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]

[mosxu]

All traffic on my converting keywords including brand terms has been replaced right out with zombies!

This is an attack not an update!

[Treud]

The zombie traffic, I have this since end of February, many many bots, no real users…

But the weird thing, my supplier (which is a factory), said my case is same for many of their reseller, and in the end they are selling less, because we do. My question is ? Where the sales are going to? Because in the end even the factory is not selling !

[ichthyous]

Atrocious this weekend...my home page is -66% this morning at 1pm. Yesterday traffic ended up way down across the board. Today just as bad if not worse. Graduation is this weekend so some of this has to do with school finishing but certainly not all of it. Impressions have been trending downward for three months straight (solid line) now compared to the same three month period in 2023 (dashed line):
[ibb.co ]

[Markedd]

So.. did the 'site reputation abuse spam policy' update already rolled out or did I miss something? Wasn't it supposed to start (or end or whatever) on the 5th of May?

[christianz]

I don't know what they rolled out on beginning of May but traffic past weekend has been very weak. Meaningful drop compared to last week when it was very good.

[Micha]

@Markedd I'm sure it's already up and running, but it may be a while before we notice anything. Only small websites will be affected anyway.

[Martin Ice Web]

@christianz,

a quality update has been started to find more and faster quality content. :(

But u are right. Since last friday sales are gone. Traffic quality from google is on yahoo niveau. google serps layout is all but user friendly.
Some of the keywords in my niche are now linked to irrelevant other niches. Like all fruits are not linked to vegetables. Searching for fruits will bring up more sites about vegetables. Thats kind of silly. But this explains why google is that bad. We know google can do better, just, they don´t want to.

[Rick_Mh]

Google destroyed my traffic in the last 72 hours

[ibb.co...]

[Micha]

@Martin Ice Web This isn't just the case in your niche. No matter what you search for on Google, you only get useless results and today it got even worse.

The traffic pattern is also strange, the store had a record number of visitors yesterday but zero sales. But every visitor that came from Google left the site immediately. I suspect they were all looking for something else. Nevertheless, the keyword ranking is rising again.

My website's ranking is also improving, just like the other websites I monitor.

And what does Google do? Gimini no longer links to external sources. This could be illegal, but the company doesn't seem to care.

[twitter.com ]

[renatovieira]

I read a lot of people celebrating the drop of Google at Statcounter. It was some internal failure.

[seroundtable.com...]

Still good, less worse. Even though the search is truly garbage, G continues to put money in my pocket :-)

[tom_010101]

Next week. starts search.chatgpt.com

[universenet]

And what search will be included? Data from AI chatgpt or links to some websites?

If just inside chatgpt so that will be internal internet

[tom_010101]

Not good for us, but i hope, it kills Google...

[not2easy]

There are two open discussions on the topic of ChatGPT's coming AI search: [webmasterworld.com...]
and [webmasterworld.com...]

[Micha]

Phew, I'm really glad I don't run a store. My buddy's store hasn't had any sales since Sunday and that's continuing. The number of visitors was at a normal level yesterday, and it doesn't look bad today either, but according to the statistics, everyone leaves the store after 2 seconds. So Google only seems to be sending zombies. Two other store owners I know well are doing exactly the same. That's not normal ....

[renatovieira]

When I search site:mydomain.com - it no longer shows the number of pages indexed. Has anyone else noticed this?

[Micha]

@renatovieira Yes, the number seems to be gone

[Treud]

@Micha,

When the Core update was done, I went back to a normal visit numbers, now with the new update, it’s getting crazy again. Google must use bots that are not labeled bots so we think they are customer but in the end it’s only bots, and bots. I’m sure 50% and up of the internet is only bot/crawler/scrappers.

[londrum]

all of my competitors have lost traffic from september through march (including me) and we're all pretty decent sites, but we're also affiliates. some of them have display ads, some don't, but we all do affiliate sales.
the only two sites are that haven't been affected are the sector's main player, which sells its own stuff, and another big site that is still an affiliate, but has it set up as a white label with its own branding on it.

I'm guessing there's going to be no real recovery if our sites continues with affiliate sales.
maybe switching over to a white label is worth a try

[Treud]

I don’t run ads, I’m selling products from different brands, same as shoe store selling Nike, Converse etc etc.
Since March Update it’s like 80% less sales, but traffic seems to recover… but what’s the point to collect traffic that is not converting ?

[Micha]

Could it be that Google Ads are nothing more than a waste of money? I mean, you stuff a lot of money down Google's throat and I hear more and more often that nothing comes of it.

[Treud]

Been long time I didn’t spent anything on ADS, unless you are full of cash to waste just to brainwash people searching and take the spot of someone else. Google is basically wasting your budget asap to feed the shareholders.

[Treud]

I’ll go back to the traditional - Print & Mail catalog- to small shops, will cost me the same price than ads (maybe less) and at least I’ll have something that will stay on a desk of a potential customer longer than just a 1sec swap on mobile.

