Google Updates and SERP Changes - January 2022

[goodroi]

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System: The following message was cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5053055.htm [webmasterworld.com] by goodroi - 8:36 am on Jan 4, 2022 (utc -5)

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Well, December seems to have been a mixed month of fluctuations, along with the month Google ran a Product Reviews Update. In addition, November's Core Update probably hit site traffic and conversions over the weeks in December.

Where does this leave us in January? Probably in a bit of a flux as the month can often start off quiet after the many holidays in December, and the ongoing fluctuations with the impact of the pandemic. Thanks in advance for your reports.

In the meantime, a very Happy and Prosperous New Year to everyone!

To business, and to keep you updated, here's a quick round-up of some of the Google news.

Google Updates and SERP Changes - December 2021 [webmasterworld.com]

Google December Product Reviews Update rolls Out : "December 1 2021" [webmasterworld.com]

It's not specifically Google; Apache Log4j Zero-Day Exploit, "Log4Shell" [webmasterworld.com]
The exploit even has a mention by John Mueller [webmasterworld.com ]

Google also said the Google November 2021 Local Search Update was concluded. [webmasterworld.com]

Google Announces New Features and Tools For Local News [webmasterworld.com]

Let's look at the latest SERPs observations for January's Google SERPs Changes.

[saladtosser]

New search widgit PSN (people search next) [seroundtable.com...]

So now we have

FSATW (From Sources across the Web)
PAA (People Also Ask)
PASF (People Also Search For)
RS (Related Searches)
BTS (Broaden this Search)

And now "People Search Next" along with the video and image widgets!

Many of these come up in the same searches I do but strangely all take you to the same result sets...

[KaseyM]

I've been decimated from something since last Friday. Traffic ~40% lower.

[saladtosser]

Does anyone else find FSATW (From Sources across the Web) as the first result on the page completely ridicules? Your using a search engine so already by definition searching "From Sources across the Web" right? So why have that there at the top? Mystery to me?

[christianz]

What if I don't care what "people" search before, after, what they "also ask" etc? Some people can still think for themselves, even in 2022...

[saladtosser]

Good point christianz lol! PAP (people also purchased) widget coming soon to also be thrown into the informational serps showing products on G shopping!

[Markedd]

Someone should create a plugin or extension to just remove everything that Google adds on top of the first organic results. I'm willing to chime in (financially) with the development of such a software. Hehehehe.

[MrSnuts]

@Markedd - Following your idea, I just had a little fun time coding just that.
Its possible to hide all the google widgets (at least those that came up during my tests) with 4 lines of javascript code, which one can enter manually via the browsers console (won't post them here to avoid getting in trouble on my first post), and it is quite interesting to look at a clean search page afterwards.

To contribute to the January observations - our conversions have picked up note-ably about a week ago. Can't say that there has been huge volatility in my stats (Entertainment/UGC) lately as reported here by many. Rather seeing the usual winter/summer curve.

[RedBar]

What if I don't care what "people" search before, after, what they "also ask" etc? Some people can still think for themselves, even in 2022...

Whilst I understand your criticism of G for this I have to say that sometimes I do find these links / hints / suggestions useful

Why is that? Simply because at times I have found my search query too complicated for G to understand because I search like an old-school SEO and try to anticipate the keywords required whereas, usually, I need something much simpler that Joe Public may use.

In fact I only did precisely that in the last hour with setting-up a new phone, as soon as I made the query simpler G immediately gave me the answer I was seeking, after all it was an Android question :-)

[Markedd]

@MrSnuts Haha, this is beautiful. I've been thinking that such an extension to be a part of a popular adblocker would collapse the Google's ad revenue over the night (and increase our own). This needs to happen.
To not upset the mods any further, my main website has regained some of the lost keywords over the last week and it seems that the traffic is slowly getting back, so Google has released a new update yet again.

[samwest]

@MrSnuts - you may be on to something - if there were an extension to block all of Google's intrusive garbage and maybe drop in a single ad banner for the developer, you would be a billionaire.

