Google likes to keep us marketers on our toes. The search engine giant regularly releases updates which can sometimes include new handy features, but most importantly can result in changes that we need to be aware of.
In particular, any Google update can impact an SEO strategy, especially if web traffic suddenly dips or content needs to be changed to meet certain new guidelines.
If you haven’t kept up to date with Google Search Central in 2024 then never fear because here’s an overview of the most recent updates for this year.
AI Overviews
As we just mentioned, not all Google updates are anything to worry about, as sometimes new features are launched to improve the experience of search as a whole.
AI Overviews is one such example. This feature uses a combination of information found across the web along with Google’s Knowledge Graph to create generative results at the top of the search. While not available for all search queries, AI Overviews can be helpful in summarising answers to a question.
Similar to rich snippets, if there are some authoritative sources on the topic then these will be highlighted in an engaging way as part of the AI Overviews result.
No action is needed from website owners as AI Overviews is purely an AI feature. However, if your content does happen to be linked within a result it can be beneficial, especially since Google dedicates a large section of the results page to AI Overviews.
Core & Spam Updates
Hold your breath, because it’s time to mention those ‘scary’ Google updates. Well, they are scary if your strategy has mostly relied on spam techniques since Google continues to clamp down on poor quality or misleading content.
The big Google updates in 2024 included:
- March 2024 core update
- March 2024 spam update
- June 2024 spam update
- August 2024 core update
Each update brings something different to the table, but it’s fair to say the overriding theme relates to the aforementioned content quality. Simply put, 2024 was the year that Google got tough on ‘reducing low-quality, unoriginal results’.
Some of the aspects mentioned in the updates involve scaled content abuse, site reputation abuse and expired domain abuse.
To summarise what each of these means, it’s a case of Google looking to reduce instances of users being shown unexpected, unhelpful or even spammy results. Likewise, Google wants content to be original and helpful rather than being written or generated by AI purely for manipulating search results.
Recommendations In Google Search Console
One of the best ways to understand your SEO performance from Google’s perspective is to connect your website to Google Search Console.
A new feature that is going to make GSC even more helpful is called Recommendations. As the name suggests, Recommendations will outline any updates your website could benefit from to improve its performance on Google.
At the moment, Recommendations isn’t available for all Google Search Console users. However, it is something to look out for as it continues to roll out in the coming months.
Search Console For Ecommerce Websites
As an ecommerce design and development agency, we keep a keen eye on all Google updates that offer benefits for our ecommerce clients.
Some relevant features that were announced in July 2024 include:
- Merchant listings that appear in Google images which also appear in Google Search Console reports. This is designed to make it easier to track the visibility of your products on Google.
- New organisation-level support for structured data for adding return policy information.
- Special markup for product variants, meaning if you sell multiple types or colours of the same product, it will now be easier to list these on organic search.
To summarise, ecommerce stores can now take advantage of new and engaging ways to not only encourage more sales but also better understand any sales.
Imaginaire – Discover Our SEO Agency Services
Keeping up with Google updates is important for any website, especially if changes are needed to ensure your content ranks well on search engines.
Imaginaire is a leading SEO agency based in Nottingham and we work with businesses from across the UK and the UAE.
Our SEO experts can help refine your existing strategy or create a strategy for your newly launched business.
If you’d like to find out more about how our SEO services can help your business connect with your target customers through organic search please get in touch.
