Out Of Control SERPs

[goodroi]

I searched for "how to rank in Google". There are no organic listings above the fold for me. There is one big massive CPC ad with multiple sitelinks. Then there is a onebox for Forbes.com, because when I think SEO authority website I think of Forbes magazine. Then they push several youtube videos that are 2-4 years old. Finally I get to some organic listings but they are focused on ranking in Google maps and not Google search!?!?!? Of course they plug in another ad at the bottom that looks 99% identical to the organic listing. This is out of control and its not even a Google serp - its Bing search results.

Be careful that your frustration with Google SEO isn't clouding your observations of the overall SEO landscape. The entire SEO landscape is evolving. Each day it is harder and harder to survive. If you want the best chance to survive then focus more on discovering and exploiting the new opportunities. Social & backlink efforts have worked wonders for many of my new & existing sites in the last year. The more time you spend complaining about Google is less time you spend on your business which just makes it easier for your competition to pass you in the SERPs.

PS ... There is an ironic/honest answer when a PPC ad is the first thing displayed for the query "how to rank on Google" Why work hard on SEO when you can just use PPC and jump ahead of the SEO results. Don't get frustrated that the evil search engines are trying to trick people into PPC. Realize that opportunistic marketers are voluntarily rushing into PPC because they can turn a profit and ask yourself if that is a wise business decision for yourself. This isn't kindergarten and there are no teachers around to make sure we all play nice with each other. In business you need to be smart and avoid emotional mistakes & inefficiencies.

[tangor]

Excellent reminder the web is rough and tumble! TANSTAAFL, so one has to work at it.

[NickMNS]

I searched for "how to rank in Google". There are no organic listings above the fold for me.

I repeated the exercise just to see how what I see compares (note: I'm in Canada, on Desktop)
The result is similar, but with different specifics. There kind of is 1 organic result above the fold, but it is a knowledge graph of 8 bullet points. That alone takes up 2/3 of the page.

Here goes the run down:
1 ad on top (two site links only).
2 knowledge graph
3 People asked (at the fold)
4 Videos (3 x youtube)
5 1st real organic result but it is the site feature in KG.
6 to 11 the next 5 organic results.
12 image carousel
13 related search carousel
14 Searches related to "how to rank in Google"
15 next page!

Out of "15" positions 1 is an ad, 6 are or organic and the rest are Google properties.

For fun I went back and clicked "I'm feeling lucky". I theorized that with more than half the links pointing to Google I would land on a Google page. But no. I landed on a page not even included in the first page of results.

[EditorialGuy]

I did the same search (from the U.S., in a Chrome incognito window) and got no ads at all. The SERP did have the knowledge graph/people asked stuff at the top, but the organic listings were easy to find. (Whether the organic results were good, bad, or in between is a subjective judgment.)

[Wilburforce]

UK results are similar to goodroi's.

I haven't used Google as my own default search-engine for several years, and they haven't been my primary source of new business for about the same length of time.

For me, the decline on both referrals and quality of results began when they stopped being a search-engine (i.e. a mechanism to query a large body of data) and started trying aggressively to anticipate user intent: I have always known what I was looking for better than they do. There is a difference between a good search-engine and a good advertising agency.

[JS_Harris]

I still see some queries generating a page of ads where the #1 ranked site is at the bottom of the page and the #2+ begin on page two of serps. These pages are the very definition of no-content spam pages. Now that's out of control.

Thankfully most aren't that bad.

[tangor]

Turned off my NoScript (temporarily!) to see the hoo hah ... what a mess! (Bing or g)

Turned NoScript back on and deleted all these freakin' trackers/cookies!

Almost looks desperate.

There is a difference in "fold" between landscape and portrait, and landscape is less useful than portrait. Would this be related to phone/mobile layouts?

[glakes]

Almost looks desperate.

I could not agree more - Google looks very desperate. I'm guessing a lot of Google's users will come to the same conclusion. The excessive ads/lack of organic listings may help to pad Google's earnings in the short term, but I can see it offending many of their users and driving them to go elsewhere. Ultimately pushing ads and omitting/hiding organic SERPS will devalue Google's search engine and Adwords. Users won't be presented with highly relevant information and Adwords advertisers will be forced to absorb the costs of low quality/irrelevant clicks. Both parties lose and some will jump ship.

[Mark_A]

"offending many of their users and driving them to go elsewhere."

