State of SEO: Google Search Algorithm Updates for 2024
Since its arrival, AI has stirred up a storm in almost every field, and SEO is no exception.
Algorithmic shifts in search engines have started to affect search rankings, which is concerning to SEO experts.
Search engines’ attitudes towards dealing with AI content or relying on AI itself to produce results or impact search rankings seem to evolve.
Whatever it is, it unsettles the SEO community.
Surely, it will put a question mark on the future of SEO.
And this is with almost every search engine, be it Microsoft, Google or else.
What happens to SEO in the future will be revealed over time.
In this article, we will examine the state of SEO in 2024 in Google searches after algorithmic updates so far and AI.
June 2024 Google Ends Infinite Scroll
In desktop searches, Google is no longer showing results in infinite scroll form. That means to jump into the page now users have to click on the “Next” button like previously. Now you know people usually don’t much prefer that at least in comparison to that fast scroll that feels fun and seamless.
This is a bit worrisome for an SEO agency because it will impact search rankings for those not appearing on the first page, making their work of optimising for search ranking a bit extensive.
Google Algorithm leak
You must have heard the news that a document was leaked containing much information about Google ranking factors, which were mostly unknown to users.
A bot accidentally pushed the information to GitHub, which Google soon took back. However, by that time, third parties had indexed it and widely circulated it.
Though the leaks did not disclose anything surprising, they mostly confirmed what most experts have been speculating for a long time. They gave SEO experts some information on raking patterns by Google.
Some of the biggest takeaways from the leak were:
- Domain and site are raking factors even though Google has long denied them.
- Short-form content can rank
- EEAT is a ranking factor, especially in the case of YMLY content
SGE in Search Result
Another update that has almost shaken the SEO industry is the arrival of SGE in Google search results. Google recently added this new feature, which is basically a generative AI answering queries through quick snapshots of information in response.
If you are not yet aware, SGE stands for Search Generative Experience. As said, it is a Gen AI model, so you can now get AI-generated searches in addition to those organic indexed pages in the form of blue links while searching for something on Google.
To use SGE, you have to activate it via Google Search Labs. Once you have activated it, it will respond to your queries through quick snapshots. However, Google is still testing it, so it may not be available to users in every country.
This is a serious update for SEO because it left content marketers concerned because Google has allocated the top-ranking space to such AI snapshots, shifting organic results a bit downwards.
Read also: Top 5 AI Trends in 2024
Google March Update
As low-quality AI content on the internet flooded, Google decided to combat it through its March update.
Google knows that people can end up publishing dozens of pieces of content without possessing any Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, or Trustworthiness, even when Google suggests heavily focusing on EEAT qualities.
To deal with all such web publishers, Google updated its core system.
After that, those with low-quality content meant to get clicks instead of giving some worthy information to users are on the target of Google, and also, those using expired domains for an entirely different niche have almost no place in search results.
Read also: How to use AI tools to improve SEO
Google June Update
In June 2024, Google started and completed a new update. The update was general, i.e. different core algorithm updates and targeted spammy websites. When Google didn’t talk about this much, it simply informed the aim to improve search quality, so all those websites that violate Google’s Spam policy will get hit.
Simply, after this update, if your website seems to violate the spam policy, it can have negative consequences on your SEO efforts.
That’s it
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