March 2024 Google Webmaster Report: Volatility, SEO Guide, SEO, Bugs, UI & More

Google Webmaster Report

Here is the big Google Webmaster report for March 2024 and this past month was pretty calm relative to previous months. We had three unconfirmed Google ranking updates in February and zero confirmed ones – with Google again telling us search quality improvements are coming. We touched on CWV not being a factor and then what are factors vs signals. We also wrote twice about timing to recover from a helpful content update.

Google updated its SEO starter guide, which got a lot of attention. Google released new product variant structured data and structured data carousels for the European requirements.

Google had several bugs this month – some pretty shocking ones, but Google worked to fix most of them quickly. To be fair, some are still lingering and have issues. Google Search Console made some design tweaks. While we saw a lot of user interface changes from Google this month.

Google announced its Google Maps spam fighting efforts, leaving off some data from previous years.

The big news is that Google agreed to pay Reddit for its content while Reddit continues to dominate Google Search. Most SEOs dislike Google now more than ever. But Google says its quality is better than ever.

If you missed the February 2024 Google Webmaster Report – go read it.

Here are the top headlines for the past month related to Google organic search:

Google Algorithm Updates:
Early Signs: Google Search Ranking Update On February 28 & 29th
Massive Volatility Reported – Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update?
Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Brewing February 7th and 8th
Google: Search Quality Improvements Coming In Near Future
Google Explains Systems Are Machines That Use Ranking Signals & Factors Which Are Fuel

Google SEO:
Google’s Revised SEO Starter Guide Is Out – Here’s What SEOs Think
New Google Search Support For Product Variant Structured Data
Google Structured Data Carousels Beta Documentation Added
Google: We Don’t Say Core Web Vitals Are A Ranking Factor
More From Google On Helpful Content Update Recovery Time
Google: Timing For Recovery For Helpful Content Update
Google: Not All Sites That Think They Were Hit By Helpful Content Issues Actually Were
Google: We Want To Reward The Best Content No Matter Site Size
Google Will Clarify Use Of AI To Generate Content For SEO Purposes
Google: Sites Wrongfully Using The Google Indexing API Often Are Spammy & Low Quality
Google To Clarify E-E-A-T & Quality Rater Guidelines Documentation
Google Updates Image Removal Documentation
Google Updates Canonical Docs Explaining Which Attributes Break The Canonicalization
Now You Can Opt Out Of Google Search Place Entities In Page Insights
Google Merchant Center Updates Estimated Delivery Times Calculation
Google Merchant Center Requires Meta Labels On AI Generated Images