I have carried out unscientific polls of ordinary users asking things like where do you go to find things online? to which they all answer Google, and then how do you find the results? to which they all answer great! You have to bear in mind that most ordinary web users don't even know there is a mix of organic and paid results. Or if they do, some avoid what they see as paid ads because they think organic is somehow more genuine.

There may be those in WebmasterWorld (innovators) who are looking away from Google for search, but the rest, including the laggards are still there.

[JesterMagic]

@NickMNS I see the same as you for most searches. Google is now trying to keep everyone on their own properties which is bad enough.

What makes it worse is Google in most cases doesn't understand the user intent of their search query. This is understandable though as trying to figure out what a user exactly wants from a few keywords is near impossible.

The problem is Google ignores user intent and displays all this filler that is targeted only at the basic level and what they do display a lot of time is results that comes from large sites (that are trying to figure out how to make more money and have branched out into other niches) that is just filler in it self and contains fluff information that a lot of times is incorrect or outdated.

1 ad on top (two site links only). - Ads are never really on target unless you are looking for a specific product
2 knowledge graph - Almost always completely useless, fluff pieces. Google doesn't understand the content of the article so relies on other signals
3 People asked (at the fold) - Just takes you in circles. Questions are never answered well by the results Google shows
4 Videos (3 x youtube) - Mostly videos served by Google. Now they can show us more ads
5 1st real organic result but it is the site feature in KG. - Never understood why KG gets 2 results
6 to 11 the next 5 organic results.
12 image carousel - Lots of repeats, almost always not helpful
13 related search carousel - Again unhelpful results
...

[Selen]

Google removing some search keywords (and adding a JS link to include them back) is a definition of over-complication and over-thinking. There cannot be better indication of the user intent than by the user typing-in the keyword.

[Selen]

Never understood why KG gets 2 results.

I don't have any evidence, but my bet is that sites featured in the Knowledge Graph / Answers have increased bounce rate because of that. If the KG graph satisfies my answer in 70+%, I tend not to click on the link anyway because the reward would be only 30%; I prefer to click on a link to a completely new site.

[StoneSolid]

Google has become too greedy, plain and simple.
When a simple "add +1 paid listing per search" can net you 999 999 999 $ per year, sooner or later someone from management will sign the command.

They are constantly expanding and hiring more people (not because they need them but to make sure no one else gets them).
Simple logic says they need more profits to cover it all.

With all that said, I do not see how things with google could ever improve for an average webmaster. I simply don't see it happening in the future.

[EditorialGuy]

I don't have any evidence, but my bet is that sites featured in the Knowledge Graph / Answers have increased bounce rate because of that.

I think the contrary would be true, because users who click through already have the quick answer and are therefore likely to be seeking more information.

It seems to me that the highest bounce rates would be on pages that are at the top of the search results on pages that don't have answer boxes, "People Ask," etc., because those top results are likely to get clicked first by drive-by searchers.

[Selen]

If you are presented with the full-meal recipe in the answer box, you won't find much more relevant information by visiting the site. That's why, even if you click to visit the site, you bounce back quickly.

[EditorialGuy]

If you are presented with the full-meal recipe in the answer box, you won't find much more relevant information by visiting the site. That's why, even if you click to visit the site, you bounce back quickly.

In my experience, you'll find a lot more on the site, including text and photos (not just the bare-bones recipe). You'll also find a printable recipe in many cases.

In any event, recipes are one tiny part of the "answer box" spectrum.

[Selen]

Do you still claim that answer boxes only give small/factual information that, in most cases, require the searcher to visit the site for more information? In 2019, they include photos, videos, even spreadsheet-type answers. To a searcher (and I'm sure to Google too), if they still have to click on the 0-position result for more information, the algorithm needs improvement. Google wants to fully satisfy the query/user if they present an answer box.

[Wilburforce]

Turned off my NoScript (temporarily!) to see the hoo hah ... what a mess! (Bing or g)

What you see if Google has no idea of who or where you are (if you use Tor, for example) shows clearly how reliant G has become on tracking you and using your personal data to inform search results. I imagine letting the smokescreen down momentarily has much the same effect: you are a user without enough history. "AI" is much better at predicting what a known user means than it is at predicting what a search phrase means.

My impression - without any scientific basis - is that apart from a few who value having an independent perspective (or webmasters, who have a vested interest in the results) most searchers are happy being led through the universe by their own preferences. They see no reason to jump ship. G sees they are happy enough, and sees no reason to change course.

However, the days when you could populate the data set with your carefully-crafted composition and spring to the top of the relevance pile for all short-term searches have been over for a long time. They are never coming back.

