Month: April 2024

In the fast-paced realm of digital marketing, Google’s March 2024 Core Update is a significant development, signalling a shift in how search results are ranked. This update requires marketers, online retailers, and entrepreneurs to reevaluate their SEO strategies, as it represents a departure from Google’s usual practices.

Key Features of the Update

The March 2024 Core Update introduces major changes to Google’s core ranking systems, aiming to improve the quality and relevance of search results. One of the main goals is to reduce the presence of unoriginal, low-quality content by 40%. This change reflects Google’s commitment to improving the user experience.

Impact on E-tailers and Entrepreneurs

1. Content Quality is Critical: The saying “content is king” is more relevant than ever. Online retailers must focus on creating original, valuable content that directly addresses customer needs. Quality and uniqueness are key factors in challenging the competition.
2. Adaptation is Essential: The update will penalise unoriginal and low-quality content more severely, so e-tailers must quickly adapt their content strategies to avoid significant drops in visibility. Innovation and a focus on quality are essential to maintain a competitive edge.
3. Link-Building Strategies Matter: The update’s approach to evaluating link signals emphasises the importance of authentic link-building practices. Manipulative link schemes are no longer effective, highlighting the need for natural, high-quality backlinks for SEO success.

Cracking Down on Spam

Google has identified various tactics that try to manipulate search engines into believing a site provides valuable content when it is of sub-standard quality. The spam update targets three main areas:

1. Expired Domain Abuse: This tactic involves purchasing an expired domain and repurposing its content to manipulate search rankings. It aims to deceive users into believing that new content on the domain is part of the original site, which may not be true.
2. Scaled Content Abuse: This includes any method of creating content at scale solely to rank higher in search results. The quality and uniqueness of the content are vital factors in its ranking, whether generated by AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini or created manually. Low-quality and non-unique content will rank lower.
3. Site Reputation Abuse: This practice involves hosting low-quality content from third-party sites to achieve high rankings. While not all third-party content is affected, Google will identify content used to manipulate search rankings and take action accordingly.

These updated policies ensure search rankings prioritise useful content, serving users more effectively. Violating these policies may result in lower rankings or exclusion from search results. Therefore, the LION Digital team recommends eCommerce businesses review tactics and ensure that content meets the highest quality standards.

Adapting to the New SEO Landscape

To navigate SEO strategies after the update:

1. Embrace Ethical SEO Practices: Align strategies with Google’s goal of improving the user experience through appropriate SEO processes.
2. Use AI Responsibly: While AI and machine-learning tools can enhance content creation, it is important to ensure that the content remains user-friendly and helpful.

Contact LION Digital to Guide Your SEO Experience

Incorporating strategies that reflect the Google March 2024 Core Update not only ensures compliance with Google’s policies but also enhances user experience and improves overall search rankings. With Google’s increased focus on content quality, agility, and adaptability are key to remaining ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape.

To ensure your content meets Google’s standards and isn’t flagged as spam, get in touch with our LION Digital experts. Our team can provide tailored SEO solutions and guidance to target your audience and optimise your digital marketing strategies effectively.

Article by

ERIKA MAGPILI – DIGITAL EXECUTIVE & MARKETING MANAGER

Search remains one of the primary ways to access online information, and the term today means more than ever. Search engines have become irreplaceable tools for navigating the internet when customers want to look for products and services, answer questions, connect with interesting people, and satisfy curiosity.

Early Online Search: A Transition to Modern Methods

Remember the days before the World Wide Web? Gathering information online was clunky and incomplete. Decentralised and manual processes made it challenging to find and scale data retrieval.

In the late 1980s, Gopher, a communication protocol used for document distribution, was developed at the University of Minnesota. By the early 1990s, fledgling search programs with quaint names inspired by comics, Archie, Veronica, and Jughead, allowed users to search for files: Archie for FTP archives, Veronica for Gopher servers, and Jughead for keyword-based searches. 

Spurred on by these growing technologies, it was only a matter of time before tech researchers tackled the issue. Gopher’s text-based interface gave way to British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee’s more user-friendly World Wide Web (WWW), fundamentally changing how people accessed online content.

All of a sudden, users could browse topics and find content. Directories like Yahoo! and DMOZ were essentially curated lists of websites, whereby bookmarks and favourites in browsers could save links for easy access. Manual navigation started to appear, involving hyperlinks between web pages, and users also relied on online community-based word-of-mouth recommendations, forums, and link exchanges to discover new content.

The Expansion of the Internet: Things to Come

While these methods were convenient, they had limitations such as scalability and efficiency. They relied on human factors and lacked a centralised database, making them inefficient for the expanding web, yet they laid the foundation for the future of Google search.

The Dawn of Search Engines: Google’s Eventual Domination

Before Google became a household name, the online search landscape was diverse and experimental. Yahoo! initially led the market but lost ground due to reliance on human-curated directories. Many search engines were developed during the 1990s before the new century gave Google its mega-giant status:

• 1994: Yahoo! transitions from a directory to a fully-fledged search engine, initially conquering the market but later losing ground.

• 1994: WebCrawler launches as the first search engine to index entire web pages, pioneering keyword searches.

• 1994: Lycos gains popularity for its user-friendly interface and innovative features like spidering and relevance ranking.

• 1995: Excite emerges with customisable interfaces and personalised search results, resetting the trajectory for future innovations.

• 1995: AltaVista launches with natural language processing and multimedia search capabilities, but closes in 2013 due to losing competition to Google and its footing in the future of search.

The Google Revolution: Evolution of Algorithmic Search

Google’s emergence revolutionised the internet, making vast knowledge universally accessible. Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin were the brilliant duo who started Google in 1996. 

Google’s early days showed promise in its innovative approach to web page ranking through link analysis, known as PageRank, which revolutionised the digital landscape by introducing search engine algorithms. Unlike traditional keyword-based systems, PageRank assessed a page’s importance based on the quality and quantity of links pointing to it, providing more authoritative search results. These algorithmic systems remain the pinnacle of search-based digital marketing strategies, making them the Midas’ Gold of the eCommerce landscape.

Keeping Users Front of Mind: How Google Gets It

Google’s success stems from its user-centric approach and persistent innovation. Over the years, Google has introduced various algorithm updates, such as personalised search and machine learning with RankBrain and BERT integration, to adapt to ever-changing user behaviours and technological advancements. 

As content delivery has transformed, consumers access their information in vastly different ways than a decade ago. Plus, with more widespread acceptance of AI dictating future trends, content-related search will continue its unpredictable path ahead. Despite challenges in social search with Google+, discontinued in 2019, Google remains the boss of search technology, so let’s see what the future of Google search looks like. Can Google maintain its leadership position as the latest developments roll out? 

The team at LION Digital has our unified finger on the pulse. As a Google Premier Partner, we are well-positioned to help our clients adjust to the latest Google eccentricities. If you need help navigating eCommerce search rankings to attract more customers that convert, contact our LION Digital team today! 

Stay tuned for the next part of this series as we explore the evolution of online search, uncovering insights into future trends. Don’t miss out—sign up for our LION Digital monthly ROAR newsletter to receive the latest updates directly to your inbox!