Is Google’s Algorithm Broken? What the Hell Happened

Are you sick of seeing Forbes posts and old Reddit forums as top results for nearly every search? You’re not alone.

Google’s recent algorithm changes have crushed businesses relying on organic traffic, especially smaller sites and affiliate blogs. 

With three decades of SEO experience under my belt, I’ve really seen it all over the years. So I thought this would be a good time to share my thoughts on Google’s “broken” algorithm and rant a little about where it stands today. I’ll also provide guidance about where to go from here so you can claw back at any traffic you’ve lost.

Recap of the Latest Algorithm Changes

Before diving into my opinions on the current algorithm, let’s just quickly recap some of the most recent changes made by Google. 

I believe the 12-month stretch of updates between August 2023 and August 2024 has had the most significant impact on the results we’re seeing today and will largely shape rankings and SERPs in 2025. 

• August 2023 Core Update — This was the second core update of 2023 and the first one that resulted in major ranking shifts that I noticed over the previous 24 months.
• September 2023 Helpful Content Update — Rolled out over 14 days, which, on the heels of the previous month’s update, caused a bit of an uproar and major volatility in the SEO world. It felt like SEO professionals noticed this one more than the average person.  
• October 2023 Core Update — Google released this core update within a day of a spam update, essentially making it nearly impossible to distinguish which one of these had the biggest impact on rankings.
• November 2023 Core Update — Google said this update targeted a “different” core system, which is the first time I’ve heard them confirm the fact that multiple core algorithms exist. 
• March 2024 Core Update — Released over a 45-day period, and included HCUs in the algorithm, which Google claimed would reduce “unhelpful content” in the SERPs by 40% (which I beg to differ).
• March 2024 Spam Update — This was rolled out at the same time as the March core update, and it appeared to result in an influx of manual penalties issued. 
• May 2024 AI Overviews — This is the first time generative AI overviews appeared in search results for all users in the US. 
• June 2024 Spam Update — Generic spam update, released on the heels of Google’s document leak (which made big waves in the SEO community).
• August 2024 Core Update — There was an overlap here with a separate rankings issue, so it was tough to tell if the changes were due to the update or the bug. 

I intentionally skipped over some of the unconfirmed updates, smaller bugs, and things like Google eliminating continuous scroll in the search result. I don’t think this stuff is quite as relevant when talking about the core algorithm and why it appears to be “broken.”

My Take on the Current State of SEO

I think people have short memories. Or maybe they’re just new to SEO.

This isn’t the first time that Google has made changes that essentially wiped websites off the face of the earth. It was just 14 years ago when the Panda update turned the SEO world upside down, only to be followed by a similarly harsh Penguin update the following year.

New players in the SEO world weren’t around for this, and they’ve been enjoying a solid run over the past five years or so, looking for ways to hack their way to the top. 

What makes today’s landscape so different is that it feels like most of the sites affected negatively suffered death by 1,000 cuts. It wasn’t an overnight result, but rather 3-6+ months of a slow bleed until they could no longer survive.

I truly believe that Google did need to make major changes. But I also think they went a bit too far and over-corrected. 

I agree with Google that low-quality affiliate blogs and review sites where publishers have zero experience with the product or service should not be dominating the SERPs. 

I haven’t been able to trust 90% of the stuff Google served me over the past five years because I knew anything mentioning a product was just based on who was paying the highest commissions.

Why Google’s New Algorithm is So Messed Up

The biggest problem with Google’s new algorithm is that I’d argue the results now are equally bad, if not worse, than they were a year ago. 

Google put way too much trust into a site’s domain authority and apparently didn’t consider the fact that those sites would abuse their position and give us the same affiliate spam. 

Forbes is now publishing content about pest removal services and CBD oils—neither of which have anything to do with business. And they’re making a killing in affiliate marketing revenue. 

So instead of hundreds of smaller sites serving us affiliate content in the SERPs, Google’s new algorithm is just directing us to a few major sites. But it’s all just affiliate spam. 

