Google’s August 2024 Core Update: What We’re Seeing and What to Do

Google released its August 2024 core update on 15 August and confirmed the rollout finished on 3 September, about 19 days later. Google said the update aims to better surface genuinely useful content and took into account feedback from site owners hit by earlier updates.

Within a day of the announcement, Google also confirmed an unrelated ranking bug that was fixed on 20 August. Some ranking changes in the first week were likely caused by that bug, not the core update.

How to read your results

1. Wait for the rollout to finish. Rankings move a lot during a rollout. Use data from after 3 September.
2. Compare equal periods. In Search Console, compare the two to three weeks after 3 September with the same length of time before 15 August.
3. Look at pages and queries, not just totals. A small total drop can hide a big loss on your most valuable pages, and vice versa.
4. Check seasonality. Many Pakistani businesses see traffic shifts around Independence Day sales and back-to-school season. Compare with last year if you can.

If you dropped

• Find the queries where you lost positions and look at who now ranks above you. What do their pages offer that yours don’t?
• Improve depth and accuracy: real prices, specifications, photos, comparisons and first-hand experience.
• Remove or merge thin pages that target near-identical keywords.
• Make authors and your business visible: who wrote this, why should people trust it?

Google has said recovery from a core update often takes until the next core update, because the systems need to re-evaluate the site. Quick tricks don’t work. Steady improvements do.

If you gained

Don’t relax. Look at which pages improved and why, then apply the same approach to pages that are still weak. Core updates come several times a year.