Google Releases March 2023 Core Update

[engine]

Google has said it has released its March 2023 Core Update, and the rollout is expected to take a couple of weeks to complete.


[developers.google.com...]

WebmasterWorld March 2023 Google Search Observations [webmasterworld.com...]

developers.google.com Google Search Ranking Updates List Google Search Central     What's new     Google Developers Learn about the latest and most recent ranking updates to Google Search.

[MayankParmar]

GSC is down, yes.

[mosxu]

@BigKat

“Here's the type of buyer Google is sending”

G has profiled the buyer on many websites and they are not shy sending only “complicated personas” to our websites!

Personalisation is not competition!

[Cyril TechWebsites]

As an example of a mess:

How-to niche (IT related)

Right now I'm seeing #1 spot filled with a techy guy's personal blog page. This page has around 300 words. It doesn't have images. It contains very shaped conclusions from the detailed guide, and it doesn't cover the detailed steps and instructions. This post doesn't have any internal links. This URL overperformed my article and the Microsoft detailed guide. Right now positions are:
#1. Techy guy
#2. Microsoft guide
#3. My website

Took a deep look at this situation and can't get it. This post overperformed our posts not on a single keyword, it takes the first spot in a bunch of related keywords.

[yollo03]

Check its backlinks profile and you will probably have your answer.

[anubitez]

My saturday is terrible, anyone else noticing?

[fearlessrick]

Traffic has remained consistent over the past two weeks, but Adsense revenue (which had been very low) began to pick up after six poor months, starting September, 2022. Had revenue 30-40% better on the 6th, 9th, 11th, 12th, and on the 17th, best day in seven months. So far, the 18th is already close to average revenue for a full day and it's only 9:25 ET here in Tennessee.

I have been upgrading many pages the past few months. Seeing that the core update began rolling out on the 15th, I'm hoping my efforts were well timed.

Mine is a small site, but I've been at this for almost 20 years. After the slump the last six months, keeping my fingers crossed.

[BigKat]

G has profiled the buyer on many websites and they are not shy sending only “complicated personas” to our websites!
Personalisation is not competition!

Complicated is an understatement. IMO, this form of "personalization" by Google crosses a boundary that dives into the depths of digital discrimination.

Those afflicted, who rely on GA, will likely never know the difference since in the name of "privacy" user IP addresses are masked. Only if they dig into their server logs will they see the questionable/scammy VPN, cloud and host traffic Google is sending to their pages.

[christianz]

It's Google core update but I can't be bothered to care. For me as a small publisher, Google is no longer a platform where I can count on receiving any visibility.

Next few years will be super hard. But eventually, slowly users will be able to escape the Google jail and find apps/websites via other avenues.

[Martin Ice Web]

regarding google traffic worst weekend for month. regarding amazon sales one of the best weekends for month.

[Nutterum]

Traffic is up but conversions are slightly down. On another site I'm monitoring , traffic jumped like 15% but conversions tanked like from 20-ish a day to 1. The update is starting to show its colors.

[Martin Ice Web]

yeah, it aimed conversions, nothing else.
google mantra: google first , users last.

[sofie77]

As has often been written, after all the pain after a core update, you should eventually reach a point where this arbitrariness by Google no longer bothers you. It won't hurt until you get to 0.

[RedBar]

Fingers crossed, my global traffic has not only stabilised it has increased compared to the days prior to the "whatever". RealWorld enquiries have surfaced but not from the "West".

UK hotel site continues to be very busy running at 151% for the month so far. Yesterday, Mothering Sunday in the UK, was simply unbelievable with food trade at its highest-ever with many reservations being made for Easter ... Obviously its success is not solely the website by a long way, great management, food, staff and reputation are all working together.

[Broaster]

I posted up several articles in the past few days and whats crazy is I copy the title of my articles and they all appear in top of google search, yet I get little traffic, something doesnt add up

I only received 20 visits yesterday.

Google doesn't care at all, small publishers are screwed.

Also I believe Google and other search engines are similar whenever I get low traffic on Google I get low traffic or no traffic from yahoo, bing, etc

when I get high google traffic or more than usual I also get more visits from bing, yahoo, etc

[RedBar]

My global site on Monday was having a normal day until 18.00 UK time and then for 6 hours seems to have gone MIA, the same pattern appears to be happening again this morning.

UK 18.00 is 14.00 East Coast US from where the traffic has been noticeably lower.

[ichthyous]

My search traffic was up 20% yesterday, and direct was up 9%. Traffic was brisk across all hours yesterday and it coincides with some big increases in ranking of terms for me.

Today however traffic is much lower, with all of the drop coming from USA traffic...every other country is up. USA is -66% this morning. This is becoming quite a familiar pattern now.

I should add that conversions are low, and have been low for weeks now. I don't think with this volume of traffic that can be blamed entirely on Google skimming the cream...people are not spending freely.

[RedBar]

Today my global traffic is still looking normal with a nice spread of countries and varying quantities of page views from a specific single widget page to 20-40 generalised. We'll see how long this lasts!

[RedBar]

My global site on Monday was having a normal day until 18.00 UK time and then for 6 hours seems to have gone MIA,

Rinse and repeat Tuesday 18.00 into Wednesday 06.00, in 12 hours 16% of my visitors!

