May 2024 Google Search Observations

[Billy85]

When I checked my site, 90% or so were some Spam links, but I wouldn't disavow them because I've heard that some sites were worse off after disavowing.
Almost every site has to deal with this and from what I understand, Google only regards those that are listed in your search console?

I also think it has also to do with the amount of people that click on it, meaning, if you try to build backlinks and nobody is clicking on it, google disregards them or gives that link less relevance.

[edited by: not2easy at 1:30 pm (utc) on May 2, 2024]
[edit reason] split thread cleanup [/edit]

[Micha]

@Billy85 If they really are spam links, then you can first block the ones that link to you most frequently, but also only a small number of domains to test it out. You won't do any damage, but if it's just one or two links, then I would be careful.

[Conro]

They are links from real sites that have been hacked. First I noticed that some webmasters noticed this and now the page returns a 404. The problem is that these links are not ignored by google. It's too stupid, otherwise they wouldn't show up on search console. For example, links to images with url "k" are really ignored and in fact are not seen on gsc. I just want to see if these links will have a positive effect or if it will be better to disavow them or if they will disappear on their own

[morpheus83]

Not sure if making a file of domains to disavow really helps. Google very much knows such spam farms exist and its the website that you link to that makes a difference. After all the latter is in your control. But you can always try.

[ubound]

Can anyone explain to me why this happens? Negative SEO aside, why would some spammy site link to me?

[Conro]

In some cases it's easy for anyone, so I think also for google, to figure out if they are bought links, but I could do the same thing if I want to penalize the site of someone. Google should ignore both cases, but if I see the links on Google search console it hasn't ignored them. If they get into disavow and the traffic decreases or increases, it's confirmation

[Conro]

@ubound it depends. Sometimes they are junk test sites, other times they want you to be penalized, other times because they have a 301 redirect to other sites like casinos or #*$!, Generally, these are the cases that happen to me most often

[NeapTide]

Submitting a disavow file gives signal to algorithm that you didn't create those crappy backlinks and should be removed.

My website was hit after march anti spam update and I have gathered almost 200 domains and submitted them that are generating spammy and crap backlinks. All of these backlinks are originating from hijacked forum threads, abandoned forums and dead websites.

Last disavow file was submitted on April 18 and still not crawled. In fact google hasn't crawled any disavow files after march anti spam update.

I first submitted disavowed links file in 2021. At that time I had almost 8000 backlinks all originating from just 2 or 3 domains. Now I have downloaded and updated that disavowed links file again with new and fresh dead and spammy links piled up in GSE console.

Disavowing links worked for me before and I am hoping it will work again.

[Micha]

Google has a lot of movement again, a lot of traffic on my site (currently +30 percent) and the store in question finally has customers again. The ranking has also improved significantly. I don't know if Google is still making adjustments, but it would be a relief if it stayed that way.

Has anyone else, especially German users, noticed a change?

[NirthaK]

Maybe because of the holiday today?

[Micha]

Actually, the number of visitors drops drastically on that day, an increase is very unusual

[ichthyous]

USA traffic is clearly waning after all of these "updates". The sheer number of ads now on mobile is mind boggling. My USA traffic is down 30% at 1pm...is drops at 8am sharp every day and doesn't pick up until the evening. Most other traffic seems to be higher except for Canada, which seems to rise and fall in tandem with USA

[Micha]

Can someone explain to me what Google's management is up to, I'm getting a bit lost.

Just ahead of its blowout first-quarter earnings report on April 25, Google laid off at least 200 employees from its “Core” teams, in a reorganization that will include moving some roles to India and Mexico, CNBC has learned.

[cnbc.com ]

[superclown2]

Can someone explain to me what Google's management is up to, I'm getting a bit lost.

I love the way they explained it, making it sound like good news for the employees.

However; Google's priority is profit full stop (or 'period' as the Americans say). Every other consideration, including of course search quality, is far behind.
I wonder when they will reach their Boeing moment?

[ichthyous]

Can someone explain to me what Google's management is up to, I'm getting a bit lost.

The same thing that amazon is doing and meta before it...getting rid of head count. If you watch cnbc or read any financial press they have orgasms from the sheer mention of reducing head count. All of these companies are thinking that AI is going to replace their staff and maybe they are right. I'm actually happy to see that these people will now feel the pain we feel. Ai is going to further concentrate assets in the hands of the few until we all become serfs again. A reckoning is coming as roo many people are being plowed under now to make too few people insanely rich.

