In case you missed it, Google finished rolling out its most recent search algorithm update back on September 3rd, 2024.
For the uninitiated, Google algorithm updates affect the search rankings of pretty much everything on the internet. Some sites go up, others go down. It all depends on the state of their search engine optimization.
Usually when this happens, there’s all around terror and tribulation for a few days, before the tenor gets evened out. Some SEOs will moan that the old way of doing things gets punished, while others look to the future for greener pastures.
In most cases, the sites that sink were ones relying on grey hat practices (SEO tactics that were not outright banned but probably should be) or doing things like stuffing their sites with cheap, AI-powered content.
This time around, and now that we have about 2 months of data to review, we can say that human-first content – that is, content primarily written by and for people to actually read – looks like it has come out on top.
Here are some of our observations from two sites we manage.
Our modest boutique website got a noticeable lift in impression.
Like most agencies, our website isn’t necessarily a hotbed of traffic – not like some of the other sites we’ve worked on.
Things started out slow earlier this year, but as you can see right after September 3 we saw our impressions start to grow like crazy.
Now, it’s likely that some of that lift was from a few good content pieces we put out around the same time – but looking at it is like the proverbial chicken and egg.
The main takeaway though, is that it’s clear Google decided to make content that respects SEO best practices, and is written by humans and for humans, is being favoured in the search results at the moment.
Some sites were more subtle, but still noticeable over time.
This one wasn’t immediately evident, but when you take a closer look at the data a few things stand out.
The first, is that prior to the September 3 Google algorithm update, the site never received more than 60 clicks from organic in a day.
After, it was regularly hitting numbers in the 70s, 80, and even 90s.
In other words, it’s best day increased by over 50%.
The key thing here is that the content strategy during this time hadn’t changed – in terms of output.
But – the caveat – is that we did do a lot of work on the foundations in September and October, fixing a whole slew of technical SEO issues they had.
So – the SEO update likely gave a bit of a lift, which was combined with the other work we’ve done to keep it growing at a slow but steady pace.
Sites with good content (but no recent updates) also got major lifts.
This one was pretty unexpected, but the data doesn’t lie.
A site where I used to be the main content creator, but haven’t touched in almost two years, had some pretty interesting data.
That big spike there is September 3rd – where the site got a temporary 475% increase in clicks for a day, before it settled down.
The aftermath is that the site now appears in roughly 2x the searches it did before (+100% increase in impressions) and has a more than 25% increase in clicks.
The thing that’s so remarkable is that there hasn’t been any new content in over 2 years. Everything there was written between 2020-2022.
So, even if the content is old, its still considered relevant and highly quality for its niche!
What this suggests is that it’s highly worth it to invest in a content creation expert to draft your posts (rather than rely on cheap outsourcing or lame straight from ChatGPT articles to get your boosts).
Like the SEO results you see?
The big takeaway here is that the recent algorithm update weren’t random.
All three of these sites followed best practice SEO tactics that don’t rely on cheeky tricks, sneaky plugs, or magical shortcuts, or anything like that.
As I’ve discussed previously, all organic SEO strategies do work.
By focusing on niche, high-quality content, and the right groundwork, you can experience steady, consistent growth.
If you didn’t see growth from the recent Google algorithm update, then it’s likely that your SEO team is doing something wrong. Sorry.
Looking for better organic search growth for your business? We’ve got over 20 years SEO experience and tons of sites that have seen realistic, and ongoing growth from our work. Contact us to book a call.
