Google Update: September 2023

[Micha]

https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5092521.htm [webmasterworld.com] by brett_tabke - 7:25 pm on Sep 14, 2023 (cst -5)

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And the next update is running ... [status.search.google.com ]

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 12:27 am (utc) on Sep 15, 2023]
[edit reason] Update deserved it's own thread [/edit]

[superclown2]

What on earth are they doing, quite simply Internet traffic does not switch on and off like this, it is blatantly being manipulated.

Here is how it's manipulated. The example is a reasonably popular search term;

1st four places: extended ads. These take up 2 full scrolls of my Samsung Note 9.
3 organic listings, all heavy ad spenders with questionable relevance to the search term
PAA
1 organic
Another sponsored ad
2 organic
People also search
2 organic
Find results on
3 Youtube videos (packed with ads of course)
1 organic
Related searches
3 sponsored ads

We are not getting business because nobody can find our sites, which are buried under ads and junk. Simple.

Google are claiming that they are the default 'search engine' on so many phones and browsers because they are the best. Yes they probably were then, back in the days of Sergey and Bryn. Now they are beyond awful and the sooner consumers no longer have to pay the Google Tax the better for everyone, not just us.

[martinibuster]

Google made a lot of changes with the Helpful Content Update which were reflected in changes to several pages of documentation related to the Helpful Content System.

1. Changed guidance on machine generated content
   
   
2. Warning about third party content on subdomains and on the main website
   
   
3. Warning about making fake webpage updates
   
   
4. Warning about changes to a webpage designed to trick Google into thinking the webpage is fresh
   
   
5. Google's Gary Illyes gives feedback on HCU sitewide signals
   
   
6. New information on how to bounce back from a Helpful Content Update

Good luck!
:)
Roger Montti

[searchenginejournal.com...]

[Conro]

@superclown2 So those from Google are even more foolish, because if they think people choose them because they are the best, they wouldn't have a reason to pay to be the default search engine on some browsers

[tom_010101]

I don't understand. I published a post, the first two sentences of which are (Das Rocket Bunny Bodykit für den Scion FRS ist eines der beliebtesten und auffälligsten Aero-Kits auf dem Markt. Es wurde von Kei Miura, dem mittlerweile weltberühmten Designer von TRA Kyoto, Japan, entworfen und wird beispielsweise von GReddy exklusiv importiert.). When I enter these two sentences into the Google search, it doesn't find my page, but another page that simply copied my content and much more.

[superclown2]

if they think people choose them because they are the best, they wouldn't have a reason to pay to be the default search engine on some browsers

If they didn't pay someone else would. That's the way the world works unfortunately %-)

[Fluff_Nutz]

It's funny if they are using this update to fix their mistakes of the previous update. I mean just leave it alone. I have never seen so much fluctuations in any media. Like ever. Be it Twitter, Facebook, Youtube etc.. Most platforms that I have ever used in my entire life. People are right in saying you should not rely on our websites for passive income. Granted the revenue is good but its all over the place. G forever change the goal posts.

Also, people only pay Google because they have no choice. In order to get recognised they need to. There is zer0 competition. Google own the internet, or think they do, They are not far off it too. That is the problem. I would love to get similar traffic figures from other search engines. Then I wouldn't be on here complaining so much.

[Micha]

Actually, you might think that this is a trick of Google to keep the user on the search page by displaying bad content and making you search longer to find a useful result.

There's nothing we can do about it anyway. And continuing to let Google make us feel insecure and waiting for us to rank well is pointless in my eyes. I think it's better to focus on getting users to come back to buy/read something even without Google. Because the company has no influence on that.

[RubicCubed]

you might think that this is a trick of Google to keep the user on the search page by displaying bad content and making you search longer to find a useful result.

That is the sole purpose, IMO, of the PAA feature. If a user has scrolled beyond the full screen of nothing but ads to see the PAA feature, they are now into organic results. Google uses the PAA feature as a one-click solution to reload a new set of search results where only ads are on display without scrolling.

I think it's better to focus on getting users to come back to buy/read something even without Google. Because the company has no influence on that.

