Google Algorithm Update 2024: December Spam Update

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December 2024 Spam Update

Google’s 2024 Spam Update concluded after a week-long rollout, reaffirming the search giant’s focus on identifying and mitigating manipulative tactics.

Under this update, websites relying on thin or AI-generated content that fails to provide unique value faced significant ranking drops.

The algorithm also targeted link spam aggressively, penalizing paid exchanged links with minimal editorial oversight.

While Google clarifies that AI-generated content itself isn’t necessarily harmful, a lack of human oversight and fact-checking can land pages in the spam category.

This update also reaffirms the importance of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Niche and YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) websites, in finance and healthcare, were among the hardest hit, underscoring the need for verifiable credentials and comprehensive citations.

For website owners looking to navigate these updates effectively, working with a seo service online can help ensure compliance with Google’s best practices and maintain search rankings.

Just when you thought Google had wrapped up its updates for the year with the December Core Update, they’ve thrown another curveball—the December 2024 Spam Update. Launched on December 19, this update promises a global impact, rolling out across all languages and expected to take about a week to fully implement.

Today we released the December 2024 spam update.

It may take up to 1 week to complete, and we’ll post on the Google Search Status Dashboard when the rollout is done: https://t.co/L7n9n3Nh6X

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 19, 2024

So, what’s the deal with this one? If your site follows Google’s spam policies, you can relax—this update primarily targets sites trying to game the system with spammy tactics. Think of it as Google giving its SpamBrain AI an upgrade to spot and tackle new types of search spam more effectively. For most of us, this means cleaner search results and less frustration.

But if your site’s rankings take a hit, it’s a good idea to revisit Google’s spam policies. Compliance is key to bouncing back, though be warned: link spam won’t do you any favors, even after cleanup.

This surprise spam update caps off a busy year of algorithm changes and tweaks, showing Google isn’t slowing down in its mission to keep search results high-quality and trustworthy—right in time for the holiday rush. Stay compliant, and you’re golden.

December 2024 Core Update

Google completed its fourth and final core update of 2024 in just six days, from December 12 to December 18. This rapid update followed November’s changes, creating significant volatility in search rankings across various industries and it had more volatility than the November update.

In an unexpected move, Google began rolling out its December 2024 Core Update, just as the dust settled from the November 11th Core Update, which officially wrapped up earlier this week. For website owners and SEOs bracing for the holiday season, this announcement might feel like an unwelcome surprise, potentially reshaping holiday performance metrics during one of the busiest times of the year.

The Dec. 2024 core update is rolling out, and we expect it will complete in two weeks.

If you’re wondering why there’s a core update this month after one last month, we have different core systems we’re always improving. This past blog post explains more: https://t.co/N5p3KsJyiI

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 12, 2024

While many hoped for a smooth lead-up to Christmas, this update’s timing suggests that some websites could see keyword volatility, traffic drops, or ranking shifts—typical patterns associated with major core updates. What makes this update particularly significant is its expected two-week rollout period, possibly overlapping with Christmas festivities, leaving some website owners on edge.

Notably, the November Core Update was relatively mild, as Barry Schwartz highlighted earlier this week. However, this latest update is being positioned differently by Google. According to their confirmation, it targets improvements to a different set of core systems, marking it as more substantial than a supplementary adjustment.

Interestingly, this rollout aligns with other major announcements from Google, including the introduction of Gemini 2.0 Flash features for AI Overviews and Sundar Pichai’s statement heralding transformative changes for Google Search in 2025. “Search itself will continue to change profoundly,” Pichai said. “I think you’ll be surprised, even early in [2025], by the kind of new things search can do compared to where it is today.”

For now, SEOs and site owners should closely monitor analytics and keyword rankings. While updates like these can create uncertainty, they also present opportunities for those prepared to adapt to Google’s evolving search landscape. Stay tuned as we navigate through this update and its potential impact leading into the new year.