You have a choice: pay for advertising, or rethink your marketing strategy. SEO is an increasing resource-drain for a diminishing return.

[tangor]

Users are "herd creatures", easily led, or spooked, by predators. Never forget the predators!

[MrSavage]

which just makes it easier for your competition to pass you in the SERPs

So based on your observations, didn't you just say in plain English that Google is in fact the "competition"? If they all but remove organics from view, which is what you observed, how can you suggest Google is NOT the competition? I mean, what are you competing for? That #1 spot that takes about 2 pages of scrolling to get to? Pass you in the SERPs? Isn't Google doing that more and more? YouTube blocks aren't competition? Hilarious. Or are you suggesting give up on organic traffic from Google? If not, then perhaps a bit of denial.

[Wilburforce]

That #1 spot that takes about 2 pages of scrolling to get to?

That was my point: the #1 spot that doesn't take 2 pages of scrolling to get to is the one most users will click on first, and the only way to get that spot is to pay for it.

The #1 organic spot is getting harder and harder to reach, and the clicks are getting fewer and fewer. As far as your marketing budget goes, it will eventually cost less to send prosective clients the bus fare to your showroom.

Note that I am not saying web development is redundant: a useful, accessible website for users is still a business asset. If it wasn't, Google wouldn't scrape all the good ones for the Knowledge Graph.

[StoneSolid]

What are we even discussing here? What is the point?

Here is a screenshot for google query "car tires", taken by me, 10 seconds ago:

[imgur.com ]

SPOILER ALERT: FULL SCREEN OF PAID ADS

[Selen]

I checked the term using a non-Chrome browser and the notification was: "Switch to Chrome - Hide annoying ads and protect against malware on the web." Do you see these ads in Chrome too?

[Shepherd]

"car tires"

Not sure the narrative you were going for but I have to say the SERP for "car tires" looks pretty good.

[StoneSolid]

Not sure the narrative you were going for but I have to say the SERP for "car tires" looks pretty good.

My narrative is explained by the screenshot showing full page of paid advertisement on google.

I'm not sure if I even understand your comment actually - you don't see that much ads for that query or you consider it "pretty good" with all those ads?


EDIT: just did the same search (car tires) in my local language and I'm also seeing 5 ads on top, then a google map fragment) - full screen of scrolling before first organic

[JesterMagic]

All listings above the fold are paid ads. Looking at "car tires" serps for my area showed me similar number of ads. A couple of companies are bigger brands who I have bought tires from before. Expensive and bad experiences. The first organic listing happened to be were I buy my tires now. I recognize the company's in most of the other organic listings on the first page as well. (actually a descent organic result for a change)

The thing is none of the companies with the ads are in the organic results on the first page. Doesn't this say something about the quality of the ads?

[StoneSolid]

The thing is none of the companies with the ads are in the organic results on the first page. Doesn't this say something about the quality of the ads?

I'm not even analyzing ads really.
I'm simply stating that there is a full page of scrolling before organic result.

I strongly believe that is wrong, on countless levels.

Google is the first step of the internet and they are running the biggest pay to play scheme in the world.

[NickMNS]

I'm simply stating that there is a full page of scrolling before organic result

Whereas I agree with your statement, I don;t think this is the worst thing about this. If one scrolls down the page, the organic results are split up between a bunch of useless Google widgets (eg: People Also Asked, and a Maps box), where as the ads appear unimpeded and clearly visible at the top and bottom of the page. This is certainly intentional to force the suer's attention towards ads. Specially since the only thing differentiating ads from organic results is a tiny square with "ad" in it. I will to guess that most "normal" users (ie: not us webmasters) probably wont even notice this there. And should they notice it, it appears on 4 results at the top, and 3 at the bottom, so basically everywhere. This is a cunning deception on Google's part.

[StoneSolid]

This is a cunning deception on Google's part.

Indeed so.

Now check this snippet from Adsense Ad placement policies

Formatting content to mimic ads
Publishers may not implement Google ads in a manner that disguises the ads in any way. This includes formatting neighboring content to look similar to the ads. If a publisher places ads on non-Google search results pages, there must be a clear distinction between search results and ads. Review our AdSense for search policies for more information.

In the example below, the content is formatted very similarly to the ads and it's difficult to tell them apart. This implementation is not permitted.

Good stuff, ain't it?

[Selen]

Or perhaps it only proves that there are no accidental clicks on these ads (if they were, Google would add something bigger like SPONSORED - similar to Adsense ads)?