June 2023 Google Search Observations

[Broaster]

I decided not to post any articles on my niche blog for a few days and on my stat counter I get 3 to 5 visits an hour on average. its hopeless.

[edited by: not2easy at 3:52 pm (utc) on Jun 1, 2023]
[edit reason] _{New month, new thread} [/edit]

[Treud]

Yes they ask so many questions on return policy, shipping costs etc etc.
They will soon integrate this function I’m sure.
And that will be worst, small shops selling for example Under Armor running shoes will get buried so deep they will have no chance to even been seen by a customer.
At the moment for organic results I did search on my nich, and first result was Amazon, with a super click bait description, and the products were totally not the ones from the title !
Imagine with a huge Google Online Store, you can buy everything from Amazon without leaving Google !

[christianz]

Traffic is terrible last couple of days.

[christianz]

Imagine with a huge Google Online Store, you can buy everything from Amazon without leaving Google !

I don't mind that. I have high social credit score, I will probably get some % off. And naughty ppl won't be able to buy anything online. Win-win-win!

Joking aside, I am sure its not just buying stuff that will be Google-only experience (powered by Amazon and some other equally evil partnering corpos), all the information and entertainment will be Google-only too. It's getting close to that already.

[Atomic]

I would not be shocked to see one day in the future, BUY buttons right there in the SERPS and eventually you will never have to leave Google to buy online.

Isn't that the status quo for some SERPs already?

[mosxu]

Elon Musk and his partner at OpenAI should offer Chat GBT to Apple, Twitter, TickTock and we buy ads / rank in more places.

In order to have competition we should have 20-100 search engines!

[tangor]

We already have 20-100 search engines, and new ones starting all the time.

What we DON'T have is g in the early years when they dealt fair, kept their cut reasonable, and paid participants a "living wage".

And all the other search engines out there already know that, so skip that part and remain "lean and mean".

[RubicCubed]

And all the other search engines out there already know that, so skip that part and remain "lean and mean".

So very true tangor. Google has set the standard for over-monetization with so many ads that I feel Google is no longer useful for some types of searches. If Google's ad-filled search results model is what other search engines will display to their users, then search itself will likely be extinct in 5-10 years.

[Micha]

Well, there is also the question of whether search is still important to Google at all? Google is everywhere, on the smartphone for example, they dominate news consumption, many websites generate revenue for them through Adsense, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if search doesn't play a big role for Google anymore in the long run.

[RubicCubed]

It wouldn't surprise me if search doesn't play a big role for Google anymore in the long run

Google had $282 billion in revenue in 2022 with $162 billion coming from search and $29 billion from YouTube. Search will likely remain a very important revenue generator for Google, though helping people get answers to their searches doesn't appear to be a big factor Google considers anymore with all the ads.

[Dalnoon]

Here's a visual representation of how my traffic is going down. 2 weeks down, 2 days up, and then lower again and repeat. It's sooo weird.

[imgur.com...]

[yollo03]

I cautiously write that another update is being rolled out... I am labeling it as 'the last nail in the coffin update.'

[Micha]

@RubicCubed TThe question is how the money was made with search, because Discover etc. also falls under it. The "normal" search is already plastered with advertising and in the long run the AI thing will change everything anyway (if AI doesn't turn out to be Hypetrain).

p.s. Stupid question, but how do you actually quote here?

[RedBar]

p.s. Stupid question, but how do you actually quote here?

[*quote*]p.s. Stupid question, but how do you actually quote here?[*/*quote*]

Remove the *

[RedBar]

[*quote]p.s. Stupid question, but how do you actually quote here?[*/quote]

Remove the * :-)

[not2easy]

how do you actually quote here?

Or you might compose your post and click the "Preview" link where all the formatting tools are found. ;)

[BigKat]

another update is being rolled out... I am labeling it as 'the last nail in the coffin update.'

I wouldn't have known there was an update judging by Google's traffic which has been flat-lined dead for months. Nothing but ads above the fold had and continues to have that effect.

In our case, and for many other USA based ecommerce sites, I think Google ran out of nails for the coffin and used screws instead. Google already put us in the ground and has been tossing shovels full of dirt on us for months. Next up is for Google to place the headstone. Trying to be optimistic, we're still here and our sales continue to rise from other sources.

[superclown2]

It wouldn't surprise me if search doesn't play a big role for Google anymore in the long run.

Advertising via search brings in around 80% of Google's income and, since the 'other bets' collectively make a huge loss, 100% of their profits.

Without it they would soon be toast.

[renatovieira]

Huge drop today.... :-/

[BigKat]

Without it they would soon be toast.

I admit, I hope Google does start toasting so that some organic results in our industry can start being seen again. I mean the full page of ads is utterly ridiculous and many of the ads are loosely related. I feel what Google is doing with all the ads is nothing less then a gross abuse of their market dominance.

Looks like the EU, once again, is many steps ahead of the USA:

EU Says Google Should Break Up Digital Ad Business
[webmasterworld.com...]

[superclown2]

Looks like the EU, once again, is many steps ahead of the USA:

'Lobbying' is not such a well honed art in Europe. The fact is, many of the practices that are common in the USA would be illegal over here.

However, at least the good people of Texas appear to be immune to it so there are interesting days ahead.

[ichthyous]

@renatovieira Right on schedule...I am also seeing a big drop today. USA is -28% at -6pm. Australia and UAE have been -48% for two days. Search is -11%

[renatovieira]

@ichthyous - As always, on schedule! Different niches, but the impacts of updates are very similar. USA is my biggest audience, here too -30% drop.

[EditorialGuy]

Our information site's Google traffic has been creeping upward for the last week or so. Nothing to write home about, but every bit helps!

[ichthyous]

USA traffic -46% at noon...nice! UAE is the other big drop at -42%. Germany -33%

[renatovieira]

@ichthyous... Same here

[RedBar]

Really wild ups and downs this past week, low to high 281% on weekdays!

[Mestrick]

@itchyous I am in working in UAE, from Tuesday to Thursday, traffic was dead. Today I am seeing getting back to normal now don't know about the afternoon.

[ViktorN]

Finance/blockchain news - terrible few days after a very good first two weeks in June. Reminds me of the kind of destroying updates that punishes mid-tier sites and give advantage to top tier sites like Forbes

[J_Abhi]

Even the website I am working on has seen falling down for many keywords, and organic search traffic is so low. Is it due to the any update just happened and I am not aware of ?

[Dalnoon]

Is it due to the any update just happened and I am not aware of ?

Google hasn't announced anything, but SERPs have been acting weirdly lately, so possibly a silent update.

I'm starting to believe the throttling theory is in fact true. My hourly traffic has been stuck on a number for days now, even during peak hours. I used to see a lot more up and downs.