Google’s algorithm is wasting no time in removing low quality sites from the search results. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the volume of sites affected by this update may reach historic levels not seen since the Panda and Penguin updates.
1. March 2024 Update Qualifies As Major
I have been around for every single Google update and in my opinion the March 2024 Core Algorithm Update is clearly on the same impact level as the Florida, Panda and Penguin updates in terms of how widespread the effects are. Senior marketers with decades of experience that I’ve spoken with all agree that this update is right up there as one of the big ones.
While the Medic update was a shift in the algorithm, what’s happening now is more than a single big shift. It’s a profound change in how sites are ranked. So it’s useful to review what’s getting penalized to understand the scope of this update.
2. Sites That Survived Previous Updates Didn’t Escape This One
Posts across social media demonstrate that Google is removing entire websites from the search results and from the search index. Some reports are from observers celebrating the removal of low quality sites that have stubbornly clung in the SERPs through past Google updates.
Other posts are by publishers who are confused by why their network of sites are entirely gone.
A post in the private Affiliate SEO Mastermind group relates the plight of a publisher whose entire network collapsed.
Key details of that post are that all eight affected sites were created within the past two years and each was about a different niche topic. The author of the post claims that the content was manually created with only a little help from AI. All websites are showing zero traffic impressions.
Perhaps one clue as to why that person’s sites were affected is that they were all in different topics, which may be an indication that the author of the sites may not have had the deep topical expertise that Google is looking for.
The person who made that Facebook post indicated they’re giving up and focusing their future efforts on YouTube.