Search Engine Recap - Week 11 (2024)

Welcome to Week 11, where we'll take a look at the impact of Google's Core Update so far, the latest addition of Core Web Vitals, and a new feature in Google Business Profiles. Here's an overview for you.

Status on Google's Core Update

Let's pick up where we left off last week when we announced Google's new core update. This update is both significant and expected to take about a month to roll out. Now that we're almost halfway through, let's share some of what the update has revealed so far.

Google's core update has already resulted in the deindexing of hundreds of websites, signaling significant changes in search results. This update has affected various websites across different industries, causing fluctuations in visibility and traffic, potentially leading to a loss in revenue over a short period.

A common denominator among those who have particularly lost significant visibility is pages with thin content or AI-generated spam.

Websites experiencing deindexing should especially assess their content and the way their link profile is structured to identify potential issues.

Furthermore, Google advises businesses to focus on delivering high-quality content and improving user experience to maintain or regain their results.

The update underscores the importance of staying informed about Google's guidelines and algorithm, aligning your SEO strategy accordingly.

In addition, Google has stated that they prioritize crawling high-quality content more frequently, making it the best way to manage your crawl budget.

'INP' as an Active Core Web Vital

Google Search Console introduced the new Core Web Vital metric, "Interaction to Next Paint" (INP), this week. INP measures the delay between user interactions and a website's responsiveness, focusing on performance based on a domain's user experience.

Businesses can use this metric to identify and address delays that affect a website's accessibility and, consequently, its performance in search results.

Improving INP involves optimizing scripts, minimizing render-blocking resources, and prioritizing important page elements. The addition of INP provides valuable insights for businesses to enhance website performance and user experience.

Furthermore, Google has emphasized in its documentation that Core Web Vitals are used in their ranking system. So, make sure this is in line if you want your content to rank well in search results.

Google Removes 'Add Me to Search'

Google has announced the removal of its "Add Me to Search" feature in April. This feature allowed users to create a sort of virtual business card. Despite initial enthusiasm, low engagement has led to the removal of this feature.

The feature aimed to improve personal online presence but failed to gain traction. However, users can still manage their search appearance through Google's other features such as knowledge panels and People Cards.

Google now advises users to update their virtual cards before it is completely removed. This change reflects Google's ongoing efforts to streamline its search features and prioritize features that actually engage users.

Google Integrates Social Signals into Google Business Profiles

We conclude with a new and relevant update from Google. Google Business Profiles will now display links and posts from businesses' social media, integrating various platforms to enhance businesses' visibility.

This feature allows businesses to showcase real-time updates, offers, and events directly on their profiles, increasing user engagement and providing customers with updated information about businesses.

With this integration, businesses can optimize their online presence by managing multiple platforms within a Google Business Profile.

This step aligns with Google's goal of making its platform a central hub for users seeking information about local businesses.

For more details on this new initiative, you can read about it here.

Takeaways and Recommendations

The past week has provided us insight into what Google aims to remove from its search engine with its March Core Update. Content that is thin and clearly appears as AI spam is losing positions and traffic.

Conversely, we see more and more content that generally follows E-E-A-T - and thereby adds value to its audience - gaining traction. But it's still too early to draw final conclusions on the update.

Additionally, we can see that Google itself needs to clean up tools and content as a result of lacking engagement, as with a feature like 'Add Me to Search'.

Finally, it's interesting that Google now supports more social signals in Google Business Profiles. This certainly supports their focus on incorporating more social signals and connecting search with the many profiles.

If you want to know what these updates could mean for your business specifically, you can also reach out to us at Bonzer. As a specialized SEO agency, we help businesses translate updates into results on the search engine every day.