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.

[RubicCubed]

I seriously wonder if Google is gradually abandoning search quality in favour of AI;

Google has clearly abandoned search quality which is not needed with the entire viewable screen being all ads for shopping type searches. I'm seeing more ads for informational searches too. So few people look beyond the ads and that makes organics not worth much effort for both us and Google. Handing off the ranking task to AI makes sense as does Google reducing workers assigned to algorithm projects because ranking based on quality factors has been tossed in the trunk for ad ranking based on bids.

We see how much the search layout has changed since the beginning of the year leaving the screen mostly ads. Despite the inclusion of all these new ads, Google's ad revenue is flat for first quarter. Where will growth for Google now come from with shopping searches filled with ads? Maybe Google will confuse users more so they click more ads or take away informational results with ads like they did shopping type searches? I see Google in downward spiral because these ads only satisfy Google's wallet and not users. This applies to all search engines who have jumped way over the line of advertising to spamming their users with ads.

[ichthyous]

@superclown Google has incorporated AI for far longer than we know...they have 10,000 employees devoted just to AI development...far larger than OpenAI for example. Thus far Google has used AI to further monetize search. AI is constantly learning the best page layouts, the best strategies to maximize profit for Google, period. We are just the rats in the laboratory.

Their attempt to get the US antitrust case kicked out has just failed and they must know that the writing is on the wall, so it sounds logical to accept the inevitable and concentrate on yet another 'other bet'. Maybe, unlike so many others, they can make a success of this one.

The issue is that the entire US political class is on the payroll of corporate donors and the billionaires that own the corporations....Google shovels a ton of money at campaigns. The members of Congress are also not always the brightest bulbs...they are too busy making theater and culture wars to distract their clueless constituents from the fact that they are just puppets there to accept donations from dark money PACs. As long as the voters keep electing them, nothing will get done in the USA. The entire system has been captured by money, and that is the sad truth.

One can only hope that Apple will finally step up and unleash a search engine. Amazon is already encroaching on the ad market, but I am not sure how that really compares to organic search. I am not seeing any increase in traffic from Bing...it's minimal.

[RedBar]

As I suspected may happen my traffic fell of the cliff edge at 18.00 UK time and has remained there ever since.

What an almighty mess has been created.

[superclown2]

The issue is that the entire US political class is on the payroll of corporate donors and the billionaires that own the corporations.

I absolutely agree. I remember the last time a serious attempt was made to bring Google to heel; the only question I heard one senator ask a certain very senior Googler was whether or not Google was willing to build a power plant in his constituency - a blatant vote winner if ever I heard one.

America is not the whole world though - there are plenty of other markets in which the politicians are taking action. And that looks like an awful lot of American states determined to cut G down to size.

I am not seeing any increase in traffic from Bing...it's minimal.

Again I absolutely agree - there has been all this hype about Bing using AI to power search but I don't see any switch to their service either. And I am seriously wondering if this incredibly expensive but unreliable technology ever will improve search to the extent that people will flock to it.

[RubicCubed]

The issue is that the entire US political class is on the payroll of corporate donors and the billionaires that own the corporations

I think its beyond this to the point where these big corporations feel like and in many cases wield more power then government. Look at Disney and Florida going at it as an example. Anyone that goes after Google can be targeted by Google and voices of opposition elevated in search and on Youtube. Yes, money changes hands from big corp to politicians but they know not to bite the hand that is feeding them and promoting them in media.

I am seriously wondering if this incredibly expensive but unreliable technology ever will improve search to the extent that people will flock to it.

I feel what we see in search won't change much because the layouts are ideal for directing traffic to ads. AI will likely be used by these companies to replace many workers within those organizations to make them more profitable since ad revenue has flat lined. As a matter of liability, if AI causes harm to others it may be more likely to be dismissed as a technological error instead of harm caused by an actual employee which may also benefit these companies as they seek to push the legality of how they attain profits.

[superclown2]

if AI causes harm to others it may be more likely to be dismissed as a technological error instead of harm caused by an actual employee which may also benefit these companies as they seek to push the legality of how they attain profits.

I think that this is one of the major weaknesses of using AI for search. Under the present system, Google simply presents ads, a list of web sites, more ads, and even more ads. If someone is hurt as a result of taking advice from any of the publishers they are not likely to sue; after all they have a choice to make of many sites offering conflicting advice.

If that advice comes from a Google chatbot then great. Let's sue Google, they have plenty of money. That may be expensive in the USA but over here it's really easy for sums under £10,000. Many small claims over here aren't even defended - companies settle out of court to avoid the bad publicity. I wonder if Google will allow ads from our compensation lawyers <BWG>?

Sure they can issue disclaimers but that won't exactly create confidence in their product, and it would be open to challenge anyway (for instance our UK Unfair Contract Terms Act could be used to get round that).

Leaving aside the fact that monetising Bard via search is highly unlikely to bring in as much money as before, if Google changes from the current system of making megabucks to one based on giving answers themselves via IE they will be entering a highly unpredictable minefield, so if the current system 'aint broke, why fix it'?

Yes they probably could replace headcount, which looking at the huge salaries they have been paying could increase profits considerably. Plus in AI they will have a product that we haven't even started thinking about uses for yet and which could be immensely profitable for them. Why should they risk all this by using an unproven technology for their main moneyspinner?

[ichthyous]

Just abysmal traffic this weekend...traffic to my formerly top two categories are now -35% and -88% this weekend. USA traffic is -48% this morning. Individual content pages that were brining in a lot of views for six months have dropped by 40%-90%. Visits to the 3rd or 4th page in a paginated category are all at the top today, beating out the first page in the category...something is very wrong there. Meanwhile...I'm still ranked at top 3-10 spots for searches which are referring 40-80% less traffic than before Easter. If this doesn't revert itself we are all cooked.

Has anyone actually seen higher traffic this past two weeks?

[RedBar]

For those who do not know the UK has very few public holidays however this May is very unusual ... There will be 5 Mondays, 3 of which will be public holdays PLUS this Friday 5th May will also be a public holiday therefore I expect for many businesses traffic could possibly be down, unless one has an entertainment venue prepared for them etc.

YMMV !

[renatovieira]

On my side, heavy traffic today.

[System]

The new thread for May 2023 is here --> [webmasterworld.com...]

[edited by: not2easy at 5:34 pm (utc) on May 1, 2023]
[edit reason] New thread for May 2023 [/edit]