December 2022 Google Search Observations

[RedBar]

Traditionally December is a good month for some and the lowest of the year for others.

[RedBar]

For me Moday was average at 103% and at the moment today is looking similar, US traffic was down but, obviously, other countries were up.

Checking my US SERPs shows a few new, valid but some very thin sites ranking with quite a few localised sites being seen therefore I now have to question what results I am actually seeing and how G is basing its results. Normally I expect to see the biggest importers, wholesalers in the US, not regional / localised retailers.

Plus, I mentioned this the other day, my RealWorld bulk trade enquiries are continuing and, as before, not from the "West". I do know of many exporting widget trade companies wholly reliant on "Western" business that are seriously suffering.

[engine]

Google Releases December 2022 Helpful Content Update [webmasterworld.com]

[ichthyous]

Another huge drop...USA -55% today by 11:30am. Ex-USA holding steady or up today. Whatever Google is unleashing it's definitely affecting the US serps...I have lost a swath of top ten ranking terms just today.

[RedBar]

Global site still averaging normal traffic plus further good RealWorld enquiries including some from the West!

The UK hotel site has gone ballistic day with a great image plus link from a regional lifestyle magazine recommendation and all from FB ... Pleasantly surprised.

@ichthyous - US traffic for first 7 days at average.

[BigKat]

Whatever Google is unleashing it's definitely affecting the US serps.

I can't speak for the SERPS in other countries, but there has been a major change in the way Google displays the SERPS in the USA. I'm seeing many more ads, infinite scroll and new info boxes. Organic results are being drowned out among all the ads and clutter. There are now more than two ads for each organic result. With this mess I can see why traffic has dropped and bounce rates have skyrocketed. I can only imagine how bad this will impact the ROI on ads since it appears Google is attempting to confuse searchers into behaving like click happy bots.

[EditorialGuy]

Organic results are being drowned out among all the ads and clutter. There are now more than two ads for each organic result.

It really depends on the search. Even some searches that could be interpreted as "transactional" or commercial may not display any ads at all if they could also be informational (and if Google sees them that way). That's certainly been my experience in the travel sector.

I've long said that, from Google's point of view, it may make sense to treat commercial SERPs as the equivalent of the old printed Yellow Pages phone directories, where the ads were the main event and informational content was secondary. Another obvious precedent would be ad-driven print publications like COMPUTER SHOPPER from back in the day.

Ultimately, what matters is how Google's users feel about the results, and I assume that Google does plenty of testing and market research to see how far the ratio between ads and informational content on SERPs of differing types can be pushed.

[BigKat]

It really depends on the search.

My comments were based solely on the changes I witnessed within our industry. However, there are other queries I monitor and Google is now ad spamming these queries as well.

Ultimately, what matters is how Google's users feel about the results

Not entirely. Users are the product and don't pay Google's bills. Those who pay Google's bills, the advertisers, also have a say in how the increase in Google's own ad spam will be received. I suspect the reason why Google has essentially doubled the number of ads is because many advertisers, such as my company, have left Google due to a poor ROI. Doubling the number of ads will most certainly inflate Google's earnings in the short term at the cost of advertisers receiving a lower ROI from more unproductive paid clicks. Advertisers will adjust to maintain a positive ROI and Google will adjust to meet profit targets. Will 2023 be the year 1st page organic results completely disappear for some queries? Maybe not, but from what I'm seeing Google took a large step in that direction with this new layout.

[Nutterum]

There is a dip in the traffic but so far not anything I can't put under the search bubble burst after black Friday//digital Monday weeks. Average positions are stable but I have to admit I see a few heavily grey/black hat websites popping up in top positions, which is often common with more wider SERP updates before they stablise 2-3 weeks later.

[beaverman]

Our affiliate websites that have been hit in October Spam Update keep being dead in the water (-90-100%). Nothing to write home about the ones that have survived so far, too.

[anubitez]

I've locked my website text articles behind a membership. If you were not active in the forums or social media communities, ciao ciao. I am doing YouTube video content for now. Been thinking of this for years, plus video ads pay better on my website, and the beauty is they cannot be stolen as easily, even by the manual boys. They will need to do the videos. Already having a blast doing it is refreshing. I will see if I can get enough diverted from my website to monetize the channel eventually. Overall it's a lot less work and potentially a lot more money for my time.

