A Quick Note About Google’s Core & Spam Updates
(Sorry, "Quick" For Me, LOL,… Once More, no funnies, no images, no beautifying, just straight out chat, perhaps a little intermediate\advanced)
Hey Everyone,
I will write in more detail about these updates during the week, but I wanted to really quickly cover a few points.
Firstly, No-One, and honestly I mean, NO-ONE knows EXACTLY what Google wants in terms of “helpful content” and “quality content”.
Well actually, that’s not true, because if you were ranking well and getting lots of traffic to your articles pre the AUGUST 2022 Helpful Content Update (HCU), Google was basically telling you “these are quality and helpful” articles, the same can be said if you got “hit” for the first time in September 2023, everything that was ranking and producing traffic BEFORE that IS “heloful” and “quality”.
The problem being, HCU in 2022 & 2023 was a SITEWIDE “penalty”.
In other words, because you had some “unhelpful” content on your site, your site as a whole suffered, hence all the 70-90% traffic drops.
So, at the moment you could be writing the best articles possible and NOT getting anywhere, as your site HAD a “sitewide penalty”.
This is NOW CHANGING IN 2024 and your sites will be looked at on a page-by-page basis.
In other words, there is a strong possibility that the articles that were doing well before the HCU’s of 2022 and 2023 “may” (I said “may”) get a boost.
Secondly, NO-ONE and I mean NO-ONE has recovered from the HCU 2023 update, and Google has even changed the wording in the HCU guidelines in 2024 due to something that Google’s Danny Sullivan said.
(Actually, again that’s not strictly true, and I did comment on a post yesterday about a “BlackHat” HCU recovery that WORKS, but I know for a fact that it will only work for 6-18 months until Google “catches up with you”, but basically it is something to do if you have 1000s of articles on a “hit website” that is basically dead. Anyway, let me rephrase what I’ve said above, which will also give you a clue to the “Blackhat” method of recovery… No-one has recovered from 2023 HCU by using the SAME DOMAIN←– remember what I said above about Google thinking your “good ranking articles” pre-HCU were quality and helpful? That’s all I’m saying on that subject, LOL!)
I can’t remember Danny’s exact wording, but it was something along the lines of “Recovery from HCU could take from a few weeks up to a few months”.
The fact that no sites have “recovered” in the last 6 months the wording has now been changed to something along the lines of “There is no set timescale to recover from HCU”.
Furthermore, the fact that Google has released a blog post to discuss what will be covered in the spam update is a FIRST… they never normally do this.
Is this Google reacting to the backlash by being more open?
Is this Google trying to be more “helpful”?
Who Knows.
Next, I honestly do not think Reddit is going anywhere.
If they were, then Google would’ve paid a hell of a lot more than $60million for “access” to Reddit.
Plus, I will actually show you in my next blog post what people are doing on Reddit in terms of Parasite SEO, and IT WORKS, but again it’s Grey/Black Hat.
Basically, Reddit SEO is all about UPVOTES.
Guess what, you can buy them for $10 for 100 upvotes, and people are taking advantage of this, BUT, you have to be clever about it.
I won’t reveal too much, but I will take you through a few Reddit threads and show you the “evidence” that they are using these underhand techniques.
Google obviously wants Reddit moderators to get on top of this, but how do you “control” 500,000,000 people?
Next, I beg you, and I have asked this before, but with the influx of newcomers, and everyone focusing intently on “little wins” it continues.
STOP CHECKING YOUR TRAFFIC STATS EVERY DAY.
I’m telling you now, it will affect your mental health.
In fact, I’m going to come out and say it, I am APPALLED by something I have seen recently.
Unfortunately, a member has spoken about a potential increase since the updates.
I can actually see just by looking at their graph, and the figures they have quoted, that they have been “hit”.
And yet, they have been congratulated by someone who is considered an “expert” on the platform.
Is that what we do now?
We just congratulate people, tell them they’re doing really well, when it is OBVIOUS they have made an error?
If so, I want no further part of a platform that acts in this way.
Quick Clue, STOP looking at AVERAGE POSITION in the Graph section of Google Search Console, it DOES NOT provide the data you think it does.
Here’s what I mean.
A website gets “hit”, therefore impressions decline and QUERIES (the number of keywords you are ranking for DECLINES).