I very much agree with your statement. We have no control over Google and their endless greed. No matter how hard we try, we can't rank above ads. Google may try to muddle the traffic data for organic results, by allowing bots into organic results, but the conversion data does not lie. Our conversion data from Google paints a very depressing picture of how Google's greed has destroyed organic search. Very few users will ever scroll far enough to see even the first organic result. Even if they do, Google baits them into searching again with the one-click PAA feature. We run a business selling items, have invested a lot into our capabilities, maintain good stock on quality items and have employees - meaning we have no time to waste with Google's games and haven't. Our conversion rate is excellent with other search engines and those other search engines is where we put our effort and money into. We consider Google to have crossed the line many months ago and see them as a bad and unreliable company existing to only serve themselves at our and users expense.

[ichthyous]

Our conversion rate is excellent with other search engines and those other search engines is where we put our effort and money into. We consider Google to have crossed the line many months ago and see them as a bad and unreliable company existing to only serve themselves at our and users expense.

In the last month, 97% of my search visits originated from a Google property. All of the other search engines combined bring in 3% of my search. That includes Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Yandex, and whatever other stragglers are out there. Despite Bing's vaunted push into AI, it's share is dropping.

[ichthyous]

USA traffic -62% at 1pm on Sunday...Canada is -40% and Australia is -30%. USA was also down most of the day yesterday, but ended up +4% after a late night spike. Every other location is still strong. So this latest update is simply a rehash of the previous trends where USA/Canada and other English language searches drop off a cliff on a regular basis. This has nothing to do with "Helpful Content", it's really a "We're Helping Ourselves to Your Income" update.

[edited by: ichthyous at 4:53 pm (utc) on Sep 17, 2023]

[RedBar]

Saturday struggled to a 63% with today being even lower coming up to 17 hours and 32% ... This is looking extremely pear-shaped !

[superclown2]

This has nothing to do with "Helpful Content", it's really a "We're Helping Ourselves to Your Income" update.

It would be more helpful if visitors could actually find the content.

[EditorialGuy]

if they think people choose them because they are the best, they wouldn't have a reason to pay to be the default search engine on some browsers

"Pay to play" (or "pay to display," in this case) isn't a Google invention, and bribery or extortion (take your pick) isn't exclusive to search engines. Look up "slotting fees" or "slotting allowances."

[EditorialGuy]

I have one beef with Google's guidance regarding the Helpful Content Update:

“Are you changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed?”

What exactly is meant by "when the content has not substantially changed?" In some cases, a change of one character might represent a substantial change.

Take a page about bus fares in Widgetville: If the standard fare goes from $1.00 to $2.00, that's a substantial change from a transit user's point of view, but how is an algorithm going to judge that?

[christianz]

how is an algorithm going to judge that?

It's not. It's a dumb algorithm that doesn't understand anything.

If you had a page dedicated to bus fare prices it would most likely mark it all as "thin content", "unhelpful content", "made for search, not humans", "fake modified dates" etc. I have written about this ad nauseam.

All these algorithmic content usefulness and quality rating systems don't work and will never work unless there is artificial general intelligence that is at least as smart as human experts in all possible fields of expertise. But at that point we will have bigger problems than deciding how to rank websites in search results pages.

[superclown2]

“Are you changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed?”

This could be read in several different ways. As usual Google's statement has been vague.

A decade or so ago many websites carried a prominent statement such as "This website was updated on (display yesterday's date) and a cron type script was used to change this daily. Whether this was to con search engines or visitors is debateable but it was pretty widespread.

There is a world of difference between this and someone changing prices or even the odd spelling mistake. I would like to think that Google could clarify this, otherwise some people may be put off from maintaining their sites in fear of triggering a penalty, but I shan't hold my breath.

[rustybrick]

Anyone else seeing big movement yet related to this update?

[renatovieira]

@rusty, Yes, I have noticed big movements all day since sep/15. Overall, I notice an increase in my traffic.

[tom_010101]

Yes, things have been going downhill for a total of 4 weeks. Approximately -70% traffic and zero more impressions in Google Discover.