[beaverman]

@anubitez nevertheless, please, share the outcome of the HCU update for your site. I hope you will see recovery.

[christianz]

No improvement that I can tell in my niche with this HCU 2.0 They still don't understand the meaning of certain type of sites and classify as "unhelpful", "low quality", "thin content" etc.

And, of course, they still don't give credit to original authors of content (like anubitez has complained about) and basically can't get the very basic things right.

At this point web search is so bad you might as well use ChatGPT on Telegram. You will still get the same vague, often incorrect, nonsensical and biased answer, but at least you won't be forced to look at all those ads. And the relevance is better.

Comparing Google today with Google 15 years ago is like comparing a Lada to a Spaceship. Billions of dollars and millions of manhours have been invested to make web search much much worse than it has ever been. The only industry in the history of the world where innovation goes backwards.

[beaverman]

How has your site been doing after the Spam Update, @cristianz?

I remember you told in another thread about a 17-year-old project that got hit. Is this the one you are talking about now in connection to the HCU 2.0?

[christianz]

@beaverman

The 17 year old project is doing better than others I have, but everything is down YoY.

I think it got hit with spam update but it recovered all of that drop starting 28th of October until 9th of November. First few days recovery was super sharp. Obviously artificial filter/sitewide penalty being lifted.

Since November 11ish it has been going back down very gradually and slowly. The HCU 2.0 may accelerate this slide. Because it's total horse#*$!, like all Google's AI updates.

Right now I am maybe 10% down YoY but I was hit in November 2021 too so its comparing #*$! traffic to #*$! traffic.

My second biggest site which is in same niche (mostly) is hit much worse. Down 30% YoY. Lowest traffic in years.

[KaseyM]

Been coasting along most of the year down on '20 and '21 because we're an entertainment site.

Had a huge boost by Discover and Google search over Thanksgiving weekend and into December but crashed when it update rolled out on both Discover and Search.

Happy Christmas to me.

[ChokenBako]

Since 22.12.08 my traffic is reduced about 30%.

Anyone else?

[RedBar]

Global site's Saturday was at 64.3% which is within my normal range for a weekend, my first 10 days of December have been up on 2021 at 110.5%, Traditionally the next 4 days should be about average and then from Friday onwards anything can happen until the New Year with the the fluctuation varying enormously depending upon western traffic.

The hotel site has been doing extremely well ever since its lifestyle magazine / website listing the other day with an average traffic level of 177.5%. Accommodation and restaurant bookings have been doing extremely well therefore we are expecting dropping traffic levels as people get themselves organised etc.

The other UK-specific websites are all seeing reduced traffic since ALL, yes ALL, of them have decided to close their businesses. All have unsuccessfully tried to sell them as going concerns and they are all profitable however no one wants to take these on, youngest is 65 up to 77.

My brief take on this ? Local banks therefore bank managers do not exist any more, zero local knowledge makes for zero involvement ... I know, simplistic, however check out your own High Street for younger business owners of specific widget trades / supplies.

[RubicCubed]

Since 22.12.08 my traffic is reduced about 30%.

Anyone else?

Yes, but not down as quite much as you. We are ecom in the USA. IMO, this has nothing to do with the HCU but the mass proliferation of ads in Google's SERPS. Viewable real estate in the SERPS for organic results changed for us about the time the HCU was released. Our organic ranks really have not changed, but with so many ads there is less viewable real estate for users to find us which is leading to the decline in not only traffic but conversions from Google. I honestly believe the HCU is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to distract us from Google's mass proliferation of ads. Google is likely hoping we blame our loss in traffic and conversions on the algo update instead of Google's decision to greatly increase the number of ads they display.

I think Google's desire to boost profits by displaying many more ads is a sign Google is peaking. We had used Google ads for years, but the cost per conversion had dramatically risen over the years and prompted us to end our campaigns. On Bing we can still convert for about 10-15% of the product cost whereas Google had risen to an untenable 50-60%. This was before the addition of so many more ads which will likely drive the ROI of Google's ads further into the ground. On the positive side we have seen an increase in conversions from other search engines, which may be a sign users are getting fed up with Google and searching elsewhere.