November 2024 Core Update Completed

Google has confirmed that the rollout of the November 2024 core update was completed on December 5. First announced on November 11, 2024, this update took 24 days to finish rolling out.

Google publicized the completion of the core update launch through their social media handles and the Google Search Status Dashboard.

While this is a typical core update focused on improving the quality of search results, the SEO fraternity started seeing signs of ranking volatility in a few days following the launch of this update.

The volatility spiked up significantly by the last week of November with a wide range of sites seemingly impacted by the update.

The SEO community has also observed visible movements in SERP rankings in early December, as the core update roll out draws to a close.

Source: Search Engine Journal

While this update is said to have a moderate impact compared to the previous updates, we can’t ignore the fact that this is still one of Google’s core updates. That said, if this algorithm update hits your site, it is most likely to cause big shifts in your website’s rankings.

Google hasn’t given much new advice on recovering websites after a core update. However, pretty much like many other core updates, this core update aims to enhance the quality of search results.

From that standpoint, creating more helpful, user intent-focused content is key to improving your rankings for relevant searches.

Plus, a ranking dip can also mean that some other websites have better content than yours. That said, observe the top-ranking sites in your industry closely and try to outperform them in terms of helpful, people-centric content.

Announcement

Google has launched its latest core update on November 11, 2024, and it is expected to take up to two weeks to fully roll out. 

This marks the third core update of the year, following the previous one in August 2024, as the end of the year approaches. According to Google, this update is part of its ongoing effort to improve the quality of search results.

On its Google Search Central LinkedIn page, Google stated, “This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.”

For website owners and marketers, this announcement underscores the importance of maintaining high-quality, user-focused content. Ensuring that content serves the audience’s needs rather than focusing solely on search performance can help mitigate potential negative impacts from such updates. It is essential to regularly audit content, refresh pages with valuable insights, and optimize for user experience to stay resilient in the face of algorithm changes.

Speaking about this newest core update on X, Google also confirms,“We’ll add it to our ranking release history page in the near future and update when the rollout is complete. For more on core updates.”

Reflecting on past experiences, the November 2023 update provides a cautionary tale. This update severely impacted the holiday sales of numerous websites causing significant traffic declines. 

The recovery for at least a few of these sites did not occur until the next core update in 2024. The loss of rankings for high-value keywords disrupted holiday sales forecasts of many companies, illustrating how sudden changes in Google’s algorithms can affect business performance.

With the new core update now underway, site owners should brace for potential fluctuations and remain vigilant about their content strategies to adapt quickly to any changes.

Health and Medical Sites: According to SEMrush, during the November 2023 update, the health sector saw considerable volatility, with many sites experiencing ranking shifts. This aligns with Google’s emphasis on high-quality, authoritative content in YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) categories.

E-commerce Platforms: Online retailers and product review sites reported changes in visibility, likely due to the concurrent November 2023 Core Update and review update, which targeted the quality of product reviews and related content. 

Small Personal Blogs: Some smaller, personal websites experienced declines in traffic, possibly due to Google’s focus on promoting content from more authoritative sources.

It’s important to note that the impact of core updates varies widely, and not all sites within these categories were affected. Websites that prioritize high-quality, user-focused content and adhere to SEO best practices are generally better positioned to maintain or improve their rankings during such updates.

While we have to wait until the next core update for a full recovery, Google does share some recommendations for webmasters to consider if their sites are hit by a core update.

• Hold on for at least a week after the core update finishes rolling out before analyzing your site in the Search Console.
• To see the difference, compare your website’s current performance with its performance before the core update was launched.
• If there’s a small ranking drop, from position 2 to 4, for example, there’s no need for a significant change. Don’t make changes to content that’s performing well.

In case of a larger ranking drop, 

• Evaluate your pages based on search types, Web Search, Google Images, Video Search or News, to see where the rank drop is more visible.
• Look closely at other similar pages performing well across the web to discover how they are better than yours.

