April 2023 Google Search Observations

[RedBar]

I'll kick it off ... Early this morning I had a genuine trade visitor view 500+ pages on their phone ... I guess they were bored:-)

I know they were genuine since they actually sent me an enquiry and told me they'd spent 2 hours on the site.

[Mestrick]

Something is again cooking up in SERP with ranking fluctuations today, Am I the only one seeing this?

[Dalnoon]

I'm also seeing some ranking changes across multiple websites. Not sure if it's an update or just a random shakeup.
Ad RPMs have unfortunately not recovered after the holidays. UK traffic mostly.

[Martin Ice Web]

Nice to see google gives itself a pat on the back on twitter for removing more spam sites in 2022 than ever before.
Maybe they are talking about another search enigne?

Big drops yesterday and today it starts with -33%. Amazon is now #1 or #2 for nearly all searches in our vertical. Then 2-3 price compare engines followed by big resellers. All this sites are pure affiliate with no extra bonus for the user.
I suggest that google should read their own guidelines.

And all is clustered with ads
Using google without an adblocker is not possible.

[RedBar]

Oh! Did someone switch of the USA yesterday ?.?.? I was having a good, steady day until 20.00 UK time and then traffic (USA) went to a crawl and 13 hours later I am waiting for it to re-start.

My logs indicate US traffic was halved v average.

[mhansen]

Something is again cooking up in SERP with ranking fluctuations today, Am I the only one seeing this?

I'm noticing something as well.

A few reported drops in SERPs at SEMR and the sites that bumped our positioning, seem to be those with uber-high authority, EEAT, etc.

[engine]

FYI Google Releases April 2023 reviews update [webmasterworld.com]

[superclown2]

I suggest that google should read their own guidelines

Since the last update I have watched a horde of new domains getting high positions in my verticals. They invariably have little to recommend them apart from many obviously bought links.

I have never believed a word Google says about 'improving' their SERPs and I see no reason to do so now.

[christianz]

FYI Google Releases April 2023 reviews update

lol Their previous updates didn't seem to be able to reliably determine what product/thing-related information page is or isn't a review, much less if it's high quality or low quality review.

I suspect this is good news for those creating GreatContent(tm) with ChatGPT etc. It will have the correct "thickness", word count etc. Maybe add nVidia generated fake author photo and you're in quality heaven.

[Mestrick]

As expected something was wrong and its "Review update"

[Martin Ice Web]

@superclown2, yet every single update from google resulted in serps getting worse.

What i am doing if i look for a item is
-first: probe amazon what different items/manufacturers are in this vertical
-second: pick on
-third: use Idealo to find a shop that sells this item


google with all this fake review sites and sites that i would never trust is not a source anymore. google killed all good shops where it was worth to take a look at and buy from.
google should banish all sites with amazon affiliate links. 99% of them are fake.

[superclown2]

google should banish all sites with amazon affiliate links. 99% of them are fake.

Something strange I have noted (at least in my UK vertical); Google have hammered affiliate sites generally, but it doesn't seem to extend to Amazon affiliates. Or perhaps I'm reading it all wrongly?

[RubicCubed]

I perform some review type searches and the results are also loaded with ads for Amazon. Are there any searchers even looking beyond the ads to see these review sites? Then I scroll deep down to find and visit the review sites and they also link to Amazon. Google needs to stop already. We all know many of Amazon reviews are paid/fake. But Google doesn't mind because Google also displays ads for these paid Amazon review services.

[Martin Ice Web]

@superclown2, no i see the same. It seems that affiliate links to amazon are a "trust" factor. And all the nonsens google is saying about review updates are proofed false when looking at the serps. goomazon is alive!

Today we got hit again -30%. That means -60% to previous core update traffic.
And it seems 50% from remaining traffic are bots.

[superclown2]

It seems that affiliate links to amazon are a "trust" factor.

You may well be right. Many years ago when Google was a proper search engine I would link out to sites like Facebook and Twitter. The theory was that linking out to a high authority site gave a rankings boost. Perhaps I should do it again, but I'm not sure that my stomach could handle it now, the way those sites have developed since then.

[BigKat]

It seems that affiliate links to amazon are a "trust" factor.

Most of the major sellers on Amazon live in China, which made it possible to distribute Chinese made fakes/knockoffs around the world. But Amazon can deliver fast with their own drivers and subcontractors who don't know how to drive. I've seen Prime trucks parked half in the street and half on tree lawns. But hey, Amazon has received over $5 billion in local tax subsidies in the USA. Competing retailers/manufacturers like us would be lucky to get $1 in taxpayer support. Even Walmart's measly $250 million in tax subsidies can't compare to Amazon's $5 billion.

Instead of looking at linking to Amazon as a trust factor, maybe it's best to look at it as another subsidy to support a major international corporation with similar values - Or should I say a similar lack in values that has and continues to deprive our communities and economy of resources.

[mhansen]

doesn't seem to extend to Amazon affiliates. Or perhaps I'm reading it all wrongly?

According to a PAA answer in Google itself:

Walmart is Google's top advertising customer, with Amazon coming in second, and spent $10.8 billion on Google advertisements in 2022!