Therefore, your average position IMPROVES because YOU ARE RANKING FOR FEWER KEYWORDS.
Unfortunately, this has been “congratulated” this week, and as I say, by someone who is considered an “expert” on the platform.
Sorry, this is happening TOO MUCH here.
If you really have to check your stats is GSC.
Do it one day at a time and you’ll see exactly what I am talking about.
So, do a ONE DAY search for 4th March, and then for 5th March, 6th March, 7th March, and 8th March ALL INDIVIDUALLY for EACH DAY.
Am I right?
Your impressions, total number of queries, and total number of clicks is DECREASING each day, but your “average position” above the graph is IMPROVING.
This simply means you are ranking for FEWER KEYWORDS.
SORRY, you’ve been “hit”.
The Good (ish) News
Okay, so “Sitewide” is potentially no longer going to be a thing, so that means your “good” articles could return.
Google is issuing Manual Penalties and “Soft” Penalties and these can be found in Google Search Console under SECURITY & MANUAL ACTIONS, and then MANUAL ACTIONS.
If you’ve got nothing and a green tick, You’re Good!!!
I said earlier that “no-one knows”, so what I’m about to say is merely an educated guess.
There are 1000s of sites being deindexed and slapped with a manual penalty (you should see the wording, it’s really, really, really harsh, I could’ve written it, Hahahahaha!!!)
The same with “soft” penalties.
So, here’s my thinking.
The SERPs are an absolute mess, no doubt about it, they have been for about 18 months, but they’ve been RIDICULOUS for the last 6 months.
Google is going to have a massive clearout.
So, my thinking is, pretty much everyone is going to get “hit” this week and next, up until about the 19th March 2024.
The SPAM update only lasts for two weeks, the CORE update for up to a month.
This will be Google clearing house and just getting rid of the “obvious” crap (that they haven’t made a business deal with, LOL).
Then the CORE update will look at the SERPs again, “we’ve got rid of all the crap, by penalizing everyone INITIALLY, now let’s look at what is actually decent, and change the overall rankings”.
This is why I URGE you NOT to look at traffic stats every day, you’ll go MAD.
I guarantee there will be a LOT of fluctuations over the next few weeks.
Next, The mass produced spam content, I don’t think this is solely AI-mass produced content, but also focuses on programmatic SEO (look it up if you don't know what it means).
So, sites that have 1000s of pages with exactly the same layout that have been created solely for SEO PURPOSES ←– what has Google said about this in the current guidelines?
As an example, a travel site with pages for Best Hotels in XXXX and they cover all 50 US states.
If you visit each separate page they look EXACTY the same, with the same layout, the same wording, etc. it’s just obviously the state and the hotels are different.
But, these pages have been created en-masse to “manipulate” rankings.
Sure, those who are producing 15,000 AI articles a month, expect to get slapped.
Finally, using AI content and “making it your own”.
You do realise this involves more than just changing things to put the wording in the first person, “I” and “you” ←— this DOES NOT constitute “putting your own spin on AI”.
Furthermore, please, pelase, pelase, please, I beg you, I’ve been saying it for YEARS now, you find a keyword, GO AND CHECK PAGE ONE OF GOOGLE BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING - you DON’T KNOW whether it’s a good keyword yet.
I’m sorry, most of you know I “sneak about” in the background, and I look at your sites, I’m not overly impressed.
Poor keyword selection, and when you go to page one of Google, there’s 10 authority sites ranking.
You’re not going to outrank them, SORRY.
(and the same “I’m Ranking” blog posts where people are NOT ranking for an actual keyword, but they are simply checking their entire title, and seeing it as “number one”<---- this is NOT ranking, you should be ranking for actual keywords, not the entire title)
EXAMPLE - Pickled Partha’s Perfect Potioning to Make Money From Home
The keyword I should be checking is MAKE MONEY FROM HOME
If I check “Pickled Partha’s Perfect Potioning to Make Money From Home” in Jaaxy Rank Checker or even Google, OF COURSE I’m “ranking” number one, NO-ONE ELSE in the world has that title.
Plus, no-one, not one single person out of the 8 Billion + people on earth is going to search for
“Pickled Partha’s Perfect Potioning to Make Money From Home”
ARE THEY?????????
