Publishers looking to increase their search visibility have suffered yet another setback as a result of Google core most recent core algorithm modification. It comes after a series of recent changes that caused the majority of news publishers to drop in the search engine giant’s ranks.
Of the 70 top news publications that Press Gazette tracked—most of whom are consistently included in our UK top 50 ranking—all but 15 experienced declines in their visibility score, according to data from SEO tool Sistrix. Of those, reductions in double digits were observed by nearly half (33).
A website’s success in Google core search results is measured by Sistrix’s Visibility Index, which gives higher ratings to websites that perform better in search results.
A minority of newsbrands saw increased visibility in the latest core update by Google
One of Google core ‘biggest core updates yet’
Although Google core releases fundamental algorithm adjustments at least once a year, the update that was released on March 6, 2024, was reportedly one of the largest to yet, according to SEO specialists at Yoast.
It was implemented over several weeks with the goal of clearing away low-quality, frequently AI-generated information that clogged search results.
This change has hurt both more established and up-and-coming news brands, in contrast to the last core update that occurred in late 2023, which mostly affected publishers with a traditional concentration on scale that was frequently built with the help of SEO-explainer-style content.
One of the websites with the largest percentage declines was BBC News, which had a loss in search visibility of 37% from 24.7 to 15.4 points in just over six weeks. Only the Canadian entertainment website Screenrant, whose visibility dropped by 40% from 27.6 to 16.7, had a greater proportional loss.
The Daily Record (down 24% from 4.6 to 3.5 points), LBC (down 30% from 1.3 to 0.9), and the Evening Standard (down 32% from 29.6 to 20.1) were among the other well-known publishers who had significant percentage declines in their visibility.
As to Google core announcement, the March update aimed to address “spam and low quality content on search” and “to reduce content created for search engines on search.”
Although Google core claims that the main goal of its updates is to simply enhance the quality of search results—the tech giant reported a 45% decrease in spammy content as a result of this update—news publishers may see significant fluctuations in search rankings and, consequently, income as a result of algorithm changes.
Reach regionals hard-hit
A number of Reach regional brands, which were also severely damaged in the most recent version of 2023, were among the news sites that suffered the most damage in this round.
Visibility decreased by 23% for Chronicle Live (from 2.83 to 2.19), 22% at the Hull Daily Mail (from 0.55 to 0.43), 21% at Lancashire Live (0.29 to 0.23), 24% at the Bristol Post (from 1.02 to 0.77 points) and the Daily Record (4.61 to 3.5). The low exposure of these sites means that even minor changes in score can have a large effect.
Reach reported last week (2 May) that due to changes in Facebook’s algorithm, its page views for the first quarter of 2024 decreased by 33%.
But a lot of sizable, well-known websites also suffered. Among them were The Independent, which fell 16% from 143.5 to 120.3 points, and Good Housekeeping, which lost nearly a quarter of its visibility, plummeting 23% from 104.2 to 80.5 points.
Although the Google core News tab and the top stories section, which are important sources of traffic for news websites, are not included in Sistrix’s Visibility Index, SEO specialist Barry Adams previously told Press Gazette that Sistrix data probably shows similar shifts in visibility in the top stories box.
Google core update winners
Compared to earlier updates, this one had significantly fewer news and media winners. In our investigation, only five sites experienced a minimum 10% rise in visibility in the most recent update, whilst four other sites experienced a minimum 5% increase in exposure.
The i from DMGT experienced a 62% increase in search visibility over the 45 days following the update, rising from 3.1 to 5.1 points.
The Week, one of the less visible websites on our list, saw its score increase by 40% from 0.2 to 0.3, while Future’s Tech Radar performed the best out of all the websites on our list, having its exposure soar by 45% from 49.2 points to 71.2 points. Apparently, Sistrix’s visibility index is not
Reach’s Birmingham Mail, whose visibility increased by 15% to 2.4 points, and the Express, whose visibility increased by 10% to 12.9 points, were among the other winners. There were smaller rises for websites including the Mirror, Forbes, and Bloomberg.
GB News, which debuted its dotcom URL last year and was among the top performers in our ranking for the October 2023 update, performed significantly worse this time around, with search visibility dropping 14% from 1.8 to 1.5 points. In Press Gazette’s top 50 audience ranking, the site has consistently grown its viewership despite having a relatively low visibility score.
13 news publishers said that, overall, the modification had no effect or only a minor one, increasing or decreasing their search visibility by less than 5%.
How UK’s biggest sites fared in the March core update
Compared to the previous core update, this one resulted in notable percentage shifts in the visibility level of some of the major newsbrands in the UK in terms of audience size and visibility.
Along with the previously mentioned Good Housekeeping and The Independent, The Guardian also saw a 10% decline in visibility, going from 285.5 to 256.6, while Mail Online saw a 14% decline in search, dropping to 60.1 points. The New York Times dropped to 70.2 points, an 8% decrease.
Most visible newsbrands in UK search
Executives from Mail Online have previously charged Google core about devaluing their stories in search results in favor of sites with more liberal political stances, like The Guardian. It looks like this update has affected people on all political sides.
Combiner With a score of 321.9, Google core News continued to be the most visible website on our list. The Guardian, Forbes (124.8), and The Independent (120.3) were next.
Although the primary goal of core updates is to assist Google core in rewarding credible and authoritative material in order to help users find better search results, other publisher-related factors, such as site modifications and technical difficulties, can also have an impact on rankings.