August 2024 Core Update

Google has confirmed that the August 2024 core update was fully rolled out on September 3rd. The rollout took 15 days to complete, during which we saw the typical Google dance.

This Google algorithm update, like previous core updates, aims to refine how Google evaluates and ranks content to deliver more relevant search results for users.

The SEO community is already observing shifts in website rankings and traffic as a result of this change.

Webmasters and SEO professionals are now analyzing the impact of the update on their sites, looking at changes in keyword rankings and organic traffic patterns.

It is essential for website owners to ensure their content remains high-quality, relevant, and user-centric to align with the changes brought by this latest update.

What Danny Sullivan Confirmed About the August 2024 Update:

• Purpose of Core Updates: Google core updates aim to improve Google Search for everyone, like major software updates that impact user experience.
• Small Publishers Focus: August 2024 update focuses on rewarding smaller, independent sites with great content, and future updates will continue to support these publishers.
• Ranking and Traffic Changes: Ranking well doesn’t always guarantee traffic, as factors like ads and featured snippets affect clickthroughs.
• AI Content: It’s not about AI vs. human-created content, but whether the content is produced at scale solely for SEO purposes rather than serving users.
• Social and Forum Content: Increased inclusion of Reddit and forum content is helpful for specific queries, but Google is aware it can overshadow original content.
• Recovery from September 2023 Update: Quality content will eventually be rewarded, but as algorithms evolve, not all sites may fully recover.
• Core Update Tremors: Tremors or ranking volatility are part of the pre-tested rollout, not real-time changes or mid-rollout adjustments.
• Feedback Form: Google received over 12,000 feedback submissions, and while it didn’t lead to manual ranking adjustments, it helped improve the overall algorithm.

These confirmations were made during an interview with Barry Schwartz.

Announcement

Google has announced  the rollout of the much awaited August 2024 Core update, which is expected to have far reaching impact in the wake of recent increase in the number of  irrelevant and spammy results that show up on top of Google search.

June 2024 Spam Update

Google released the June 2024 spam update, continuing its efforts to maintain high-quality search results. The update, announced via Twitter on June 20th, took a week to complete. The official announcement about the completion of the rollout came on 27th June. This update enhances SpamBrain, Google’s AI-based spam-prevention system, to better identify and adapt to new types of spam.

Websites experiencing ranking changes due to this update should review and comply with Google’s spam policies. Compliance is crucial to avoid lower rankings or removal from search results. The update targets many spam tactics, not just link spam.

The focus remains on maintaining high-quality, compliant web content to navigate these changes effectively. In the coming days, we will keep you updated about the impact of the spam update and the reaction of the SEO community.

Site Reputation Abuse Update

With the aftermath of the March Core Update reverberating, Google is preparing to launch a significant blow against low-quality third-party parasite content. Through the reputation abuse policy, Google aims to curb the parasite SEO strategy.  The new reputation abuse policy is slated for release on May 5th.

Google has been trying to fight different spammy strategies websites use to rank higher. One grey hat SEO strategy that still favors websites is the Parasite SEO strategy. 

Multiple instances exist where a reputed website such as CNN, USA Today, LA Times, Forbes or India Today ranks on top with content purely promotional of a website, service, or product. While these are mostly sponsored articles, they masquerade as news or generic articles. As a result, Google indexes these within minutes and the links within them give strong reputation signals, resulting in better rankings of brands mentioned in the article. 

Most of the time, these articles are misleading, and the author has little to no personal experience using the services or products described. Undue ranking advantage is just one reason Google came up with the reputation abuse policy. The other reason concerns the core principle that Google search is based on—providing users with the most helpful search results. 

When users see such content ranking at the top of search results, they tend to believe that it is accurate and since Google has gained the reputation of showing only high-quality results at the top, users tend to believe that Google endorses such content, especially when they appear as featured snippets and within the SGE results.