Not a real surprise when you look at the highest value SERP's.

They are either:
- Loaded with Google ads.
- Top organic results are Google advertisers.
- Top results are Google advertisers that also DISPLAY Google adsense.

Google simply feeds itself, by keeping it's highest value ad partners in business. I've gotten to the point that I'm considering changing our own advertising model, to join one of the big Google Ad Partners and displaying adsnese ads, thus completing our own cycle of feeding the machine that feeds us.

[Martin Ice Web]

I'm considering changing our own advertising model, to join one of the big Google Ad Partners and displaying adsnese ads, thus completing our own cycle of feeding the machine that feeds us.

if u are doing this:
1. googles plan successfully accomplished
2. i donīt know how much u spend but i doubt that u reach the numbers of Walmart or amazon

[mhansen]

if u are doing this:
1. googles plan successfully accomplished
2. i donīt know how much u spend but i doubt that u reach the numbers of Walmart or amazon

I was being a bit facetious, but switching our services model to something that "gives back to Google", is definitely one of the things we've discussed. We do OK with other facets of demand generation (Socials, email marketing, branding, etc) but Google is still our largest generator of traffic to the website, and has the highest intent visitors by far. Feeding the hand that feeds us, is giving in (and I know, temporary) - but it also keeps the business alive and keeps food on the table for those who work for us.

[missouriseo]

Our client rankings have stayed pretty steady the last 3 weeks. No significant changes in the last couple of days. We are in legal, medical, and a smattering of home services categories.

[consistentcooling]

I'm not sure why a site I've been working on isn't ranking yet. I wonder if it's because a couple of the pages haven't been indexed yet?

[ichthyous]

It had recovered since Tuesday, but today both UK and USA traffic are -30%. I don't have any product reviews, only Google business reviews so I doubt the latest update had any effect on me. My guess is it's just spring break. We also have unseasonably warm summer-like weather here already...people are out

[ErrlyBird]

It had recovered since Tuesday, but today both UK and USA traffic are -30%. I don't have any product reviews, only Google business reviews so I doubt the latest update had any effect on me. My guess is it's just spring break. We also have unseasonably warm summer-like weather here already

The way they worded it, it seem like third party reviews are not even what it is looking for. It seems like they are looking for the blog/content writers to have reviews in your main content. First hand experience etc. Just a bit odd to me but that's how I took it, I could be wrong.


Edit: [developers.google.com...]

[phranque]

It does not evaluate third-party reviews, such as those posted by users in the reviews section of a product or services page.

[RedBar]

As expected from historical data, a very poor week at about 50%. Let's see if it bounces back next week.

[Martin Ice Web]

Since last week amazonbot is crawling like crazy. Never seen this before.
Maybe amazon is going to get a piece of search ads revenue in future?

[BigKat]

Since last week amazonbot is crawling like crazy.

If you sell on Amazon, they are likely comparing product prices to make sure you are selling at the lowest price on Amazon. In the past we've had warnings for selling cheaper on our own website despite the fact Amazon's pro-consumer fraud policies and fees justified our higher pricing on Amazon. We haven't sold on Amazon in a while, and I see no Amazon bot activity - just the common compute.amazon junk.

Maybe amazon is going to get a piece of search ads revenue in future?

Would be nice if they went back to offering product ads that pointed to external sites. We did this back in the day and had good success without all of Amazon's ridiculous marketplace policies. This is the only way I could see my company spending a dime with Amazon in the future. But if it takes out of Google's wallet, that a plus in my view. I still hope to see an Apple search engine as I think Apple has the user base to quickly put Google in check.

Maybe between Bing's AI, external ads on Amazon and an Apple search engine we could see them all devour Google's breakfast, lunch and dinner?

[ichthyous]

There is a lot going on now...NY Times reports that Google is planning a second search engine and is frantically trying to incorporate AI into it's current search: [nytimes.com...]

The comments are golden...apparently people are noticing that ads have taken over and do not like it one bit. From the tone of this article Google is in imminent danger of losing the top spot in search...we all know that that will take a long time and a lot of upheaval, and that new AI search engines might actually be worse for us than the current situation.

By the way...my USA traffic is -59% this morning. I am still ranking quite well, and gaining new terms...but upon inspection this morning it seems to be that Google has removed the prominent multi-image carousels under my links and now those landing pages have a 60%-90% drop starting yesterday and this morning.

[engine]

@ichthyous FYI Google in Race For New AI-Powered Search in Project Magi [webmasterworld.com...]

[linkbuilder1]

I'm working on my client website there so many traffic visiting this site but normally 30% Down Sale

[ichthyous]

Huge traffic declines for USA, Canada and Germany today...-59% at 1pm. This is mostly concentrated in traffic drops of 85% for my two most important terms and pages. I checked last night and this morning and I am #1 for the same terms and still ranking highly for the rest. Where is this huge drop coming from? I do not see the page stuffed with ads...on the contrary there are fewer ads than I normally see. I did notice that now none of the results have image blocks underneath anymore...they have all been removed and some have one simple image at right or no images at all for the entire page of results. Anyone else noticing this?