[ichthyous]

Could it be that Google Ads are nothing more than a waste of money? I mean, you stuff a lot of money down Google's throat and I hear more and more often that nothing comes of it.

Just read the actual experiences posted here with Google ads, including my own. It's pure fraud and no matter how much you target your ad many of the clicks will still come from India or other places you don't want to pay for. It's one half step above scam. I calculated that I would have to pay $110 to Google to get one single inquiry. 95% of the visitors from Google ads hit one page for one second and leave. Better to make a bonfire with your cash on the front lawn.

[RedBar]

After a holiday weekend in the UK our hotel site, and tills, had a storming weekend with a 153% level.

Unlike many others here my global site is holding its traffic with the USA returning to its normal range.

[ghostofseo]

Could it be that Google Ads are nothing more than a waste of money? I mean, you stuff a lot of money down Google's throat and I hear more and more often that nothing comes of it.

Any publishers at the moment that are NOT Google Ads customers should seriouslly avoid spending money with Google. The advertisers at least in my outdoor sports topics are all retailers. You want to swing d*cks with sites that can afford to loose money by retargeting customers?

LOL.

There are much better places to buy ads. Facebook and Instagram if done correctly offer great ROI. Not the Boost function! But actual ads, targeted to people you want to reach. They get uber specific if you wanted to target say, African American men, living in Los Angeles, that like Basketball, between the ages of 35-45 and are fans of Nike. - Just random example I'm throwing around.

The amount of brands bidding on their own names in Google is standing out. Most brands would never have to buy adds for their own domain, or maybe they drank the Google Kool-Aid too?

[NeapTide]

@renatovieira they must have paid statcounter to fix the so called "bug".

The people around me they have started using AI tools to ask questions and search for stuff. So how come google search market share is increasing?

[Billy85]

Could it be that Google Ads are nothing more than a waste of money? I mean, you stuff a lot of money down Google's throat and I hear more and more often that nothing comes of it.

I believe the HCU and its classifiers are a way to counter low ad conversion numbers by pushing advertisers content to the top.

Depending on the query, it's
Ads
Either Advertisers Pages, Forums, big sites and low converting pages/articles/blogs
More ads, PAA boxes
Good organic results that ranked previously top 3 are now somewhere on page 2 or 3.

Some of my posts had extremely good conversions with an average session duration of 4-5 minutes (for a particular page) and I believe these pages of mine were pushed down on purpose.

[superclown2]

Some of my posts had extremely good conversions with an average session duration of 4-5 minutes (for a particular page) and I believe these pages of mine were pushed down on purpose.

Everyone's pages are being pushed down on purpose.

I would expect that people who click on ads because they can't find the best website to match their query (which was what we used to expect from Google before Wall Street's influence took over) would produce a lower conversion rate for advertisers, rather than a higher one.

[Fluff_Nutz]

Guess the May update is now in effect. Traffic is -20% after a nice little bit of growth, which didn't really last that long in truth. You know, when I first started out, I used to create multiple documents where I would plan goals and try to achieve monthly targets. This, of course, was before I knew Google were corrupt. So all those documents have since been binned now.

I hope that the upcoming XAI and OpenAI give Google some proper competition. I also hope that all ''search engines'' come with their own content creators too. Else where are they going to be getting new content from? We should be appreciated for keeping these platforms going. Like soccer players in a sports team, but, unlike players we get shafted.

[sk7411]

Down from May 5 .

[Cyril TechWebsites]

Guys from UK:

Is this one is something interesting or nothing will happen?

[reuters.com...]

Will be very glad for some comments from you.

[universenet]

Governments will destroy google soon or later ...

[saladtosser]

whats happening now is going to seem like the good old days when SGE gets released to all users, just being able to pay your hosting bill will seem like a win!

[Micha]

@Cyril TechWebsites I'm not from the UK but: it's all about the advertising, but the unfair ranking, no government has said anything yet. And that is exactly what is destroying small websites.

[universenet]

For that manipulations what google doing normal people can finnish in prison.Will come time when everyone from government will try take maximum part from monster with name google what will be in "die process"

[Cyril TechWebsites]

@Micha:

Yes, you are right. But if Governments will restrict Google from taking more than 30% of device's display with non-organic results (ads), we will be feeling much more better. It's so simple, I guess.

[Micha]

@Cyril TechWebsites I don't think so, as long as certain companies are favored. Google will come up with something to make a profit.

[ubound]

I am watching my Matomo real-time stats, and it feels like Google is throttling traffic on and off, on and off.

[superclown2]

Is this one is something interesting or nothing will happen?

It's quite possible something will happen. Unlike America 'lobbying' is pretty ineffective over here thanks to our attitude to anything that smells of bribery.

There is an investigation underway in any case into alleged breaches of the DMA by Google which could result in massive fines, at least.

It will be interesting to see how many Google share options are cashed in by senior employees in the near future.