At this point, our collective "love" for Google is so incredibly low that many people would go for this. Let's see how they like being highjacked. As awareness of Google's business practices spreads, it will be more so.

Today, it's right back to binary traffic, meaning zero or one visitor at a time. How this happens when you are on page one across a wide range of terms is beyond me.

[Markedd]

@samwest The uBlockOrigins has it as a filter and it's called Google Search Cleanup. It seems that the developers aren't yet ready to make it a default feature since they worry about demand. The problem is that the large majority of people have no idea that you can clean up the search results. If it does catch up, Google will get far more aggressive with its updates. Just look at the state of YouTube after the adblockers went into the mainstream.
Edit: I am even willing to believe that there will be a subscription available to view the search results without ads. Just 9.99 USD a month.

[samwest]

Markedd - I agree, >90% of people seem oblivious to Google's MO, but the harder they push, the faster the word will spread to promote a shift in user behavior that they cannot control. Through Morphic Resonance alone, Google's present censorship and its punitive, greedy business model will not last.

[Jori]

If you push to hard, it will eventuall break.
That's what my dad always told me.

It will be the same for Google.

[ichthyous]

70% drop in USA traffic this morning by noon. Meanwhile...UK +141%, France +410%, UAE +70%. Google is insane in throttling USA traffic to this extent

[Zubyan_Gul]

My traffic is very low today. I checked the rankings but can't see any big difference. Still low traffic even yesterday the curve was very negative. Our traffic was 12% lower this Friday compared to the previous one.

[ichthyous]

Traffic has dropped through the floor across the board...USA, UK, Europe, UAE. Search is -36% and direct is -25% at 2:30pm. This coincides with a loss of about 5 top ten terms today...not an unusual loss these days. We are having a big snowstorm on the east coast so that might explain US, but the rest of the world?

[abcdefg]

Their stock price can fall under $2k very quickly. These new guys should've learnt from Milton Friedman about inflating the bubble. I'm afraid in this decade almost everyone's traffic and income will be down.

[yollo03]

To sum up, I gained more impressions and less traffic, much less traffic.

[RedBar]

I'm seeing more shuffling of the SERPs than usual and some fairly big ups of not so good pages and some fairly big downs, as in a first to third / fourth pages, of well-established, quality pages. It's also noticeable that the non-US sites have been demoted the most ... Back to that again are we G?

All-in-all, my widget SERPs are definitely not as good as they were a month or so ago.

Traffic at 72% yesterday and so far today looking similar.

[yollo03]

My personal semrush score is 9. I dont see any major shifts yet.

[ichthyous]

Google is using us all as guinea pigs. I had another loss of a swath of keywords today, and traffic to my home page is down 70% by noon. Traffic to my most important landing pages down 40 to 100 percent...that's right, 0 hits. Despite all of that, overall traffic is higher today! The traffic is hitting lower level and less important individual pages on my site, while some of the main category pages / landing pages have just vanished. I have seen this shift several times now, and I hope this huge drop is temporary...the traffic to low level pages tends to be rather useless.

[samwest]

Gorg has us so hard clamped right now. Post all the new content you like, it gets an initial burst that dies within 24 hours as the algo quickly learns and quashes all effort. Sunday, midday and it's been a steady 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1 pattern all day. Trickle/drip traffic. Again. They appear to be randomizing it to make it appear less controlled, but overall you can see the pattern. Been this way for the past decade.

[ichthyous]

@ Samwest I do believe that the ssurge in traffic to low level pages is intended to disguise the fact that the most important parts of the site (read: converting) are getting hammered. My most important landing page has had exactly 12 visits on Thursday / Friday and Saturday...a very low number and completely impossible to have the same number for three days in a row without total manipulation and throttling by Google. Today that number is 1 visit...about 1/2000th of a normal day. This is probably just another crummy exercise in AI learning...learning how to screw us all out of traffic better.

