August 2024 Google Search Observations

[christianz]

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System: The following 2 messages were cut out of thread at: [url=https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5108712.htm]https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5108712.htm[/url] by engine - 3:31 pm on Aug 1, 2024 (utc 0)

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Traffic drop since yesterday / today. Not sure who is gaining right now - SEO spam or Googlespam (SGE etc).

[ichthyous]

I saw a big drop internationally yesterday eve, and UK traffic once again is way down, -32% this morning at 10am. If patterns hold true, it will snap back later today. Google is clearly playing with UK results lately as my UK traffic is vanishing every couple of days now, then snaps right back. Yesterday many of my #1 terms dropped to #2 or #3 at the same time, then jumped back up within hours. I am seeing an almost comical surge in ranking across more and more terms, yet the traffic isn't really there. In the past if I had seen this many terms shoot up in ranking the traffic increase would have been huge.

[Samsam1978]

Were all watching those SERPS now -- and praying Google Zero with no traffic to independent sites is not the future. It will be a very boring internet if it is.

[Conro]

By now thI see that on Google now being overtaken by sites that do not deal with the topic of the query is the norm. I look for one thing and you mostly see results that talk about another topic. If this is normal it is useless to create or update, I should write about dogs to give answers about cats

[Samsam1978]

Wikihow is above me, and howstuffworks just large sites that have no personal touch or credit of what they are saying. They don't have my 30 years experience. Just crazy. It is not helpful google when you just keep promoting spam or sites like these. I wish I could roll back before covid.

[Micha]

At the moment the ranking is really fluctuating a lot. Nevertheless, my traffic remains at a slightly higher level.
But of course I also see strange results in my topic area. Today English websites dominate (mainly spam), so if you search in German. Very customer oriented from Google.

[christianz]

Things are looking bad over here. Both the HCU boosted and HCU penalized sites are down. Ahrefs ranking keyword counts are not down, but they can be super laggy/delayed.

[Conro]

Every time I look at a normal site it had more traffic just started than now. Since the top positions often don't lead to sites with Google adsense, Google should have a huge hole for revenue from websites.There must be a huge hole, otherwise I wouldn't be able to explain the opposite except by thinking badly

[NeapTide]

Current Observation:

1. 5 - 8 results from same website in Top 20 on Mobile SERPs.

2. I am active on Reddit. Made a thread there and within 1 hour it was showing at the top of Google Search and all my images appearing in Google Search Images section.

3. In most niches, a dozen or two dozen websites are whitelisted. Remaining all are marked as unhelpful. So they appear way down in SERPs.

4. Continuous SERPs shuffling is happening since past couple of months. That's why you might be seeing spikes in traffic, a day of good traffic followed by poor traffic days.

5. Your content is not yours anymore. It belongs to Microsoft, Google and Sam Pirateman.

[Conro]

Yes, as for Whatsapp which is found for practically every search query that has to do with the problems of the app, then that it does not solve the problem because it talks about something else it seems that Google does not care

[ichthyous]

3. In most niches, a dozen or two dozen websites are whitelisted. Remaining all are marked as unhelpful. So they appear way down in SERPs.

4. Continuous SERPs shuffling is happening since past couple of months. That's why you might be seeing spikes in traffic, a day of good traffic followed by poor traffic days.

5. Your content is not yours anymore. It belongs to Microsoft, Google and Sam Pirateman.

3. You know this how? I think that there is a very strong bifurcation now between ecommerce sites and ones that don't have ecommerce enabled. The later have been removed from searches that Google perceives to be commercial, with the exception of a few articles thrown in the mix.

4. Yes, even long than that I think. Traffic is just all over the place. Yesterday one of my top landing pages for many #1 ranking terms dropped 72% in traffic and mysteriously stayed down the entire day at that level. Today it's back to normal. It's impossible to make a steady living when your most important content vanishes for days at a time.

5. No it doesn't, as long as you have registered your work and can show that it is unique. These companies do not have a strong argument for Fair Use, so at some point AI will have to start compensating people. If not they will be buried in lawsuits. I know that that is little comfort when people (myself included) are losing business now from Google's changes.

[Conro]

It seems that investors are starting to understand what trouble they have gotten into with the so-called ai. Somebody's going to have a bad awakening

[Samsam1978]