[ichthyous]

It's all over the place these days. In the last 6 months I've lost about 20% of my top 3 ranking terms in a very slow drip, but traffic and conversions were much better than the first half of 2022. Not great, not 2021 or 2019, but at least not as catastrophic as early 2022. Now I am seeing traffic patterns shift on an almost daily basis. For the last few days my home page has received 25% less traffic but other pages are up so it seems almost a wash or slightly lower. I am seeing very large e-com sites zooming back up and crowding out my niche. Perhaps trust factor or number of links gained importance. For a few months smaller sites like mine were actually outperforming.

[MayankParmar]

This sucks. Still waiting for a core update for any improvements. No luck with HCU.

[beaverman]

@MayankParmar have you been hit in Google Spam in October or later? Anything at all during HCU?

We haven't seen any recovery as well.

[RedBar]

Sunday as expected at 59% and so far today looking normal.

I deciided to have a look at the USA G SERPs yesterday and once again there are many localised very thin results that have appeared fron nowhere and usually 5-10 years old. I have mentioned this before yet no one commented about it.

These days I seem to be getting localised US results rather than national US results, do generic US results not exist any more? Sure the top 3-4 results are the big US importers / wholesalers but after those I see poor / thin local results and as for non-US businesses for popular products I have to go 20+.

Did I miss something?

[christianz]

This sucks. Still waiting for a core update for any improvements. No luck with HCU.

I wouldn't say that. Statistically you have more of a chance to get penalized during any given update than get boosted. The share of internet traffic redirected from Google to organic websites is always shrinking and trending to zero.

I don't know, maybe HCU improved Google SERPs overall, but just from my narrow niche perspective, it looks like it's doing the exact opposite of what the name suggests.

But it's hard to pinpoint these effects to one specific update or "ranking system". There are so many bad ones. It could just be the effect of EAT boosting, link de-emphasizing or any of their other bad ideas.

[ichthyous]

I am seeing the continued loss of top3 and top10 terms. Just as it marched higher for weeks in June out of the blue, now I'm bleeding terms daily and heading right back down. I ascribe this to the loss of ~850 backlinks from a DA88 site that I used to work with. It has taken months for the link count to be reflected in GSC but now they are almost all gone and that is being reflected in my ranking. The only thing that has saved me is getting a wide swath of new links from other sites over the last year, but not nearly the number lost.

[MayankParmar]

@beaverman I was hit by August HCU / September Core or Product Reviews. Not really sure which one.

[EditorialGuy]

We've been edging upward (year over year) every day since November 28, but the Helpful Content Update has given us an added boost. In the last few days, daily Google traffic has been up anywhere from about 9 percent to 27 percent YOY. Week-over-week traffic has also been up on some days, which goes against the normal seasonal trendline. Average rankings in Google Search Console have also improved.

Most of our top 100 pages are the same ones as usual. They're just producing more traffic than they were.

The site is an editorial (a.k.a. informational) destination travel-planning site that has been at its current domain for 21 years.

Note: We lost a fair amount of Google traffic in late September (coinciding with the Product Reviews Update), so what I'm seeing now could best be described as a moderate recovery.

[Atomic]

Note: We lost a fair amount of Google traffic in late September (coinciding with the Product Reviews Update), so what I'm seeing now could best be described as a moderate recovery.

Not bad. But a ways to go to get back to March 2020 levels.

[EditorialGuy]

Not bad. But a ways to go to get back to March 2020 levels.

The pandemic was already decimating our niche by March, 2020. (The free fall began in February of that year, and Google rankings were mostly beside the point at a time of international travel restrictions.)

[Martin Ice Web]

Today seems like they pushed out a new round. So far -30% and 80% zombies

And from user sight it seems that with every update it is harder to find realy good websites. Soon the first #10 will be all amazon affiliate sites.
google = money over quality

[RedBar]

Monday's traffic was at its expected level of 102.7% with today looking similar. USA traffic this month is definitely down 25% whereas all Eurasia is up with several excellent projecr enquiries, big western projects are being delayed / postponed / cancelled on a regular basis these days.