[RedBar]

Sunday's traffic was in my normal range at 73%, marginally higher than Saturday, however as we start a new month tomorrow, realworld bulk repeat orders are down and with February usually being one of our busiest months of the year the signs are not looking good.

Quite simply there is basically one reason for this and that is the massive increase of international shipping costs of 400-500%. This rise is across my entire industry and when you consider the five biggest producers are China, Brazill, India, South Africa and Turkey, you can understand just how much those exported / imported products are increasing.

Large-scale project work is continuing but genuine enquiries for future supplies are down.

I am, therefore, expecting traffic to reduce to the more popular pages and as a proportion the more expensive / exclusive product pages to increase since the wealthier will not be so adversely affected. I'll know a lot better come the Spring.

[ichthyous]

Quite simply there is basically one reason for this and that is the massive increase of international shipping costs of 400-500%. This rise is across my entire industry and when you consider the five biggest producers are China, Brazill, India, South Africa and Turkey, you can understand just how much those exported / imported products are increasing.

Not a concern for most people...for most of us our local and domestic market is the most important one...not far-off developing countries. Google is the prime mover here...the constant experiments with the algo and churning of results, the mysterious huge drops to certain pages, the loss of traffic from various countries due to constant updates, and most importantly...the huge number of ads and Google property links on the page pushing organic far down.

[BigKat]

the huge number of ads and Google property links on the page pushing organic far down.

It's Google's spam boxes that continue to erode our traffic leaving the SERPS a hot mess of cluttered confusion and actual websites ranking #1 so far down the page they aren't even seen. I also believe the economy here in the USA is depleting demand for products in general as consumers tighten their wallets in an effort to offset the impacts of inflation for everyday goods. The consumer's psyche continues to get hammered with so much bad news. Bridges collapsing under their own weight, roads in a terrible state of disrepair and empty storefronts are symptomatic of a failing country/economy and shoppers are taking notice (I believe). IMO, inflation in retail goods is showing no signs of letting up. We have a large retailer here who just started hiring high school kids at $18 an hour, pizza places paying $20 an hour plus a free pizza for each shift worked, etc. It's only a matter of time before these costs get fully dumped onto consumers. I don't know about others, but when money is tight I don't even bother searching for goods I know I shouldn't purchase due to budget constraints.

[ichthyous]

I also believe the economy here in the USA is depleting demand for products in general as consumers tighten their wallets in an effort to offset the impacts of inflation for everyday goods.

All the stimulus checks finished...savings going down. But those are not my customers...my customers are well off and the economy has been kind to them this entire pandemic. They are more likely responding to drops in their stock portfolios and crypto. Wait until all the assets decline in tandem because the Fed is pulling away the candy jar. First crypto and stocks, then real estate. That will produce a recession by end of 2022 or 2023. My guess is that the Fed will not do it, USA economy addicted to cheap money and the average person will get screwed by inflation before they let the asset bubbles burst. Common man doesn't donate to campaigns.

By the way...my USA traffic is down 51% at 1pm, search is up 17% but direct is down 65%. Non-USA traffic going strong...

[abcdefg]

You know the converse of the Fed going less loose is the dollar going belly up? Can't be good for business either way.

From what I've learnt, many astute investors have relocated large chunks of their portfolio into non-US assets. They probably are betting that the Fed can't really tighten (theoretically, it's impossible, as the US gov will have more interest payments than its tax revenue) and that the USD will go bust.

In the meantime, I see traffic decline most notably from the US. I suspect that the working class realized that their crypto gains were not real. The middle class are getting worried about their stocks. The rich are busy getting their affairs in order.

[renatovieira]

Damn... looks like G has shut down all connections to my site this morning. I don't see any problem with the GSC. G real-time is broken or some update... here we go again :|

[samwest]

@rena - yeah, I'm not seeing traffic either, but oddly enough some sales have come through while GART is displaying a big fat zero. My guess is a lot of people are using VPNs or blocking Gorg these days. In fact, another sale just now, and GART showing zip.