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]

[Fluff_Nutz]

Giants can fall just like anyone else. G are way past that time. They were once a good company, now no longer. Now under new management they are abusing their power. Making a mess of search and turning everyone from publishers to users away. Even the executives themselves said they will be surprised to survive the next 5-6yrs. Their market share is collapsing and fines are coming from all over. Plus the amount of backlash from all across the world has, too, increased. Times are changing. G are a mere shadow of their former selves in terms of quality.

Yes, the American government are just as corrupt but the outside and bigger picture are not. European laws are especially known for trying to destroy their monopoly. With AI we can also have new competition too. We should not have to rely or depend on Google for anything.

It will take time, as I said in my previous post. It's more of a when and not an if. But they are not immune to collapse. Nothing and no one is and trust me, I might have started the website scene late but I do remember the time of Lycos, Jeeves etc..

[superclown2]

I might have started the website scene late but I do remember the time of Lycos, Jeeves etc..

Altavista were the kings. Then Yahoo! (as they were called then) were bulletproof. They were all blown away by an upstart with a simple interface of ten blue links. It was easy to find what you was looking for and their motto was 'Don't Be Evil'.

Google is now a bloated parody of that early, superb search engine, and it's like comparing a fit young athlete to the obese, gluttonish old man that he has aged into.

Having said that in the USA money doesn't talk, it swears, so I don't expect them to fall overnight. They are not superhuman though, as their track record with their 'other bets' has demonstrated so clearly.

[EditorialGuy]

And now, at long last:

[searchengineland.com...]

[edited by: EditorialGuy at 9:25 pm (utc) on May 14, 2024]

[Micha]

Nice idea, but the filter is so hidden that normal users won't use it.

[EditorialGuy]

Nice idea, but the filter is so hidden that normal users won't use it.

True, but it's nice to have the option when you want to find content on the open Web.

[Micha]

with four big, beautiful ads, at least according to a picture i just saw on twitter. i don't think it will help much. it's still up in the air that small sites are practically invisible compared to big ones, and that won't change even with a filter like this. the only good thing about it is that you won't get served that ki crap.

[jchiff]

Another puff piece from the NYTimes, with no recognition of the obvious impact the related update is already having on businesses and publishers:

[nytimes.com...]

[Whitey]

True, but it's nice to have the option when you want to find content on the open Web.

It's not showing in my region yet. Just adding to the call for it to be seen more prominently, otherwise it won't be used much.

[superclown2]

It's quite clear that the Internet, in the form it was first envisioned, has no future as long at Google keeps it's monopoly.

[Martin Ice Web]

Next big hit this night. Facing another drop. Staying at about 40% of normal traffic. And like Micha wrote before it is all brands traffic that disappeared. So we are getting only traffic for unbranded items.
What is rediculous because we are not getting any traffic to our own brand anymore. I think in googles mind we should add some ads.
But there is now way for us to do google ads. We are selling on Amazon and since this updates started Amazon sales went up.

[Billy85]

@Martin

Same here. Last weeks slight uptick, followed by this weeks massive decline, despite my primary rankings haven't changed much. So whenever there is an uptick in traffic, I'm very cautious and almost pessimistic about what's coming. I also lost some more rankings for product queries since May 3rd or so. (It's actually ridiculous that my products (Germany) are getting outranked by non European sites (since HCU), while I'm Top 3 for these queries on all other Search Engines)

It's as if they test the actual things that works and then reverse that for profit reasons or whatever. None of the updates did what they said they would do and I can't recall winning rankings in a single core update.

I was slightly optimistic in the March Update because my site was trending up for 3 weeks straight, followed by a decline and another decline when the Update ended. After the Core Update I thought I would be safe for a while and keep my rankings, but even now, it's not the case anymore.
Sales are also down since this weekend or whenever they reversed things again.

[Fluff_Nutz]

Funny, just comparing my traffic vs last month. All traffic has increased. Whilst Google traffic continues to decline by a further -50%. Even traffic from Bing increased by +55%. Every source increased but Google slips. Just waiting for it to literally drop to zero at this point.

If done correctly I can see Bing taking over eventually. ChatGPT seems to be very popular. No one speaks of Gemini or Bard. But everywhere I go ChatGPT is highly regarded. If it was implemented and somehow destroyed Google I'd be happy.

I'm at the point where I'm happy to move on from Google and no longer get traffic from them. It's too inconsistent. Their manipulation is driving me crazy. As long as the traffic from other sources continues I'm good. If I found a block to totally remove Google traffic altogether and their content stealing then I'd happily implement that too. I'm done with them.

[BigKat]

Every source increased but Google slips

We've seen a steady and gradual increase in non-Google traffic for about 1.5 years, which is when Google added an excessive number of ads to their search results in the USA. Good to see others reporting the same. Hopefully more users will have that light bulb moment and realize what Google is presenting them are only those things (information, products, etc.) that make Google money.

[saladtosser]

Doesn't G technically want/need the open web/sites to die off now that they have tried their AI on whats out there currently? I mean, think about it, if the open web dies now it will prevent future AI's training off the worlds online data, kinda pulling up the drawbridge behind them if you like?! Wonder if that's occurred to them at all?!