That said, Google has confirmed that the new reputation-policy will now affect all third-party content. Only the content that tries to manipulate the rankings without the site owner’s oversight will see the impact. 

This policy update follows various updates, including a Google core update in March and subsequent spam updates. Google plans to enforce this policy automatically and manually, ensuring only those misusing the system are impacted.

For more details on what constitutes site reputation abuse and the acceptable forms of third-party content under this new policy, visit Google’s official documentation here and here.

Why This Matters:

SEO practitioners and site owners have long voiced concerns about the fairness and integrity of search results affected by parasite SEO. This policy could significantly influence how content is managed and improve the overall quality of search results, making it a crucial development for anyone involved in digital content and SEO.

As of May 7th, 2024, multiple websites have been hit by the reputation abuse policy update. This includes subdomains and subfolders rented out by major websites like CNN, USA Today, and the LA Times. They are currently experiencing a drop in rankings following manual actions against them.

March 2024 Core Update Rollout Completed

The March 2024 core update finished rolling out on 19 April 2024, 45 days after its launch on March 5, 2024. However, Google made it official a week later, on 26 April 2024. 

Google also took to X to announce the completion of the March 2024 core update. The team has also provided a feedback form for webmasters to submit feedback about the newest core update.

This is a massive core update involving enhancements to multiple core ranking systems. Notably, Google will stop launching new helpful content updates because the helpful content system is now part of the core update system.

Google claims that the March core update marks a 45% decrease in the surfacing of unoriginal content in search results. This is, indeed, greater than the initially predicted reduction, which was 40%

Besides overlapping with the spam update, this core update also coincided with the changes to Core Web Vitals, which happened on March 12, 2024. With that, Google replaced the Core Web Vitals metric First Input Delay (FID) with Interaction to Next Paint (INP).

With multiple overlapping changes, it may be difficult to pinpoint the exact Google update that has impacted your website’s performance in Google Search results.

However, it is essential to know how you should respond to a core update like this one in order to recover your site faster.

Evaluate the Impact

While it may be hard to narrow down the root cause that triggered an impact on your site after the complex March 2024 core update, it is essential to closely examine how the update has influenced your site’s search visibility and performance. 

Leverage Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to get an overview of your site’s current visibility. Delve even further by tracking key metrics, including traffic, clicks, impressions and rankings using Google Analytics and Google Search Console to better evaluate the impact of the update on your website.

Analyze your performance reports and look for fluctuations in impressions, clicks or average position compared to previous times.

If you see a significant drop in rankings, check for manual action notifications on Google Search Console.

Observe the Market and Gain Industry Insights

Perform a manual search of your key terms and look for noteworthy fluctuations in SERPs, new players ranking higher in search, changes in featured snippets and other important SERP features. 

This will help you identify major shifts in your industry after the core update. 

Follow trusted SEO blogs, forums and industry newsletters to stay updated on Google algorithm update trends and best practices.

If you don’t see visible changes in your industry, the drop in traffic or rankings may be a result of what you have or haven’t done to your site in the recent past.

Identify Positive and Negative Changes

Find out which areas of your website were positively or negatively affected by the update. But how do you do that?

Segment data to analyze trends based on different factors like device, location, or content type. Also, compare similar content pieces with your competitors to evaluate your site’s performance.

Additionally, evaluating online visibility trends based on URL directory structure can tell you whether certain areas are improving or losing on key metrics.

After the analysis, create a list of your winning and losing pages. Now, compare and contrast those pages to identify common factors and patterns.

This can give you an idea about which parts of your website need improvement and which are performing well.

Shortlist Areas for Improvement

Finding out areas for improvement is good. But that doesn’t mean you can jump to conclusions immediately. You need to take a closer look at areas that require improvement. 

This involves evaluating the quality of your content, checking for technical SEO issues, and assessing user experience metrics to identify potential usability problems. 

