November 2024 Google Search Observations

[Shepherd]

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System: The following 3 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5112287.htm [webmasterworld.com] by engine - 10:50 am on Nov 1, 2024 (utc 0)

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Maybe, but how would they monetize search?

"ChatGPT is shaping up to be an exciting test of whether people will pay for quality information and a search experience that delivers reliable, actionable answers. It could set the stage for a new model in which users are willing to invest in search tools that prioritize depth, accuracy, and tailored insights over sheer volume of results." said ChatGPT

In my opinion, a paid search product is going to be the ONLY way to get quality search results moving forward. AI is the latest big bang and we are going back to 1998 in terms of the search landscape. I look forward to the next 20+ years.

[shadowlight]

since they'd have to give up $18 billion a year in Google payments

Apple might lose this income from G anyway, depends on what measures are put in place as a result of G losing the recent court case.

[Whitey]

ChatGPT Search Released to Paid Users and Uses GPT-4o
[webmasterworld.com...]

[daniel1213]

in Romania there are big problems on the organic traffic side of Google. Big Drop everywhere.. about -40-45%. We manage over 60 websites and not one has remained intact.

[Micha]

A sharp increase in Dsicover traffic today, back to where it was two weeks ago, just before the massive collapse. Does anyone else actually understand what Google is doing all this time? I just don't see the point of all the changes and it looks more and more like Google has lost control of its algorithm.

[daniel1213]

@Micha I personally categorize it as a lack of respect for everyone. I'm actually kidding myself...

[Fluff_Nutz]

After a great month in October. I am now back to September levels of traffic. Guess, for as long as G continue to hold their 95% marketshare, I can still expect these fantastic drops after all. So tired of it.

[TiggerSpain]

I'm not seeing any changes to the UK serps across 4 different market terms I look at. Has anyone seen any major change in UK results

[ichthyous]

I am seeing HUGE drop in traffic for the 3rd day now. Wednesday search was -6% and direct traffic -14%, Thursday search was -20% and direct was flat. Today it's almost noon and search and direct are both -28%. The drop is global, with USA and Canada being the worst at -57% and -47% respectively. I suspect it's a temporary shakeup since it is affecting everyone, everywhere. But the trend of reducing traffic with every update is only getting worse. God only knows what they are cooking up at the Plex now...

[Sodero18]

Interesting development. It looks like the big publishers are now taking a hit in traffic (including Forbes and Fortune).
[youtube.com...]

[EditorialGuy]

It's unfortunate that those big publishers aren't being penalized on their core Web sites. If they just lose traffic on their cranked-out affiliate content and their core sites remain unscathed, what incentive do they have to exercise a modicum of self-restraint?

[Samsam1978]

Seeing 50% traffic and revenue down from last year and over last 3 days a further 11% down due to AI overviews being rolled out. Not sure what is going on tbh back to 2008 levels when I started website. I am so numb from it I am not even stressing out tbh.

[renatovieira]

Big drop today.

[azlinda]

As I recall, Google said that the transition from PPC to RPM would not affect earnings. It has affected my earnings big time.

[KaseyM]

Every day it feels like Google is slowly turning the taps off as a traffic source.

[ichthyous]

Complete recovery after 3 days of very low traffic as if nothing happened...that is except for my home page, which is -74% this morning and has fallen off a cliff once again. October 14-22 saw normal customer activity...October 23rd - Nov 2nd only two inquiries in total

Ahrefs sent me an email warning that as of Nov 2nd I had lost 32% of my top 3 terms compared to the previous month's check. Not sure if that has already snapped back into place along with the returning traffic, but the newly gained top 10 terms were all nonsensical garbage that doesn't relate to my business at all....

[Dimitri]

Hi, long time no see.

Just sharing an observation.

Last January, i changed all the URLs of a big site , with 301 redirections, updated sitemap, etc... and everything was doing fine.

Google caught the new URLs, and after 2 weeks, Google search was driving traffic to the new URLs without problem and no more to the old URLs.