[Micha]

I wonder when they will reach their Boeing moment?

don't they already have that? they don't lose parts on airplanes, but the way the search looks and the way gemini works, it looks like it to me

[edited by: not2easy at 8:59 pm (utc) on May 1, 2024]
[edit reason] fixed quote [/edit]

[Whitey]

Can someone explain to me what Google's management is up to, I'm getting a bit lost.

@Micha - I dunno, but, so they say ....

The company has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence, adding generative AI features to search and other services to ensure that consumers continue using Google tools even as the way they seek information online changes.

“Our leadership in AI research and infrastructure, and our global product footprint, position us well for the next wave of AI innovation,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in the earnings release.

[cnbc.com...]

[Whitey]

I notice that the site: tool has dropped the no of indexed urls for a domain site: search. Not sure if it was ever accurate, when this was done or the reason for the removal.

[superclown2]

All of these companies are thinking that AI is going to replace their staff and maybe they are right

They may have a point. Flutter and Dart are both open source platforms and it's difficult to see how Google could make money by maintaining Python. And as we know, the top people who tried to make Google the most useful knowledge resource possible have now been replaced by bean counters.

Other layoffs? If I need a script writing I can get it done by ChatGTP so I can see the demand for programmers reducing.

Replacing staff with others from low wage countries? Fine if you are content with second best. If I was a Google employee I'd be making plans for a move before I got pushed.

[Micha]

Wow, I just checked Search Console and see a massive drop in impressions (-43%), this drop after the update was completed surprises me. I'm lucky that Google is at least showing my site's articles regularly in Discover again, as Crap seems to be much more important in normal searches now.

Incidentally, this is in line with six other pages that I have access to in Search Console. So it doesn't look like "natural" fluctuations to me, because all these pages have exactly the same percentage drop in impressions.

@Whitey The Search Console also shows me that many pages are no longer indexed. Very strange.

[Billy85]

@Micha
My traffic and impressions also dropped further since the update ended.

However, in my niche traffic always keeps decreasing the warmer it gets, so it also might have something to do with the warmer temperatures. (I'm also from Germany)

The only scary part is that my traffic is already lower than last years summer traffic (June, July, August) and I'm preparing mentally for a very slow summer.

I also stopped checking my analytics and I only check my Search Console once a day as it's pointless anyway.

[Fluff_Nutz]

Google fall to 86% market share. -4% over previous month. But will their continuous decrease actually change anything?

[gs.statcounter.com ]

[Conro]

It's normal for google to lose users, it sucks, and people don't want to use something that sucks

[Micha]

@fluff_nutz Let's hope so, I mean the user is not stupid. If they only find nonsense all the time, they'll just go somewhere else.

[RedBar]

Just had a look through my global site's April traffic stats:

April 2024 v March 2024 was 88.1% - This was expeceted since March is always my busiest month.

April 2024 v April 2023 was 103.1% - With all the disruption we've been seeing that was a surprise.

[ichthyous]

Not sure if making a file of domains to disavow really helps. Google very much knows such spam farms exist and its the website that you link to that makes a difference. After all the latter is in your control. But you can always try

I have a massive amount of spammy links and I submit disavow files. In the past I think it may have helped, but in the last 6 months or so ignored by Google it seems. I have ALL links from sites in Indonesia disavowed across the board, as most of the spam links seem to come from .id and .info sites. I don't see the disavow file hurting me, and I think it can only help if you have that many spammy links coming in.

[Conro]

@Fluff_Nutz That statcounter graph I think is real for 2 reasons: 1 people have noticed that google no longer finds results for keywords but for something that could have to do with the keyword, also too many distractions like advertisements, people have also asked, related searches where they are not needed. 2 in Europe when you now buy a new smartphone, Tablet you are asked at the first configuration which search engine to use and they are shown in random mode The most used search engines, so google is no longer the search engine that everyone is ready to use

[MrSnuts]

Re:Statcounter -
as others have pointed out, one needs to take their graph with a bit of salt.
To my understanding they evaluate data of sites which are using statcounter as a monitoring tool.
If they don't have reddit and quora among their users (I'd be surprised), then that might as well explain why their "view" on market share looks like it does -
without revealing anything about the real market share situation.

No impression/indexed pages changes in my GSC this time @Micha. My April was up 30% compared to last years, let's see what's next.

[Conro]

@MrSnuts

So if google is up is, it's true, but if it's down, it's a lie?There is also the increase in the use of other search engines, which goes upward and coincides with the decline of Google. As I wrote above, in Europe, since March, with the Digital Market Act, you have to select the search engine in a random list at the first configuration of a smartphone or tablet, both Android and iPhone. As google has gone up, it can also go down, and for users there are many reasons to stop using google during this period

[ichthyous]

Just checked GSC - The last 28 days YOY comparison showed a 25.5% decrease in impressions compared to last year. Clicks were minimally higher by half a percent. Considering how much more content I have on the site this is not an accomplishment, it's a huge deterioration in reality. Impressions are far lower than they used to be, despite clicks being essentially the same. All of the new content is basically replacing the clicks that have dropped off a cliff since the end of 2023, so six months now.

