Google's own view of the impact of the March 2024 update is not surprisingly positive. The company said it hoped to reduce the appearance of useless content in its pages with search engines (SERPs) by 40 percent. After the update, the company claimed an actual reduction of closer to 45 percent. But does it feel like Google's results have improved with so much? Most people don't think so.
What causes this decoupling? According to Michael King, founder of SEO company Ipullrank, we do not speak the same language as Google. “The internal success statistics of Google differ from user perceptions,” he says. “Google measures the satisfaction of users through quantifiable statistics, while external observers rely on subjective experiences.”
Google evaluates algorithm changes with different tests, including human search quality testers and performing A/B tests for live searches. But moreover, success is about the total number of searches (5 trillion of them per year). Google often makes this number a center of its business updates to show investors that it can still grow.
However, the use of searches quantity measured quality Has clear problems. For example, more involvement in a search engine can mean that is quality decreasedSo people try new questions (for example the old trick to add “reddit” at the end of your search series). In other words, people can search more because they don't like the results.
Jim Yu suggests that Google is moving quickly and breaks things, but it may not be as bad as we think. “I think they rolled things out faster because they had to move much faster than they had to move historically, and it ends that they make some real mistakes,” says Yu. “[Google] is held on a higher standard, but in general I think that their search quality is improving. “
According to King, the current search behavior of Google is still in favor of big names, but other sites are starting to see a rebound. “Larger brands perform better in the top three positions, while lesser -known websites have gained ground in positions 4 to 10,” says King. “Although some websites have indeed lost traffic due to reduced organic visibility, the greater problem seems to be linked to an increased use of AI overviews” -and now the launch of the AI mode.
