44% of Sites Lost Traffic After Google’s August Core Update – What Now?

Google’s August 2024 core update, which ran from August 15 to September 3, 2024, has concluded, causing substantial ranking changes across many websites. A recent poll by Search Engine Land revealed the following effects:

• 44% reported declines in traffic or rankings.
• 27% saw improvements.
• 29% experienced no change.

While some sites saw limited recoveries from previous updates, many have continued to struggle or saw further declines. Unfortunately,  Google experienced a ranking bug during the first four days of the update, which caused unexpected fluctuations. It was later determined that  this ranking bug was unrelated to the core update, making it difficult for users  to decipher if changes were coming from the bug or the core update. 

Google’s Comments About the August Core Update

John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, explained the update’s purpose: “This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.”

This update particularly focused on elevating content from small and independent publishers, reflecting feedback since the March 2024 core update. Mueller added, “This latest update takes into account the feedback we’ve heard from some creators and others over the past few months. We aim to connect people with a range of high-quality sites, including ‘small’ or ‘independent’ sites that are creating useful, original content on relevant searches. This is an area we’ll continue to address in future updates.”

Updated Guidance and Recovery Steps

In response to the update, Google refreshed its guidance on core updates but reiterated that there are no specific recovery actions. Mueller emphasized that there’s nothing special creators need to do: “There’s nothing new or special that creators need to do for this update as long as they’ve been making satisfying content meant for people. For those that might not be ranking as well, we strongly encourage reading our creating helpful, reliable, people-first content help page.”

If your site was negatively affected, the best strategy is to focus on creating high-quality, user-first content. Improvement often occurs with future updates rather than immediately, so continuous enhancement of your site’s content and user experience remains crucial.

Need Help?

If your website has been impacted by the August 2024 core update, Qantm Creative can help identify areas for improvement and guide you toward recovery. Our search engine optimization team will analyze your site’s performance, pinpoint issues, and provide actionable strategies to boost your search rankings and online presence.