[Micha]

Google will simply spend a little money and conclude licenses with the few large publishers that remain in order to be allowed to use the content. The publishers get money and a cycle is created in which the rest of the web is no longer needed.

Incidentally, I'm currently reading the first user experiences with search in the USA on Twitter and, to be honest, I'm laughing my head off. Google is throwing nonsense around: misinformation, made-up connections, etc. It's better than any comedy show.

Oh, and at I/O they lied again because most of the answers are obviously not Gimini's own interpretation, but a simple summary of texts stolen from websites.

[Markedd]

@saladtosser It's so much more complicated than that. Even if they do manage to replace the sites with their AI, the #*$! show just starts. First because nobody will trust a single company, let alone Google to be the sole provider of accurate information. Secondly because the info has to be correct, otherwise, every mistake they make will turn into a major backlash. While before they could say that that guy or that gal said this and that, now it's them. They're the source. It's just stupid. I don't know what these people are thinking. They're supposed to be smarter than us.

[sk7411]

Drop Today!

[Markedd]

@Micha That's the thing. Trust is the major aspect when it comes to information as they have been parroting for years. If I try to find information and it keeps on giving me wrong data, then I will just assume it's a bad medium and move on. And that's what's going to happen when the AI gets widely available. People will avoid it due to its stink and finally use different ways to reach information than Google.

[NeapTide]

People in my circle who used Meta Gemini and Chatgpt said that it's very easy to manipulate these AI tools and make them change answer and stance by just telling them that they are wrong and lying. So they just stopped using them and reverted to traditional google bing search.

No wonder gpt is good for writing articles, codes and generating AI images. But its not an authority for supplying reliable information. It just picks lines from different websites change few words and display. Now authority of that information is questionable since references that are provided are also often wrong.

[saladtosser]

"They're supposed to be smarter than us." Its like common sense has left the building, its hard to believe this company went from the darling company of the world to this state in a matter of a 5-8 years, so very sad, plus they ruined the internship movie for me!

[NeapTide]

Blunders after blunders

This time google just "accidentally" deleted 125 billion dollars pension fund account.

[gizmodo.com...]

[CommandDork]

The real talent left Google years ago...leaving the kids to do as they please today.

[NeapTide]

They said it all in July 2023 and we didn't take it seriously.

"Google Says It'll Scrape Everything You Post Online for AI

An update to Google's privacy policy suggests that the entire public internet is fair game for its AI projects."

[gizmodo.com...]

[Dooku]

Google adds "web" filter to only show text-based links in Google Search results

Is that filter still working for you guys? I started using it today for quite bit of searches.....
A few hours later the Web option was gone.

[RedBar]

Another increase in traffic today for me from several different countries with a big increase in average page views per visitor and similar to Monday's ... Unusual.

[mosxu]

The maths are different when there is competition.

A little bit of Chat GPT and the boat starts sinking?

[MayankParmar]

Indexing issues, anyone? "Page is not indexed: Crawled - currently not indexed".

[superclown2]

I tried the web filter on a very common search term and OK it blocked out the PAA on various other bits of junk but I got the message: "It looks like there aren't many great matches for your search". What? This is a common term, there must be millions! So, I clicked the 'see all results' link and got the full listing in all it's glory complete with the usual PAA, PASF, Related Services and all the usual junk we know and love.

Add to that I had to click the 'more' link at the top to find it, so 99% of searchers - and maybe more - will never use it.

In it's current form it's just hidden window dressing.

[Micha]

@MayankParmar Google is currently removing URLs from the index, which is not a mistake.

In Germany, the web filter is now also online and no longer as invisible as it initially seemed. But it is unlikely that it will be used on cell phones. Even if it is kind of funny that a search engine introduces a filter to make the search usable again.

[pavf6]

Looking at 50% drop in last 3 days. Anyone on the same boat ?

[Micha]

Google: AI search is great, people want it. But the reality seems to be somewhat different. The company apparently doesn't know its users as well as it thinks it does. [seroundtable.com ]

[christianz]

Drop yesterday, after recovery on May 13th and 14th. I am not sure if it's the horrific SGE related drop. I think the SGE massacre is still to come and will kick in over coming days/weeks.

[christianz]

I think the business model in post SGE era is not making any income and not receiving any traffic, but producing content for Google's scrapers for free. Obviously, not viable if you want to get any compensation for your work, but perfectly viable if you just love Google very much. And I think most of us do.

[Treud]

I’m dropping in countries where I convert, and raise where I can’t :D Such a joke Google.

[Fluff_Nutz]

Yup traffic crash landing over here too, -30% drop over the course of a single day.

I mentioned the 'Web' tab or option in the other post, so I'll be brief but yes it is incredibly difficult to find unless you know what to search for. Ridiculous. To make matters worse the 'Web' filter rubbish still shows links from Youtube, Google garbage and several blue links from the exact same website. Makes me think that the only winners here, other than the Google greed are big websites. Smaller ones need some serious luck from outside

So what is next in Google's path of destruction? Well the tale of the mysterious disappearance of the Cookies, of course! So with that I guess its safe to say we can expect an even further decrease of revenue as the year continues.