My USA traffic is -35% today at 2:45pm. This is an everyday occurance now. However...i compared to last year this time and it was about the same level of traffic. The difference being, again, that there should be much more traffic coming in due to more new content...there isn't. USA traffic is lower and the most converting parts of the site are basically vanishing every other day or so.

The result is zero sales...six months of minimal sales. It isn't coming back. Google wants all the converting USA traffic...kiss it goodbye forever I'm afraid.

[saladtosser]

I'm in the process of developing an AI bot called "OhDannyBot", OhDannyBot can reply up to 0-5 random Twitter messages that have tagged your company each day, (except on weekends and monthly bot Vacations, oh and Sar wars conventions).

It can reply to any message with a choice of 3 random terms, "I'll pass it onto the team", "I've passed it onto the team" and "This has been forwarded to the team", I'm seeing if I can work in a 4th Phrase but its hard going.

I believe I can sell "OhDannyBot" to business's like Google who currently pay liaison's 300k per year, for a mere $2.99 a month I believe I can render liaison's obsolete and save companies like Google almost 300k a year!

Is this a good idea? Or are some jobs safe and just not replaceable by AI yet? Can AI do it better I guess is the question?!

[Martin Ice Web]

Something is going through again. Traffic dropped and sales stopped completly with google traffic.
Again there is no user engament from google users.
google is working hard to become the worst SE in history.

[Micha]

@Martin Ice Web I can confirm this for Germany, I spoke to a few shops earlier and they are all dead today.

[ichthyous]

@ Martin @ Micha - Today? This has been the case since the end of 2023. This week I had one new inquiry, and the inquiries are completely useless. He requested something that costs $6000 and his budget was in the "low to mid-100's". This is the norm now...for the first time in my life I am not bothering to respond to customer inquiries...straight to the trash. We are clearly just getting the leftovers. I do not anticipate sales ever returning...this is how Google is making record profits now. If you can run ads and make it work for you then do that. I have tried numerous times in the past and the absolutely abysmal, fraudulent clicks did not amount to any real sales from google. I had to pay about $110 in clicks before one serious client inquired...no thanks.

[Micha]

Well, I'm talking about small online stores where sales have gradually collapsed. I looked at the store data in Sistrix and wondered if Google just wants to destroy the web. It's no longer a ranking crash, but a ranking massacre for all these stores. Most of them have lost their rankings due to absolute nonsense, I mean if you search for certain foods, you want to find the foods, not a manual for a TV. Have the lunatics at Google given up thinking by now? I mean, they must also see that their search engine is getting worse and worse ...

However, I had the most fun with Gemini today: when asked what magazines there are in my subject area, he mentioned my magazine, but presented a link to a construction machinery manufacturer with a completely different name. And 7 news sources that don't even exist.

And this thing is supposed to be the new ultimate for Google? It's like swapping Windows 10 for Windows 95. If Google wasn't so big, the company would soon go bankrupt with the business acumen of its managers.

[Sodero18]

Received this via email from an SEO consultant regarding the impact of Google's updates on her small business clients (not a fan of the second part of the article but you can judge for yourself): [mariehaynes.com...]

[Markedd]

@Sodero18 What is this confused child (Ms Haynes) doing writing things on the Internet? Basically the entire article can be summed in three sentences.
1. Google, be more transparent! --- And I agree, but it will be counterproductive to what they're trying to achieve right now.
2. Get a job. --- Learn machine coding.
3. She is excited by the future. --- I am going to look back to this moment in time and will spit in disgust, but yeah, I am currently building other businesses. It's just a far more painful process than it had to be thanks to the hacks at Google.

[Sodero18]

Yes the article is all over the place. I'm assuming the excited by the future part is to say sorry Google for writing this. The story of the impact on small website owners who have absolutely no idea what to do was what resonated most. Unfortunately, these people likely don't read this forum.

[superclown2]

If Google wasn't so big, the company would soon go bankrupt with the business acumen of its managers.

Looking at the number of legal issues that Google faces that's not impossible. Take away their monopoly and even their billions wouldn't last for ever.

In the meanwhile their track record with 'other bets' is so awful that it's scarcely believable. If Mr Mehta doesn't bring them to heel someone else (possibly from another country) will sooner or later and without advertising masquerading as search they are very burnt toast.