Not much point in ranking for “keywords” that no-one is EVER going to find.
Back to “keyword research”.
Sure, things may change over the coming months, but you really need to get a handle on keyword research.
It is so much more than “a keyword tool told me it was a good keyword” or “AI suggested these topics”.
I honestly think if you’ve come into this business AFTER November 2022 you may be better off learning things manually first, and then you’ll know what you’re looking for.
Solely relying on AI and software tools, hmmmm… well, we can already see the results.
Okay, this all sounds a bit “doom and gloom”, but I don’t actually think it’s going to be that horrific.
My main point is, we’ve got a month of these two updates (well 3 really, as “Reviews” Update now forms part of the Core Update), and then the Parasite SEO in May… Here’s a prediction to look out for in May, Forbes, Linkedin Pulse, and Reddit ALL SURVIVE, OutlookIndia gets smashed to pieces.
Basically, things are going to be all over the place for about the next 8 weeks.
So, in order to protect your mental health (see I do care about you really), STOP LOOKING AT STATS, and continue working, DO NOT STOP.
Obviously, try to improve processes like keyword research and writing, carry on with promoting your content on various platforms, and try to build up some momentum on a few External channels, e.g. YouTube, Medium Pinterest, Linkedin, TikTok, Instagram, etc.
I just think we’re in for a rough ride for the next 8 weeks, BUT, I do think that there is light at the end of the tunnel for those of you who are doing things RIGHT.
Furthermore, for those who were doing REALLY WELL before getting smashed in the HCUs of 2022 and 2023, don’t lose hope yet… those articles were deemed “quality” and “helpful” once… good chance they will be again (Remember 2022 and 2023 “Sitewide” HCU penalty, 2024 = page-by-page).
I will blog again over the next week or two, but for now, look after yourselves, don’t lose hope, it’s gonna get worse before it gets better, but I feel there are some “good things” coming too.
Thank You For Reading
Partha
Recent Comments
121
Dude! You are a man to watch!
When I get a few hours, I will read your posts again. They are hot!🔥
There is so much to learn and not enough hours in the day. But each day brings improvement, so I can't complain.
Please keep posting your short blogs; they are always insightful!
Cheers,
Paul
Hey Partha! I am going to be honest and say that I probably needed to hear this. I feel like a victim here, lol!
But I get everything you said, and good, thanks for letting us know how we can check if we are hit or not.
So during this "hard" time, should we all be updating old/low quality content and publishing new at the same time, so that we potentially will rank higher during Googles "let's see now which content is decent" period?
Do you know what Jonathan, I'm just gonna come out and say it, I don't care if I get into trouble, Hahahahahahahahaah!!
I do like you a lot, and I see huge potential.
Plus, you know Diane and I speak all the time, and she has said to me previously that you pick things up very quickly and are a hard worker.
Perfect, just the type of person I like, LOL!
Don't ask any further questions on what I'm about to say, cos I'm NOT going to tell you, LOL, BUT, I think you are somewhat influenced by people on the platform who most members think are "experts"... THEY ARE NOT!!!
It is obvious to those of us who have been doing this for years and years "who knows what they're talking about" and who doesn't.
PLUS
I would only call someone an "expert" if they are BUILDING NICHE WEBSITES NOW IN 2024.
I find it hard to call someone an "expert", even if they're a multimillionaire, but they HAVEN'T created a website, and worked on that website for at least a year or two in the last decade!!
That's all I have to say on that matter.
For now, as I've mentioned, NO-ONE currently "knows" what "quality content is" (well, we do, but while Google is messing up and sorting out the SERPs, this isn't so obvious).
I've mentioned to a few here, and even within the comments on this blog post, the current state of the SERPs reminds me of 2011 and 2012... it was a MESS... and it was like that for about 12-18 months.
Realistically, we had the first "official" HCU in August 2022, and the SERPs didn't look great, then after the September HCU, it's a total mess!!!
Now HCU (and Reviews) are PART OF the Core Updates (so you won't ever see HCU or Reviews updates on their own, they will always be part of the core updates).
So, at the moment, at least for the next month, it's difficult to determine what is going to rank and what's not.