Make sure your content meets Google’s standards and has a good E-E-A-T foundation. 

For technical SEO, focus on improving site speed and mobile-friendliness while eliminating potential crawlability and indexability issues.

Check user experience metrics, such as engagement rate, average session duration and pages per session, using Google Analytics to gauge user engagement. 

Tweak Your SEO Strategy to Speed Up Recovery

Once you have pinpointed what works and what doesn’t, you need to look at it in the light of your SEO strategy and determine what needs tweaking and extra focus..

Adjust your SEO strategy to focus on areas that require improvement and leverage your strengths and positive trends to fuel improvement. 

Develop a comprehensive action plan to address the downturns caused by the update and ensure you are on the road to recovery.

Keep Your Stakeholders Informed

Communication is key. Keep all stakeholders informed about the impact of the core update and the steps you are taking to address it. 

Come up with a comprehensive report detailing both positive and negative changes and explain the strategies in place to gear up recovery. 

Provide regular updates on progress to maintain transparency across all channels of your organization.

Update – 10-04-2024

The rollout of the March 2024 Core update continues, with SEOs and discussion forums reporting frequent fluctuations in rankings. However, the SEO community believes this could be the final stages of the rollout, and they expect Google to announce the rollout’s completion by the end of this week or early next week.

On March 20, 2024, Google confirmed that it had fully completed its rollout of the spam update initiated on March 5. The update took 14 days and 21 hours to complete. This update marks a critical stride in Google’s ongoing efforts to enhance search quality and combat spam. Many websites were slapped with pure spam manual action, and a few of them made a recovery, but most of them are still struggling to get their websites back on Google search results.

Meanwhile, the March 2024 core update continues its progression. It’s unfolding and is expected to extend over the coming weeks, further refining Google’s search algorithms and impacting search results globally.

In their latest announcement, Google confirmed, “The spam update rollout concluded successfully on March 20, 2024.”

Stay tuned for more updates as the core update progresses, shaping the landscape of search and SEO strategies.

Update Announcement – 05-03-2024

Google has announced the March 2024 Core Update and multiple spam policy updates, which aim to enhance the quality of its search results. 

Unveiled on 5th March 2024, this first Google Algorithm core update of the year, coupled with new spam policies, is seemingly big as it involves upgrading multiple ranking systems. Google’s Helpful content system is now a part of the core update.

Given the complexity of the update, it may take up to a month for Google to finish rolling it out.

This core update, without any doubt, is one of the big ones. With the inclusion of the Helpful content system in this core update, Google expects that the combination will help reduce the surfacing of low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%

As Google wrote in the official documentation, “ It’s likely there will be more fluctuations in rankings than with a regular core update, as different systems get fully updated and reinforce each other.”

So, what more does the March 2024 Google Algorithm Core Update have in store for SEOs? We predict that this update will impact link building in specific ways. Here is why.

Downplaying Links

Google considered links a critical ranking factor in weighing the relevancy of web pages. Yes, it did and that’s now a thing of the past.

At Pubcon Austin 2023, Google’s Gary Illyes mentioned that links aren’t even among the top three important ranking signals.

A small edit in Google’s Spam policies documentation affirms what Illyes stated previously. The document says, “Google uses links as a factor in determining the relevancy of web pages.

The term “important” seen in the document’s previous version has been removed, which probably means that links are just another factor determining the relevance of web pages. 

This may be perceived as ambiguity under a normal circumstance, but not in the wake of a complex core update like this one. 

This marks a potential de-emphasis on links as a top-ranking signal amid the launch of the March 2024 core update, which may have a drastic effect on link building in the days to follow.

Content Focused on Link Manipulation Won’t Work

Google’s updated spam policies feature a new guideline against creating low-value content for link manipulation. The search engine considers creating low-value content primarily to manipulate its linking and ranking signals to be link spam.

That said, Google will likely tackle unfair practices like creating Private Blog Networks (PBNs) for link manipulation with an iron fist to improve the quality of search results.

