Google’s major March 2024 core update concluded on April 19, though the public was informed a week later.

The March 2024 core update by Google officially ended on April 19, but its completion was announced on April 26. The communication gap emphasizes the delayed information disclosure from Google regarding core updates.

Google has officially wrapped up its March 2024 Core Update, concluding over a month of online ranking fluctuations.

Despite the update’s completion on April 19, Google didn’t confirm its end on its data anomaly page until April 26—a whole week later.

The SEO community had been guessing for days whether the update had finished. This delayed confirmation underlines Google’s communication issues with publishers and highlights the importance of clear information during core updates.

Google March 2024 Core Update: Timeline & Status

The major core algorithm update, announced on March 5, concluded on April 19, taking 45 days to complete.

This update was notably more intricate than standard core refreshes, with Google issuing a warning about its complexity.

Google’s documentation stated:

“As this is a complex update, the rollout may take up to a month. Expect more ranking fluctuations than a typical core update, as different systems are fully updated and reinforce each other.”

According to industry observers, the aftershocks were significant, with some websites reporting a loss of over 60% of their organic search traffic. The ripple effects also resulted in the deindexing of hundreds of sites allegedly violating Google’s guidelines.

Tackling Manipulation Attempts

In its official guidance, Google outlined the key factors it examines when addressing link spam and manipulation attempts:

• Generating “low-value content” solely to gain manipulative links and artificially boost search rankings.
• Links that are designed to inflate a site’s ranking through unnatural means, including manipulative outgoing links.
• The “repurposing” of expired domains with entirely different content to manipulate search visibility.

The updated guidelines caution:

“Any links manipulating rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam. This includes any practices that manipulate links to or from your site.” John Mueller, a Search Advocate at Google, responded to the instability by advising publishers not to overreact during the core update process.

However, he mentioned that sites could address issues like unnatural paid links.

Mueller commented on Reddit:

“If you see things on your site worth improving, make those changes. The idea is not to make changes just for search engines, right? Your users will appreciate improvements even if search engines haven’t updated their view of your site yet.”

Prioritizing Quality Over Links

The recent core update brought significant changes to Google’s ranking algorithms.

The most striking shift is that Google has reduced the role of links in determining website rankings. While links were once described as “an important factor in determining relevancy,” Google’s revised spam policies no longer label links as “important,” now referring to them as simply “a factor.”

This adjustment echoes Google’s Gary Illyes’ remarks, indicating that links aren’t among the top three most influential ranking signals.

Instead, Google is placing greater emphasis on quality, credibility, and meaningful content.

As a result, long-standing strategies focused on low-quality link-building and aggressive keyword optimization have seen reduced effectiveness.

With the update completed, SEOs and publishers must reevaluate their strategies and websites to align with Google’s updated ranking criteria.

Core Update Feedback

Google has made a feedback form available for input regarding this recent core update.

You can submit feedback through this form until May 31 to inform Google’s Search team about any issues observed after the core update. Although your feedback won’t result in specific changes to individual queries or websites, Google states that it could inform general improvements to its search ranking systems for future updates.

Google has also updated its help documentation, titled “Debugging drops in Google Search traffic,” which offers guidance for understanding ranking changes that occur after a core update.

If you need clarification on all this, explore our monthly SEO packages and let our experts handle the details.