

• Duplicating content such as location pages without any relevance.

• Buying old domains solely for the purpose of abusing the SERPs.

As automated Google crawlers and human reviewers become more advanced, the search engine is now positioned to place added emphasis on high-quality content while penalising low-quality content. The impact on SEO over the coming months will be huge.

What Does it Mean for your Website?

By now, you should be fully aware of SEO’s importance to a modern marketing strategy. Therefore, when reading up on marketing tips or developing your campaigns, it’s vital that you take the latest Google update into account. 

Google will continue to drive a large percentage of your traffic, as long as your website ranks well. On-site attributes like fast loading speeds, easy navigation, good site security, and mobile optimisation will continue to provide the foundation of a successful strategy. 

However, adapting to the Google Core update is arguably more focused on avoiding bad habits that no longer fly. Some of the key tactics you must stop implementing include;

• Relying too much on generative AI. While gen AI can be used to create text, images, video, and audio content, you can have too much of a good thing. Content produced in this way can become bland if there is never any human ingenuity involved. Likewise, data bias and the threat of plagiarism could result in websites being punished by Google crawlers. In other words, it should be used to support rather than replace more traditional content marketing efforts.

• Focusing on keywords rather than value. Keywords continue to play a vital role as they let search engines know what the content (and business, by extension) is about. Still, simply repeating the same phrase without relevance or context will make the page become categorised as low quality. Therefore, it’s better to focus on value-driven content. The relevant keywords should come organically.

• Chasing paid sponsored content masked as genuine articles. Google crawlers have become far more astute when it comes to detecting advertorial or sponsored posts, especially those that are not declared as this. If you have been guilty of paying well-known websites and authoritative voices in your industry to promote your content, now is a good time to stop.

• Repeating the same content. You may have multiple service pages, location pages, or product pages for similar items. Still, you should ensure that every web page is original. Likewise, you must avoid ideas like hiding keywords within the page or misleading search engines in any other way.  

In other words, businesses should look to utilise unique content and focus on EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to create web content that is loved by users and search engines alike. 

What Can I Still Do with Regard to Third Parties?

While Google is looking to penalise and de-index offending websites guilty of site authority abuse, that does not mean you can no longer use third parties to support your marketing strategies. For starters, embedded ads are still fine. 

When dealing with editorial content, the list of acceptable items includes press releases, genuine articles that align with the host site, and pages like forums that are used to encourage user input. 

If unsure about how to navigate the new landscape, speaking to experts with relevant advice will point you in the right direction. It may seem like an uphill battle, but there should be a sense of positivity too. After all, many websites will fail to adapt. Assuming yours does, its Google rankings will rise over the months to come.