New Signal Focused on Outgoing Links

As a rule of thumb, Google will penalize websites that sell outgoing links. However, this is probably the first time Google has publicly stated that the search engine’s algorithms are examining outgoing links. 

It says, “Any links that are intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”

This significant move comes as Google warns that it will penalize sites that manipulate outgoing links for SEO benefits.

Expired Domain Abuse

Google has disclosed a new signal regarding the repurposing of expired domains. 

When someone repurposes an expired domain to siphon on the authority and traffic of the old domain to boost the ranking of their low-quality content, it can mislead users into thinking the new content is part of the older site they trusted. Google calls it expired domain abuse.

Google explains, “Expired domain abuse is where an expired domain name is purchased and repurposed primarily to manipulate search rankings by hosting content that provides little to no value to users.”

This part is a new addition to Google’s spam policies.

This new signal intends to detect significant changes in the purpose of a domain’s content, including shifting from non-commercial to commercial use, government-based sites featuring affiliate content, an educational site switching to inappropriate content like a casino, and so on.

In a nutshell, the core update, along with some updates to Google’s link spam policies, aims to redefine how Google ranks sites while ensuring improved quality and relevance in search results.

Plus, the upgrades in question also highlight how Google constantly fights spam and manipulative SEO tactics to rank higher in SERPs.

Let’s wait for the core update to finish rolling out to see what it has in store for the SEO community.

Timeline of events following the March 2024 Core Update

• On March 5th, Google rolled out its core and spam updates for March 2024.
• Following this, on March 6th and 7th, numerous manual actions were taken against sites for spam policy breaches, resulting in several being removed from Google Search.
• By March 8th and 9th, there appeared to be initial indications of how these core and spam updates algorithmically affected site rankings.
• Then, on March 10th and 11th, while Google’s activities seemed to decrease, a few reports indicated that some sites affected by both the algorithmic updates and manual actions experienced temporary reversals in their situations.

What Happened Till Date After the Update Started Rolling Out on March 5th

The update led to the deindexing of hundreds of websites, mainly targeting those with AI-generated spam and prioritizing high-quality, human-generated content. A study noted that all the deindexed sites showed signs of AI-generated content, with many relying heavily on it to manipulate search rankings​.

Most Tools, such as Mozcast, Semrush, and SERPmetrics, showed significant volatility in rankings following the update. Discussions within the SEO community reflected various impacts, from websites surging in rankings to others experiencing severe traffic losses. Barry Schwartz reported multiple increased volatility and shifts in search results, indicating the update’s extensive reach​.

This update is notable for being multifaceted, incorporating changes to Google’s core ranking algorithm, the Helpful Content system, and introducing new spam policies. According to an updated Google blog, the March Update is the most significant effort since the Penguin update of 2012, with a focus on improving search result quality by reducing low-quality, unhelpful content by an estimated 40%​​.

Google’s long-standing advice remains relevant: focus on creating high-quality content. This update emphasizes the need to avoid spam methods and ensure content demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). Websites with questionable third-party content should act promptly to review and possibly remove such content to avoid manual actions​.

The March 2024 Core Update has had a significant impact, with some sites being completely removed from Google’s search index. While this Google algorithm update targets AI-generated spam and low-quality content, it also reminds website owners and SEOs of the importance of adhering to Google’s guidelines and creating valuable, high-quality content. For website owners and SEOs, this update underscores the need for vigilance in monitoring changes and adapting strategies to align with Google’s evolving standards.

The March core update rollout, enforcement of manual actions due to the rollout of multiple spam updates, and adjustments related to Core Web Vitals are taking place simultaneously. This convergence of updates challenges SEO professionals and website owners as assessing which specific update impacted their rankings becomes difficult.

Need help creating a future-proof SEO strategy for your website? Book a free SEO consultation call with us at Stan Ventures today.