Google Unleashes Major March 2024 Algorithm Update, Causing Widespread Site Impacts
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The March 2024 core update is one of the biggest Google algorithm updates ever, on par with major historical updates like Florida, Panda, and Penguin. Sites that survived past updates are now getting hit.
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Manual actions are happening incredibly fast, with some sites seeing significant traffic drops before receiving notification. Communication around manual actions seems inconsistent.
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The update is catching small, low-quality AI content sites in addition to large spam networks. Google likely uses more sophisticated statistical analysis than just publishing frequency.
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Some sites receiving manual actions now are older, established sites that have ranked well for years without prior issues.
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With the roll out lasting a full month, it's wise to observe patterns in affected sites before taking action. As with past major updates, a period of assessment and strategy recalibration is needed.