Plus, as I've mentioned, I think EVERYONE is going to get "hit" up until the 19th March, and then when the 2nd half of the core update kicks in AFTER that there will probably be loads of fluctuations again.
I can see lots of people losing most of their traffic over the next 8-9 days, and then many gaining traffic back, and for some, it being even better than ever before.
So, for now, my principles would be, find topics that people in your niche are actually interested in, so even if a keyword tool or AI gives you "keywords" or "topics" to write about, put the keyword into Reddit & Quora and see how many different discussions there are on that topic, and also are the Q&A threads "popular", e.g. if you find 10 threads with just 1 answers, it's NOT popular, if you 200+ different threads on a similar topic, and the top few have 20+ comments, it's popular.
You now have a "popular" topic in your niche to cover.
I will update my own keyword research strategies that I've been writing in WA blogs since March 2021, but I also need to "wait" until everything settles down, so I can see what the SERPs look like once they're "normal".
BUT
For me, the same principles apply, if there's lots of authority sites on page one of Google, you're NOT going to rank (I don't care what a keyword tool or AI tells you, you WON'T rank if the results are full of authority sites).
Realistically, forget Reddit, they're going to rank for everything, but if you can see other Forums, Quora, Medium, TikTok, Pinterest (plus, I've started seeing "old school" web 2.0s ranking now, e.g. WordPress .com, Weebly, Blogspot, Blogger, liveJournal, TypePad <--- if you see any of these sites ranking for your keyword, T+YES WRITE THE ARTICLE, good chance of ranking) in the search results for your chosen keyword, GO FOR IT.
Furthermore, while the SERPs are a mess, this is a good time to work on creating backlinks.
The easiest backlinks are branded profile backlinks, but the reason they have a bad name is because people used to automate this and create about 10,000 in a month <----- this doesn't look natural, and Google WILL punish it.
So, if you have a social media plugin installed on your website, go and have a look at ALL the social media sites listed (I've included a screenshot from Sassy Social below).
Basically, open an account and then have a branded bio
"John Smith is the Founder, Owner, and Author at mywebsitename .com. John is a content creator, affiliate marketer, and blogger, John will share his online journey with you, as well as providing tips and tricks to help you make money online"
Do 1-3 a day.
Next, do the same for NICHE-relevant forums, so go to Google and type in
Your Niche Name + forums
Do exactly the same, open account, branded bio, 1-3 a day.
And then also Google
Your Niche Name + Website Directories
And do exactly the same again.
I would suggest opening a new email account, as you'll have lots of confirmation emails, so keep it separate.
Plus, once you get into the swing of things it will take you less than 5 minutes to create a profile, so just do 5-15 minutes work on this EVERY DAY at the END of your working day.
(Once you've written your first branded profile bio, stick it in ChatGPT and ask it to provide you 10 versions that are original and unique, but say the same thing)
and then by blogging regularly on PROPER TOPICS THAT YOUR AUDIENCE ARE INTERESTED IN, you are building up your on-site content and your domain authority.
And then, we can ALL look at everything that has happened mid-April to have a better idea of what's going on with the SERPs (but the "Parasite SEO update of May 5th" could also spell even more changes, it's just going to be very volatile for a couple of months, so protect your mental health, don't get caught up in stats, and just work on something consistently every single day).
Trust me, for those who've been in this business a while, we've seen it all before, I know that doesn't help those who are new to this business, and at the moment it does seem like Google is taking a wrecking ball to everything, but as I say, currently NO-ONE knows what is going on and what's going to happen.
People who state that they do know what's going on or provide "recovery tips" are talking pure BS.
Sure, we can talk from experience and what's worked in the past, but the SERPs since April 2022 are very different from ever before.
Partha
Thanks Partha, for the 2k long blog post as a response that took me 20 minutes to read, and that you said you liked me, lol! (Actually don’t mind at all reading it)
And I appreciate the compliment by Diane, and she is right, heard that all my life.
I got to say, that you were pretty much SPOT ON when you kinda predicted me, lol. Now I know all this, thanks.
I will do your little backlink tip with the branded bio thing!
There is gold in that answer Jonathon, especially about experts being those building websites now. I personally am finding building websites now in 2024 is a completely different ball game than anything I have ever learned before.
It reinforces the maxim that the more I learn the more I dont know anything.