[ichthyous]

My site is ranking higher and higher, with a big increase in top 3/10 ranking pages in the last two days, but traffic to my home page and some of my landing pages is in the dog house. my top landing page that was doing well, is down 80% this morning. I checked and there are two ads at top of page, then local search results, then I dropped from 1st to 2nd, but my site has the wide carousel of images underneath. I would call that good placement...but an 80% drop.

Traffic overall has been higher since this core update, but USA and Canada are definitely not sending more traffic. There are zero new inquiries for the last week or more...unusual for this time of year.

[Treud]

I was doing well as well, until today :D
Anyway Core update not yet done. I’m receive almost no traffic from the US/Canada too.

[RedBar]

Real traffic switched on for me at 11.00, so far 4 hours of normal views, I wonder for how long?

[BigKat]

USA and Canada are definitely not sending more traffic.

@ ichthyous
The layout Google is using in the USA is far more ad-filled then say the UK, which I just compared. For a general product query, using desktop 1080 res, below is how Google's USA layout compares to UK's layout:

(1) USA sponsored top product sidebar block with nine products -vs- UK's no sidebar product block.
(2) USA sponsored expanded text ads at the top -vs- UK's (1) block of four products.
(1) USA organic listing above the fold -vs- UK's (2) organic listings above the fold.
(1) People also ask box on both USA and UK.
(1) USA Organic listing -vs- UK's (2) Organic listings.
(1) USA sponsored product block of eight products -vs- UK's (1) video block of three videos.
(4) USA organic listings -vs- UK's (5) organic listings.

Autoscroll was active for the USA and not for UK when I checked.

In the USA, where we rank doesn't seem to make much difference. Our #1 ranks aren't bringing in any traffic because there are too many ads on the page above them. The excessive number and placement of ads in the USA, and possibly Canada, may be the reason why you aren't seeing any increase in your USA and Canada traffic despite ranking better.

[EditorialGuy]

Our 21-year-old editorial travel information site had a nice uptick about a day before the March Core Update was announced. In the days immediately after the update began rolling out, we had a moderate but sharp decline in traffic, seemingly across the board.

Traffic dropped maybe 10 to 15 percent, depending on the day, with average positions in Google Search Console dropping from the 17-18 range to 26 one day and 19 or so overall.Things have perked up a bit in the last couple of days, but we're still below the levels of the same dates last year.

Usually I don't see this much volatility during major Google updates, and in most cases we're barely affected by the updates at all. I'm guessing that our site won't see a lot more change from this current update, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong (preferably in a good way!).

Side note: Have the rest of you noticed long delays in Google Search Console stats? The lag in the figures that I watch (search position and such) has been 15 hours or more on many occasions lately.

[Atomic]

Ouch. Sorry @EG. That's brutal.

Side note: Have the rest of you noticed long delays in Google Search Console stats? The lag in the figures that I watch (search position and such) has been 15 hours or more on many occasions lately.

On the day this update was announced it took over 36 hours for data to refresh. Nope. Not stressful in any way.

[thinkfast]

Google is fully concentrate on helpfull contents now .... I am managing two 10+ years old website .... Few months before i redirect one to another main firm domain ...... But after two three months i live them again (Remove redirection) ...... Ranking was preety well as before after few days ....... But now i am noticing traffic and indexing status is decreasing ..... while my firm website is going up ... I leave few pages with same contents and i think traffic are reducing due to this, means this update is also related to spammy contents. Changing contents and hoping to restore my first website ranking again.

[RubicCubed]

Google is fully concentrate on helpfull contents now

I must respectfully disagree. IMO, Google is fully focused on monetizing the search results with ads.

[Micha]

So if Google is focusing on helpful content, I wonder what is supposed to make sense with the many results I see for my keyword. Advertising pages and broken pages (empty) dominate there currently.

[ErrlyBird]

I wonder if all the folks at Google are stressed about this update or just having a laugh at all the commotion.

[superclown2]

wonder if all the folks at Google are stressed about this update or just having a laugh at all the commotion.

A lot of their jobs depend on it - and it could be a heads they lose, tails they still lose situation. AI is predicted to destroy a lot of jobs after all, and there are rumours (no doubt completely false).

[mhansen]

I got access to Bard this week and had a long discussion about Google search results. If you have access, it's just chock full of great replies.

Prompt: Why does Google show so many ads on top of the search results?

Google shows more ads than content above the fold in its search engine because it is a business and needs to generate revenue. The more ads that are shown, the more money Google makes. Additionally, Google believes that users are more likely to click on ads that are displayed above the fold, as they are more visible and easier to access.

However, there are some drawbacks to showing more ads than content above the fold. For example, it can make it more difficult for users to find the information they are looking for, and it can also make users feel like they are being bombarded with ads. Additionally, Google has been criticized for giving preferential treatment to advertisers, which can lead to a less user-friendly experience.

Overall, Google's decision to show more ads than content above the fold is a business decision that is likely to continue in the future. However, there are some drawbacks to this decision that Google will need to weigh carefully.

I guess we have the answer directly from Google Bard itself.