March 2024 Google Update: Steps to Recover Your Site

Ravi Ahiriya July 30, 2024 408 SEO

The recent release of Google’s SEO algorithm update 2024 has changed the digital landscape dramatically. It has revolutionized the approach to ranking websites in search results. This seismic shift has sparked discussions leaving many website owners and SEO specialists at a crossroads struggling to find ways to cope. Well, amidst this chaos, lies hidden opportunity which businesses can leverage to strengthen their existence. By focusing on high quality content,  refining search results, and recalibrating their strategies, they can boost their online visibility. And this is how this update challenges you to redefine what quality means. 

In this article, we will have a comprehensive look into this update, discussing why the update was made, how it impacts your website performance, and what are the ways to recover from it. 

Table of contents

Why Google Launched the March 2024 Core Update

With rolling of any of its core update, the main focus of Google is to ensure that the quality content is delivered in its search engine results. Likewise, the update of March, 2024 was intended to fine tune the methods used to evaluate websites, based on their quality, relevance and credibility. Therefore, it is clearly established that this update is beneficial to websites offering rich, authoritative, and easy-to-navigate content, leading to enhance their ranking. On the other hand, sites that do not adhere to these quality benchmarks will find themselves pushed to the lower rankings, ending up suffering from reduced visibility.

How to Assess the Impact of the Update on Your Site

It is critical to analyse and assess the impact on of this update on your site. Here are steps to assess it:

  1. Check Traffic Analytics to figure out the fluctuations in traffic on your website using the tools like Google Analytics. 
  2. Monitor Rankings. Closely observe the shifts in keywords ranking using the rank tracking tools. 
  3. Using Google Analytics, watch out for user behaviour changes through bounce rates and session durations.

Having this information on your side you can better understand how your site has been hit and the places where it needs improvements.

Performing a Detailed Site Audit

After getting the initial picture of the website after the update, perform a site audit. In this, your focus should be on several key areas, and the most important being the quality of content. The content you are delivering should be informative and qualitative, meeting the goal of your audience. Moreover, other technical optimisation factors like linked pages, page speed, voice search and mobile responsiveness must also be checked.  Plus, also asses the engagement of visitors on site to determine whether there is any problem with site navigation and design that is likely to affect their conversion. 

Explore Google Search Console Data

After the update, it is worth using Google Search Console as a tool for monitoring your site’s performance. This can help you decide on areas that require improvement, for instance,

  1. Click-Through Rates (CTR): Low Click Through Rate can mean that there is a need to improve the titles and descriptions on your site.
  2. Check Indexing Status: Make sure that the important pages of your site are indexed and do not contain any errors.
  3. Review Core Web Vitals Report: This will help in gauging the overall performance, usability, and speed of your site.

Keep a close eye on these data will help you improve on specific problems causing a drop in website performance affecting its ranking.

Effective Strategies for Site Recovery

The process of recovery from the March 2024 update needs consistent and well-coordinated strategy in place. Begin with improving your content; this will entail amending and adding to old articles and pages to be in compliance of the new Google standards. Focus on E-A-T which stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, by including authors’ bios, sources, and references to support your research. Moreover, make sure that your content adequately meets the search intent of users, responding to possible questions or concerns that they might have.

Addressing Backlink Issues Post-Update

Backlinks still remain one of the key factors in SEO and should be properly dealt now  after the update. You can check your backlink profile with tools such as Ahrefs or SEMrush. These tools will help you discover any harmful links that may influence your site negatively. However, it is necessary not only to avoid unnatural links from low-authority websites but also to actively look for quality backlinks from authoritative and related websites from your niche. 

A strong backlink profile can enhance your site’s authority and in turn, improve its ranking in the search results.

Monitoring and Adjusting Your SEO Efforts

After the update, it is necessary to track the changes in the SEO performance consistently. Here’s how to stay proactive:

  1. Monitor Your Performance Regularly using analytics and conversion tracking to keep tabs on  the amounts of traffic and level of engagement .
  2. Stay vigilant of SEO updates and be ready to adapt to ongoing changes in Google’s algorithms.
  3. Utilize data-driven performance analysis and be prepared to alter strategies as needed.

Key Lessons from the March 2024 Update

The March 2024 Core Update offers valuable lessons for all website owners. 

  1. Quality Over Quantity: Emphasise more on developing of comprehensive, quality content rather than just increasing the number of pages.
  2. User Experience Matters: Make sure your site is intuitive, friendly and fosters positive user experience.
  3. Adaptability is Crucial: This concept is true for SEO; what was valid yesterday may not be valid today, hence, always be ready to adapt. 

Remembering these tips, you would be able to prepare your site for the future updates and fluctuations more efficiently.

Maintaining Long-Term SEO Health

Last but not least, taking care of the long-term outlook regarding SEO is essential and not limited by the principles stated above. It is crucial to update the content often since this provides relevant and up-to-date information to the target audience. This should be done through regular blogging so as to ensure that the desired flow of visitors is established as well as increased patronage. Other factors, which mean investing in the technical aspects of SEO new updates, including making sure that a site loads quickly, or is optimized for mobile users, will also help to sustain success. Besides, use analytics prudently to point out improvement and development opportunities.

Conclusion

The strategies mentioned above will help you regain the lost traffic and rankings in face of the Google Core Update. This update is a vital reminder of what Google wants: the quality and relevancy in the content. 

Despite your rankings and traffic have shown changes for worse, it won’t take long to get back in the right direction if you are ready to take action. With proper assessment and strategic approach, you can set your website on a positive trajectory. Your consistency towards delivering valuable content and addressing needs and wants audience of will eventually pay off for better helping you align with  google’s search engine 2024 goals

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Ravi Ahiriya

Vice President & Business Growth Analyst - 360 Digital Marketing (SEO - PPC - SMM - Influencer Marketing) - Defi Expert (PR for Crypto, NFT, Metaverse & Web 3.0, Blockchain, ICO and Airdrops Promotion)