Don’t give up. We have weathered this before. All our lives have prepared us for this. For this moment. We knew over the last decade this would happen one day — Wake up it's 10% down. Wake up and it's 50% down. And, the fear: Wake up and it's gone. Maybe it's gone? Yes, we need to take the time to understand this. We need to take the time to feel this. And, remember, Google will not win out of ruin. Google will not win by stealing our content. Google will not win by being greedy. Google will not win by pleasing the markets rather than the people. Google will not win with AI. Google will not win by promoting spam news sites. Google will not win with Reddit. Google will not win with Quora. Google will win with us. We have something the others don't. We care. Google are earning on what belongs to someone else.
If you want to be a winner, it may take us twice as long. If you want to be a winner find a way to beat it. If you want to be a winner keep on writing. All you will loose is time. But know this. They can’t succeed on someone else’s misery. Don’t quit. You make a difference. Your website makes a difference. As weak as we are, as tired as we are, there is something that people would lose if we were not there. There is something they would miss if we are not there. Let’s do the best we can with what we got. We may not get any trophies, we may not get the money, we may not get the traffic, we may not touch the people — but hang on in there. I have seen days I have not wanted to write. I have seen days I have lost 20% traffic. I have seen days were I can’t sleep. But they came and passed. Even if you loose that strength to keep going. Even if you become broke. Even if you are broke. You still need to believe that this is not the end. If you loose your traffic keep the faith, if you have to downsize keep the faith, if you have to get a bus keep the faith. You got to keep going and not give up. Because this is not the end of us. This is not the end of human written small independent publishers. Our websites are what people want to read.

[delorean]

Hi guys. I'm currently experiencing decreased in indexed pages. Are you also experiencing this?

PS: "Temporary processing error" occurs in search console.

[Ingall]

I thought Google wanted to do something about site reputation abuse.

There is a site that ranks in the top positions for every keyword in the nutritional supplements area.

This site was originally created for a large EU research project on chronic diseases. The Website has backlinks from many scientific publications.

This domain has now been sold and the owner is now publishing sponsored posts with affiliate links to weight loss and sexual enhancer products.

The site now ranks first on Google for every important keyword.

SEO can be so easy. You buy an expired domain that was once created for a short time for a political or scientific project. You can then place the biggest junk on it or sell ads for expensive money. Google will love you and reward you with top rankings.

[Micha]

@delorean For me, the number of indexed pages is increasing daily.

I looked at the statistics etc. again today and the increase is back after a brief loss of ranking. According to Xovi I have increased significantly, according to Sistrix too.
By the way, Bing seems to have done something, the increase is extreme (even if it doesn't help).
The store looks similar by the way, even if sales are still poor.

I thought Google wanted to do something about site reputation abuse.

Well, what Google says and what Google does are very different

[delorean]

Anyone here doing disavow to recover from HCU?

[Srikanthn]

@delorean I am doing it, waiting for the results.

[ichthyous]

@delorean I wouldn't count on a disavow file to help you recover from any update. I have on in place with all links from certain domains ending in .id disavowed for example yet they just keep reporting them and increasing. I think the disavow file used to work better years ago, now it is basically ignored. I also see competitors spamming google via link networks and it still works...as soon as they start to drop a bit they ratchet up the fake links and up they go. It appears to be a temporary boost at best

[EditorialGuy]

Google has always said that the disavow is for disavowing links that are under your control.

Example: if you bought links from links-for-sale.com and you're tainted as a result, you can disavow those links in the hope of being forgiven by Google.

But Google doesn't recommend disavowing unsolicited links from sites that merely appear to be of low quality, since (a) that's a poor use of your time, and (b) you might inadvertently disavow some links that are beneficial.

[KaseyM]

Man traffic has been dreadful over the weekend. Yikes.

[Micha]

Things are not going well for Google, they lost the antitrust case

[url]http[b][/b]s://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html[/url]

[universenet]

Things are not going well for Google, they lost the antitrust case

[nytimes.com ]

Good news...!

[Conro]

Google is guilty and as obvious as it was to everyone I still can't believe it

[mwishstore]

I have one website Mwishstore i'm struggling with ranking with SEO can you please help me <a href="https://mwishstore.com/collections/pakistani-bridal-dresses">Bridal Dresses</a>

[Micha]

Google's explanation of the ruling, what a load of garbage. It doesn't get any better today
[url]https://x.com/Google_Comms/status/1820558371285508123[/url]

[universenet]

Google's explanation of the ruling, what a load of garbage. It doesn't get any better today

With years in google come people what thinking that all other are idiots
Exactly they are manager who want make max profilt for boss and proof how they are so good
Similar problem is with Boeing company
Just idiots manager come and destroy all
Same will be with google

[oldog]

@Samsam1978 ....[.howstuffworks]...."just large sites that have no personal touch or credit of what they are saying. They don't have my 30 years experience"
Come on mate don't overdoing it ....comparing your self with a website ( howstuffworks) that I was teaching my students back in 2000 to use it for useful tips.....
I don't know your website but there is no way that has more to tell then your main competitor / s as you mention above....

[delorean]

Google is totally broken now. It's difficult to search for what you're looking for. Aw google, please bring back SERP like in 2022.

[delorean]

I'm reposting my query here.

Hi guys! Is it ok to delete old pages? I'm not talking about quality articles here like news and informational content. I'm referring to pages that contain voucher codes, which are old and not working anymore. Can I safely delete these pages? Because I'm seeing articles that Google warns of deleting old pages. Hoping to see feedback from you guys. Thanks!