However there is one constant I have always upheld, ignore what anyone tells you and test for yourself. I am writing less than normal but testing twice as much as before.
P.S Jonathon I concur with Partha and Diana's assessment, you have huge potential. maybe only five people a year come through with that drive.
Thanks, that statement he made (from Diane and Partha) kinda made my day, lol!
Didn't know I was so rare, lol! But thanks! :)
I've mentioned you somewhere below (amoing the 100-odd comments), Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
I was talking about how Me, You, Jay, and Vitaliy were all on the EzineArticles train over 15 years ago (and you and me also ventured into Squidoo), while Kyle was concentrated on StreetArticles.
There's so many similar web 2.0 properties nowadays (Medium, Quora, Linkedin, Pinterest, etc.) that it should form part of our overall strategy to regularly publish content EXTERNALLY from our sites too.
Thanks for the mention, and the trip down memory Lane, I so miss Squidoo, what an en easy way to make money.
You may incidentally want to read my today's post. Just to make sure you approve, I should technically have asked your permission
Hi Partha,
Thanks for this, I had not seen the announcement on the removal of the Sitewide HCU Penalty. Did you hear this directly from Google? Can you point me to that?
It's really really good news as this was the one thing that pissed me off the most. If content is good and helpful, what does it matter if there is other content on the site that isn't?
It's throwing the baby out with the bath water!
Google knows this and didn't care, and it was basically a direct admission they couldn't tell the difference between individual pieces of content. It would be great if I could get back a few rankings of my content that has been helpful for 5-6 years and suddenly wasn't due to a site-wide penalty!
But we will see, still nothing but a slow bleed this update from me, and there is not much traffic left to draw from!
Steve
Hey Steve,
tbh, the last 18 months remind me a LOT of 2011 and 2012, when Google concentrated on removing keyword stuffing and backlink spam from their index... everything was a mess for a good year to 18 months.
Okay, the "page-by-page" was kinda confirmed (I read it, but as always, Google is very ambiguous) by certain YouTubers.
The main YouTubers I "follow"/"listen to" are
Gael @ Authority Hacker (I think Gael has kinda nailed it in under 7minutes)
Kyle Roof (Kyle is the guy who ranked a website where ALL pages were lorem ipsum and he strategically placed keywords within the "content" (gibberish) using his own automation tool. He ranked the pages for things like "Best Chiropractor", "Best Lawyer in New York", etc. Google slapped him, so at last November's Chiang Mai SEO Conference during his speech he was showing the lorem ipsum example again, and then "slipped into" conversation that he had done it AGAIN in October 2023 AFTER the HCU and STILL RANKED for gibberish pages <---proof that the algorithm can STILL be manipulated)
Jacky Chou @ Indexy
Chris & Nick @ SirLinkSLot
SEO Truths
A good mix of "normal" and "blackhat" marketers there.
I'll also occasionally listen/watch
Let's Talk SEO
Matt Diggity
Julian Golde
Jesse Cunningham
At least 4 of the above 9 "confirmed" this is what they felt when reading between the lines (Google makes subtle changes to wording within their articles and documents).
In fact, if you go to the YouTube search bar and type in something like:
March 2024 Core Update
I believe the most recent videos from these guys will show up.
Also, here's the HCU 2022 Guidelines
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/08/helpful-content-update
Compare the wording to the FAQs that were released a couple of days ago, especially the
"Do Google's core ranking systems assess the helpfulness of content on a page-level or site-wide basis?"
AND
"Will removing unhelpful content help my other content rank better?"
sections.
Here it is - https://developers.google.com/search/help/helpful-content-faq
As I say, I think we're in for a bit of a rough ride for the next few months, but if Google once assumed that your content was "helpful and quality", and there is nothing else on those pages that could be impacted by other parts of the core update, e.g. keyword stuffing, link spam, features and benefits Reviews with no "personal touch" added, etc. then there could be some "good things" happening.
I will say expect everything to fall off a cliff over the next week or two, and then a couple of weeks of extreme volatility.
This is why I say, for mental health reasons, try not to look at any stats until it's all over, preferably a good 2 weeks AFTER the core update ends (always an "aftershock" or 3, LOL).
Partha
Thanks for that!