Last September, something weird happened. Google US and Canada, stopped sending traffic to the new URLs, but were serving again the old URLs (without noticeable traffic change). All other Google worldwide continued to serve the new URLs.

Since yesterday, Google US & Canada are serving a mix of new and old URLs.

Also, north america Google's sites seem to be behind when it comes to new pages. They appear in Google UK (for example), 2 or 3 days before Google US.

So I don't know how to interpret this, but I thought I should share.

During that time the Googlebot activity remained as normal, and is visiting 90% of the time the new URLs, I assume the 10% requests to old URLs, may be to check if the redirections are still in place.

[Micha]

Google's traffic is strange. Friday: record, Saturday almost no traffic at all, today mixed.
According to Xovi, my top keywords rise and fall practically every hour, with one keyword constantly changing from position 2 to 94 and back again. The number of fake stores at the top is also increasing.

[breeks]

Even if you are number one for a search query, you are below "From sources across the web." Nine options are showing, and a link to 14 more. On mobile, you are pushed way down, and the reader still has to get past Reddit before they get eyes on your number one spot. I will no longer be jumping through hoops every time Google makes up an update. My efforts to attract visitors will be from sources other than G. My hoop-jumping days are over!

[Ingall]

Danny Sullivan confirms that a Google update is coming.

However, those affected by HCU cannot hope for improvements with this update. According to Danny, it is better to look for alternatives, be it new traffic sources or a new product.

Google cannot easily undo the changes made so far. He says that for many people, the content was not the problem. Therefore, you should not question your own content because of the Helpful Content Update.

But if the content is not the problem with the Helpful "Content" Update, then what is the problem?

And why the hell do they call an update Helpful Content? Google has been fooling us for years. They constantly encourage us to publish good content and now confirm that the content doesn't count.

[not2easy]

@Ingall - There is a thread about that topic here: [webmasterworld.com...]

[Ingall]

@not2easy - Thank you very much, that´s interesting. As Micha rightly writes in the thread "it was never about helpful content or about a website being bad".

[Conro]

I came back to greet you and just to tell you that "did you see that I was right when I told you that the content was not the problem of hcu But it was Google?". In recent months I have checked and if necessary updated about 70% of my articles, a hard job where I have tried to improve thousands of articles even if there was no need. The result? I made the situation so much worse. If you want advice, don't update your articles, that's fine. Google is sinking and wants to take everyone with it, even SEOs. Greetings to all

[renatovieira]

HUGE drop this morning.

[daniel1213]

Same here...

[mosxu]

Bots over here

[saladtosser]

I'm still seeing search results fluctuate wildly all day long—swings of 4-20 positions, bouncing back and forth by the hour. Nothing stays stable for more than a few hours, and it’s starting to feel like this might be the new normal. Is this volatility just to give sites a fleeting taste of the top? It’s been months without any stability, which makes it feel like an intentional shift, possibly to drive sites toward paid ads? It’s impossible to analyze and make informed changes when the top results change every few hours, maybe the reason for it all?!

If I were trying to prevent SEO's and sites getting comfortable or figuring anything out I would probably put the serps into a constant state of flux. We are def witnessing the end of the open web via Google IMO, just seen another massive movie site I enjoy go under!

[Micha]

@saladtosser Do you mean the robot? If so: it's a shame, because this site had more good articles than all the junk with similar content that currently gets the top spots and Discover traffic from Google. But we'll probably read more sites giving up, because the only thing we can all say for sure is that Google will continue to crush the small publishers.

[EditorialGuy]

It’s been months without any stability, which makes it feel like an intentional shift, possibly to drive sites toward paid ads?

People are always saying that, but it only makes sense if you're talking about publishers who sell things. Information sites aren't going to buy Google ads unless they're trying to do "ad arbitrage" (which Google discourages in any case). The ROI just isn't there.

[ichthyous]

Totally normal traffic today and several new customer inquiries. If there was an update starting it seems to have finished already...strange.