• High DA sites that “should” be providing helpful content are actually producing garbage.
• Google seems to be ignoring the quality of the content and the affiliate angle as long as it’s a top 500 domain.
• Google’s AI overview is leading to more zero-click searches, which will only hurt Google in the long run.
• If sites producing this content aren’t getting traffic, they lose the incentive to keep publishing, and Google loses quality content to scrape.
• In certain cases, AI content is actually ranking (although I think this will be short-lived—more on this later).
• Some high-quality websites producing excellent content with real substance are losing traffic and disappearing from the search results just because of their domain authority. 

This is just barely scratching the surface of what’s wrong at Google right now. 

But let’s not forget that Google is a $2+ trillion dollar company. They can afford to make some mistakes, and I honestly think things will get sorted out soon enough. 

Google is facing more competition than ever before from platforms like ChatGPT and even from other search engines that prioritize user privacy. So I think they’ll right the ship eventually.

What to do if You’ve Been Affected by Google’s Algorithm Changes

All hope isn’t lost. Whether you’ve lost traffic or you’re starting from scratch, here’s the best advice I can give you for surviving the new era of SEO:

Diversify Your Strategy

You can’t put all of your eggs in the Google organic search basket. It’s just too risky.

Don’t abandon it altogether. But make sure you’re mixing in other ways to drive traffic and earn revenue. 

Podcasting marketing, video marketing, PPC ads—all of these can be highly profitable. You can even try to optimize your content for other search engines, Bing and DuckDuckGo.

Stay the Course

There will always be setbacks in businesses, and every year can’t always be your best year on record. So consider this a minor setback and continue to stay the course. 

I’m not saying it will be easy, and you could even lose money along the way. But you need to adapt to survive.

Continue producing high-quality content that’s helpful to your readers. Stick to your strategy for a minimum of two years, and then re-evaluate at that time. 

Avoid AI Content

I’ll admit that AI content has made leaps and bounds over the past year or two. But you should not be using AI to produce content.

I have a post that covers this in greater detail and discusses whether businesses should use AI content generation. But here’s the short version of why it should be avoided. 

First and foremost, the quality just isn’t good enough. If everyone else is doing it, then it’s impossible to stand out unless you own a domain as powerful as CNN or the New York Times.

Google is also competing directly with AI companies. So I think sites that are producing AI content are playing with fire, and that content will eventually come back to haunt you—at least in terms of ranking on Google.

Prepare For a Rainy Day

It’s easy to get excited when your traffic is growing. You might even make some solid predictions about where your traffic is heading in the future based on positive results over the last 6-12+ months. 

But scaling too quickly can kill your site when there’s a major algorithm change.

If you hire an entire team of writers and editors to 10x your content because you’ve 10x your traffic, what happens when you have a stretch of low-revenue?

I’ve seen this happen with too many websites. 

I personally think it’s best to err on the side of caution, even if it means slightly less revenue in the short term. You can still grow at a reasonable rate—just make sure to stay within your means and don’t spend it all because you had a few good months. 

Look For Opportunities to Exploit

I’m sure you’re familiar with the famous quote that the best time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets. Well, there’s more than enough blood in the streets right now. 

This could be an excellent time to target a profitable niche that’s not quite as competitive as it once was. Sites that used to dominate a space may no longer be producing content or ranking anymore. Now can be an amazing opportunity to strike if you’re willing to invest your time and money into those keywords. 

You might even be able to purchase some high-quality domains for pennies on the dollar. 

Final Thoughts

Google’s algorithm sucks right now. But there are still plenty of websites making money.

I think a lot of this stuff will be corrected moving forward, and I’m expecting some more algorithm changes throughout 2025. 

For now, it’s time to reassess and make a new plan for the upcoming year. Just stick to it, and don’t get discouraged if you’re not producing results overnight.

You should also think beyond Google and look for other ways to earn money—like starting a podcast.