In the meanwhile I predict that Google will squeeze the goose that lays the golden eggs even harder so it could be a rough ride for many sites, both large and small.

[superclown2]

I don't know if this is old news to others but here in the UK I've just seen a new block arriving at the top of many search results: 'discussions and forums'. Reddit, of course, as well as several USA sites (useless to UK visitors) is almost invariably at the top. Naturally PAA , Related Searches and PASF are not far behind.

This is getting beyond ridiculous. Is it a direct challenge to the legislators I wonder, on the lines of 'this is what we can do if you mess with us'? They have already said that this kind of thing could result from the DMA.

[Cyril TechWebsites]

@superclown2

Totally agree with you. For those who still survived during these HCU robberies - be prepared, you will be the person who will pay all these fines. I also believe that in the common future Google will continue futher it's monopolistic abuse through the market to get all money in their pockets. Don't let make yourself a fool.

[Micha]

@ubound Even if Matomo is very imprecise: Yes, that's what I think when I look at it. Every now and then the number of visitors rises sharply in real time, but then falls again just as quickly.

I'm currently wondering what has happened since last week? First all the articles on my website ended up in Discover for a few days, then it went downhill again and now I'm experiencing a massive drop in impressions and clicks (today it's 64 percent below average, without the Discover effect). Although my visibility index is increasing according to Sistrix, my visitor numbers have dropped to the level of 6 years ago. The website is not affected by a manual spam measure. I am at a loss and what really annoys me is that even my publisher page on Google News is no longer updating and some articles are not indexed, including one I worked on for 2 years and published on Sunday.

It seems that Google now wants to put the lid on the coffin of my website. If this doesn't change, Google's traffic will drop to 0 in a week or two.

[Fluff_Nutz]

The whole 'switching traffic on and off' is also happening over on Youtube too. Which I'm not surprised about. Plus G recently released a 'Promote' video option which has a similar effect as Google Ads. One minute I can easily net 100 views per video and then, suddenly, get barely over 10. This is also why I cut down on content creating for Youtube, I used to post regularly and daily. Used to. Now I'm just wasting my time and effort.

I'm also not the only person to notice this. Still its surprising that not many over on Youtube are complaining about it. Just the odd few here and there. Perhaps most creators think its normal? I know many don't own a website to notice the similarities. They used to boost videos too but I haven't had any of my videos boosted for weeks now. I thought that perhaps posting daily but at the same time would help with the algorithm but nope.

I saw someone's traffic graph over on the Youtube subreddit a few weeks back. It showed how inconsistent their traffic was. Which looked very similar to my own.

Anything owned by Google is fast becoming a lost cause.

[saladtosser]

@Fluff_Nutz I notice my earnings on YouTube have dropped by 20% the past month with the same views, I suspect more business's are using the in SERP promotions more and more and spending less/switching from ads in creators videos maybe? The in SERP promotions cuts out any revenue for the creator correct?! Just another example of G wanting the full pie!

Does anyone know where the money goes when countries or the EU fine Google? Does it go to the affected sites or just into the governments coffers?

[Micha]

@saladtosser The money stays in Brussels and is used for all the subsidies etc., some of it goes to big publishers. We owners of small websites see none of it.

But another question, could it be that Google is restructuring its advertising business in such a way that it wants more direct payment from users? In other words, premium services etc., as its advertising business is under constant fire?

Edit: By the way, there's a lot of movement in the serps again

[seroundtable.com ]

[morpheus83]

It is just the big names that are getting all the juice. To give you an example just google - how to get rid of cockroaches and the first link that will pop is of Forbes. Yes, a business magazine is somehow the best source to fight bugs.

[superclown2]

To give you an example just google - how to get rid of cockroaches and the first link that will pop is of Forbes

I tried that. First there was Discussions And Forums (which I hadn't seen here in London until today) with Quora, Reddit and Quora again. Then, PAA and yes, Forbes in first organic spot. Reddit was there again in the 4th organic spot then Quora in the ninth.

I have been in this business since before Google existed and I have never seen such garbage in the SERPs. Back in the 90s Mamma, Dogpile, Hotbot; all these would have been ashamed to publish such useless junk. Someone at Google needs to be sacked before they destroy the business completely.

[Treud]

Forbes having an affiliate link and ads :D (and probably with copy/paste content)

[Whitey]

To give you an example just google - how to get rid of cockroaches and the first link that will pop is of Forbes.

Desktop is behaving with different results to mobile down here in Australia.

Desktop has a panel of 24 sub category headers (From sources across the web) with drop downs for each leading to a carousel of another 4 for each item, showing summary and links. That's 24x4 sub sub items quickly available

tbh - not bad (not perfect) - a user can quickly drill down to what they want and identify some options/links
below this are the usual listings. Forbes isn't prominent here. Most are localized.

Mobile is just a regular listing and Forbes comes up around No4 and shouldn't be there as it's not a locally relevant listing (being USA centtric).