It's so stupid and mind boggling why Google would put all their eggs into a single AI basket. Potentially destroying 25yrs of search and, lets not forget, their biggest and main source of income. They should have both blue links and AI co-existing. Possibly putting their AI box in the right side tab. Having blue links on the left, main area. Giving users the option to choose between links and AI. Google clearly ran out of logic with this new management. I personally won't be supporting their AI obsession.

Anyway like I said several months back this is one of the worst years, if not the worst year, to be a content creator.

[Dooku]

Google Says It'll Scrape Everything You Post Online for AI

So, in the mean time the web is getting spammed with HUGE amounts of AI generated sh|t.....which in turn gets scraped again by google to train their AI......and more spam get's generated......google keeps scraping......yeah, this is going to be a really valuable data set..LMAO

[MayankParmar]

@Micha Google doesn't know anything about its users

They're trying to copy Perplexity and OpenAI, but they don't realize that people who use GPT or other AI tools still use Google for their reasons. This doesn't mean Google should become like Perplexity or ChatGPT. Just create a new product ffs. No one is ditching Google for ChatGPT. The two are DIFFERENT products. How the #*$! no one at Google understands that they can compete with AI apps without ruining search.

I know some non-tech people who no longer trust Google because of Quora, Reddit and AI.

[MayankParmar]

We have gone from ‘just Google it’ to ‘they show anything on Google’ in just two years. Incredible leadership by Sundar Pichai

[Micha]

@MayankParmer I also meant that sarcastically. Google has completely lost touch with its users. But to be honest, I'm not surprised. The CEO is good for the investors, but an absolutely bad appointment for a company that is supposed to be innovative.

But let them carry on like this, it wouldn't be the first company to be ruined, and no matter how big Google is, in the long run this way will do a lot of damage to the company.

[ichthyous]

I’m dropping in countries where I convert, and raise where I can’t :D Such a joke Google.

Absolutely...my USA traffic is -24% in the last week. For me the overall effect of all these updates is to have lost most of my converting traffic...mostly from USA, but I have also noticed the almost total disappearance of inquiries from the UK, Europe, UAE and Australia....basically the entire world.

What I am getting is the leftovers...customers who have $200 budgets for $1500 items. Sales have come to a standstill. I am investigating other options such as placing ads on social (not boosting posts) and youtube videos, but it will be very hard to replace those sales from Google organic search.

[renatovieira]

Semrush is on fire and around here, all my sites are in huge drop.

[RedBar]

I'm just testing "web" results in the UK and so far the results are very clean. So, we now have classified ads results and a hard-to-find web results, dare G actually try it in the main navigation?

Thumbs up to them for including "web" in the navigation when using it.

[RedBar]

Just tested it on a few mobiles and "Web" is there in the main navigation.

[NeapTide]

It seems like some one from Google did read old comments in this thread where I recommended to make separate tab for web searches just like Bing.

They did implement it but in the most useless way.
Bing did it better from the very start. They kept Co-Pilot on second number. So if someone wants chit chat and answers from AI they can straightaway switch to Co Pilot.

This is the professional way of doing things. What Google did they just put every available ingredient in kitchen in a bowl and turned on the mixer without caring about taste or end product.

Their stupidity is not just centered around Google search but they are trying to kill their Android OS as well. Just recently they introduced 20 testers policy for Independent developers and now they are suspending newly submitted apps or games if they find bugs twice or some mistake like privacy policy link not added or if some function/button is not working as expected on their test device.

It seems like greed has slowly made policy makers at Google lose their minds.

[Dooku]

Just tested it on a few mobiles and "Web" is there in the main navigation

It seems the issue was at my end......after restarting Firefox the Web filter was there again.....weird.
I wonder if this can be automated somehow, so after entering a search term and hitting the enter key some script could maybe automatically select the More link and select Web......possible?

[ichthyous]

Has anyone noticed a steep decline in link count in GSC from high-rank sites? I have zapped all the .id spam links and Google still shows them, but my links from very reputable sites are vanishing slowly. Anyone else noticed this?

[jchiff]

And the hits just keep coming:

[slate.com...]

[oldog]

Who remembers Matt Cutts and the good old days ?

[oldog]

Question : Fact is millions billions of users are buying every year a new desktop, or laptop computer where MS EDGE is build by default .Not to mention public organizations schools etc How many of them will ever think to install Chrome ?

IMO Crome, Firefox, Opera etc is used mostly by us publishers, developers and older users.
Finally Mac users will never change Safari . And the main serious web search is done by desktop or laptop but not from mobile devices .

[ubound]

IMO Crome, Firefox, Opera etc is used mostly by us publishers, developers and older users.
Finally Mac users will never change Safari . And the main serious web search is done by desktop or laptop but not from mobile devices

My Analytics tell a different story: No1 browser is Mobile Safari, but No2 and 3 are Chrome Mobile and Chrome. Only 32% use desktop.