Would all these legal issues exist if Google was still a real search engine, rather than an advertising agency pretending to be one? I doubt it. They are gambling with the company's very existence.

[ichthyous]

However, I had the most fun with Gemini today: when asked what magazines there are in my subject area, he mentioned my magazine, but presented a link to a construction machinery manufacturer with a completely different name. And 7 news sources that don't even exist.

And this thing is supposed to be the new ultimate for Google? It's like swapping Windows 10 for Windows 95. If Google wasn't so big, the company would soon go bankrupt with the business acumen of its managers.

I watch the business news all day while I work. Most of the people interviewed just spout out "AI, AI, AI" all day as a sales pitch and a justification for stock prices going up, including Google's stock. Most of them have no clue what the reality is, they are just useful idiots and just want to see prices go up so they can cash out and look like geniuses to their clients.

The reality is that AI is half-baked now, and will take a lot of improvement. In the meantime Gemini, GPT, and Llama are competing and robbing us all blind of our original content to make the uber-rich now impossibly rich. It doesn't matter if everyone's little store is wiped out, and it doesn't matter if all of these companies intend to fire half their employees in order to raise the share price. This is how greed and the markets work. I can't complain, my investments (including in Google) have skyrocketed so I am not as worried about the loss of sales...but having a very good 20-year sales history reduced to rubble makes me very nervous. I don't like being put out to pasture at this age just because freaking Google feels like it.

[Fluff_Nutz]

In todays news

Four Google execs got 200% stock payouts after strong company performance: [businessinsider.com...]

AND

Judge grills Google in DOJ antitrust case: [marketwatch.com...]

Everywhere I look its nothing but negativity regarding Google. I find it both sad and amusing. Google was, once, a loved company. Now its a mere shell of its former self. Ridiculed in a toxic workforce. Powered by greed. Leaving many innocent websites dead or barely hanging on to life.

[jchiff]

Reddit users have recently reported that the chat function has become completely glitchy, while the main feed will now occasionally fail with a "try again later" message.

So... when Reddit has a massive technical failure one day, what happens to Google?

[Micha]

Doesn't seem to be going very well for google in the usa in court.

[twitter.com ]

I for one have now given up trying to understand Google. After the end of the update, my website crashed again. Since Thursday, suddenly all new articles are in Discover, the number of visitors to the site is literally exploding. This is more than illogical, because yesterday the big news sites wrote about my niche, normally we have absolutely no chance in such a situation. Besides, we haven't changed anything about the articles, the style is the same, the template is the same and so on. Normally an article appears for one day, then there is a long break, the current situation is new.

I'm curious to see how long this will continue, but I really don't understand it.

[superclown2]

I for one have now given up trying to understand Google

It's simple really. The people who are in charge now are not the ones who were in charge in the past, when Google was the best search engine in the world, and they will not be the ones in charge in the future either. Someone else will be dealing with the results of their decisions, long after they have retired to enjoy their huge bonusses.

Google is completely beholden to Wall Street and their priority is profit. The company may well be severely restricted by litigation in the near future so making hay whilst the sun shines could be seen as logical.

The future will look after itself and hopefully, in the meanwhile, they can make a success of yet another 'other bet'. There were, of course, quite a number of bankers who felt the same way in 2008.

[shadowlight]

USA traffic is clearly waning after all of these "updates". The sheer number of ads now on mobile is mind boggling.

I came across a mobile SERP recently that looked like this:

AD
AD
AD
PASF
Organic
PAA
Organic
AD

The two organic results combined were smaller than any one ad or PA

[Rick_Mh]

I believe there is something wrong happening, my traffic has dropped by 80% in the last 24 hours without any changes or changes. There is something very strange happening right now

[Treud]

It’s not the 5/5 core update that is a bit early ?
I see some strange metrics as well.

[ichthyous]

A huge, disastrous drop starting this morning...traffic is at zero from 8am-10:30am so far and a sudden loss of ranking keywords. USA and Canada traffic have been abysmal since these "updates" ended, while UK, Germany, UAE and most of the rest of the world is much higher. Google has decided that USA traffic monetizes far better and is the most valuable so that is what is vanishing. I am reconciling myself to rebuilding using other platforms, but it's going to be a very long, slow and painful process.

[Micha]

@Ichthyos Then send the traffic from Germany back to us, because it's currently at a standstill here, at least for the store I currently manage. Almost all bots today, diligently sending out spam reviews. No sales at all. Traffic from Google is practically non-existent. However, the ranking has improved today, but what good is that if there are five advertising blocks before the first organic search result? Nobody clicks there anymore.

[christianz]

Traffic looking very week here too, based on the untrustworthy GA.