It seems pretty clear cut from the Google Docs even if they have not fully announced that. Can't remember what they used to say though but it was always clear it was a sitewide penalty.
Hopefully, it is a step in the right direction, but there are still huge issues with Forbes, Reddit, and other strong domains ranking where they shouldn't even if some of the harm of HCU is undone, there will still be plenty of harm to go around
Still nothing exciting either way on my end just a few dribbles of remaining traffic coming through. I am hardened enough to manage checking traffic, it is what it is, but understand how heartbreaking it can be for some, It was for me in the earlier years, but you get hardened eventually.
And honestly, if I check and I have dropped fully to zero, it's not much of a loss and my hopes for a recovery are pretty slim.
Still hugely invested in Youtube, but the growth there is SLOW
Steve
Good morning Partha,
As usual, a very informative blog post about the Google updates.
I know when I first started out online, I was regularly checking my stats, especially my AdSense earnings! I agree, it's the worst thing we can do to keep checking stats, we need to keep writing valuable content, not checking stats!
Sometimes, I wonder if we are always better off just sharing our genuine knowledge on our niche rather than doing hours of research, etc! I almost think we can try too hard at times!
A very happy Sunday to you.
Roy
Hey Partha, Thank you for your comprehensive insights into Google's Core and Spam updates. I appreciate your candid approach in shedding light on the uncertainties surrounding Google's expectations for "helpful" and "quality" content. The distinction between pre-2022 and post-2022 performance, particularly regarding sitewide penalties, is illuminating and underscores the evolving nature of SEO strategies.
Your discussion on the transition from sitewide to page-by-page evaluations offers hope for those affected by previous penalties, highlighting the potential for recovery based on individual content merit.
Furthermore, your cautionary advice regarding the perils of obsessively checking traffic stats and the importance of maintaining focus and momentum amidst fluctuations is timely and invaluable.
Your mention of Reddit's role in SEO tactics and the pitfalls of relying solely on AI and software tools for keyword research underscores the need for a balanced, multifaceted approach to content strategy.
Thank you for sharing your expertise and insights.
Thank you, Partha.
Yes, not looking into statistics is the hardest thing. I have to slap myself for that.
And yes, I am checking by day and see the drastic drop in impressions and clicks.
My traffic just started to rise in July and then I was hit in September. So I hope I will recover. I didn't have so much to loose like some others.
Good luck to you and all of us 🍀🙏
Nat
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Hey Partha thanks for this information!
It explains a lot of the decrease in impressions!
So does that mean those individuals who are seeing a decrease in impressions and clicks will rise again or are they going to stay in that position permanently?
Thanks again and have a great day!
Hey Saria,
That is a prediction that NO-ONE can make, unfortunately.
As I've mentioned in my latest WA blog post My Personal Opinions/Insights on GOOGLE + a FREE TOOL For You to Play With It is a case of just waiting it out until around mid-May to see what the actual results will be.
I made a tongue-in-cheek "prediction" in the above blog post, basically it "could be" that many sites see posts and pages come back to life, whereas others won't see a thing.
For now, it's a case of not being 100% reliant on Google for traffic, which means finding other platforms where you can share your content.
I've said before, that since around September 2023, we have a lot of "web 2.0s" ranking, so you can get content onto these.
If you're someone who enjoys writing then platforms such as Medium, Linkedin, Quora, and Reddit are ranking.
So, as an example, Medium has an "import tool", whereby you can share your already published website articles to Medium with just two clicks. Medium also provides a "Canonical link" when you do this, which is a way to say to Google, "Here's the original article, so please rank this higher, and this doesn't count as duplicate content but rather syndicated content".
And if you prefer visuals, especially, video content, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube are ranking very well.
So, for now, while all this is going on, continue to add content to your website, but look to "grow your reach" on at least 2 of the platforms above.
The days of "just writing a few articles on a website" are probably slowly dying out, and if you're looking to rank in Google you'd be better off "building a brand", which means that you'll have content in a variety of places (and don't forget that adding content to some of the platforms above provides backlinks to your website when you link back, which in turn can improve your website authority, and eventually your rankings too).
You'll see a lot of Jay's recent webinars are around various platforms, such as Medium, Pinterest, Facebook, etc.
Partha