[Fluff_Nutz]

I'd like to think that my traffic is starting to increase a bit. However, I am still -15% over the same period last week. Also Monday is off to a slow start, so I really don't know. As is usually the case with G and their inconsistent traffic.

[Soulofmonk]

In my niche, every website changes the date of articles to keep coming at the top. I hope they tank.

[ichthyous]

Big moves downward in USA / Canada traffic since the minute this was announced basically. It went from being +36% in the previous month to -50%-60% all day long with a mysterious pop of traffic in the eve making up the day's loss.

I have seen that pattern so many times in 2023, and it usually means your business is going bye-bye again. There are zero new inquiries, calls, sales, nothing. It went from several a day back to zero.

A lot of this could be window dressing...Google keeps switching which sites get big image carousels under them...without that you can kiss traffic goodbye. I am not finding that the number of ads at top really hurts traffic all that much...it's always about 3-4 now, but if your listing doesn't stand out on the page these days your traffic drops drastically.

This says it all...10am EST today:

The United Kingdom
+229%
The United States
-52%
India
+507%
The United Arab Emirates
+173%
Australia
+170%
France
+406%
Germany
+143%
The Netherlands
+203%
Canada
-35%
Italy
+128%

[Martin Ice Web]

Very, very slow weekend, like other said before. But today traffic was a little better. Some conversions and it seems that certain items that we put much effort in coming back. But that means nothing. Could be upside down tomorrow or in 10 minutes.

[RedBar]

Sunday's total traffic 45.5% with today after 16 hours at 32.5%, this is sub-Xmas / New Year / Easter Day levels for me. My global SERPs seem to be unaffected apart from USA localisation of half-a-dozen specific keywords.

[mhansen]

Two observations since the HCU announcement: Compared Aug 8-13 to Sept 14-23.

1) My site is not in direct product sales, but discusses a lot of products/things and tech-level information about them (Not a review site). Since the HCU rolled out, we lost all but a few product results and product snippets.

2) I've noticed a 15% or so drop in overall traffic, but impressions are up considerably - especially in non-USA traffic, even though we do not cater to them at all (and block many via CloudFlare). Russia, Seychelles, Netherlands etc are up more than 120% in impressions as are many other non-USA countries. USA impressions are up roughly 30%, though clicks are down.

[EditorialGuy]

Traffic for our informational travel site has been up slightly (most days, in the single digits) in week-over-week comparisons.Of the past seven days, all days but one were showing an improvement. Since these improvements have come at a time when we're normally in a downhill slide that lasts until at least mid-December, the boosts are better than the raw percentages might suggest.

Still, we have yet to regain the Google traffic that we lost in the previous HCU and "product review" update.

[renatovieira]

Very slow today..

[Fluff_Nutz]

I wonder if the ''spam'' update will trigger next month. The month that broke my site last year. This is when my opinion on Google changed. I used to support their products when I was younger. Telling people to use Chrome instead of Explorer. Now I regret everything. G if you are reading this I would appreciate a fix next month. Ha! There even used to be a time when people mentioned that G take traffic numbers away during updates and give back. Now I never seem to read messages about giving back any more. Google takes and never gives back.

[ichthyous]

@mhansen I was also seeing very high non-USA traffic from around August 26th onward. This latest update hasn't changed that, but USA/Canada have definitely declined. No conversions since the latest update either.

FYI, I was being hit by Netherlands and Seychelles IPs as well...it's all the same company, but I forget the name now. I blocked the hits by IP, by network name, and by country (seychelles) and it finally stopped. I don't block Russia (yet) but China is gone...I would add India to the list but most of the India traffic is real at least.

[Micha]

Also so far I can say that traffic has stabilized for me. During the core update they were pretty mixed, now they are back to the normal level. However, in the morning there is little going on at our shop, only from 2pm the traffic increases.

I looked at a friend's store yesterday, due to the core update there was a massive drop in sales, despite good visitor numbers. Now the visitor numbers have dropped massively, but the sales are back to normal.