May 2025 Google Search Observations

[goodoldweb]

Google is not a search engine. It's an ad engine.

[edited by: not2easy at 11:28 am (utc) on May 1, 2025]
[edit reason] New month, new thread [/edit]

[Micha]

@goodoldweb Have you heard about the latest “prank”? I'm starting to think it's only a matter of time before search results consist entirely of advertisements. Probably all website operators will receive an email shortly before it happens saying, “Hey, if you want to appear on our site, you'll have to pay.” I wouldn't put it past Google.

[seroundtable.com ]


@UpOnOne If you haven't found any signs, don't assume it's a penalty, but rather the usual “Google is acting up.” And don't try to change anything. A crash like that hurts, but it's happening a lot at the moment and it usually doesn't take long for a page to recover. Of course, I can only speculate without knowing your site, so it's hard to say anything for sure.

[saladtosser]

Micha, this was always going to happen because the nature of Google BUT they can't just flip to that!

Sure, the quarter they do do that their profits will peak through the roof. BUT, after that, the following quarters onwards will be flat because they have maxed out their ability to increase revenue from search in a single quarter.

No this has to be done quarter by quarter, death by a thousand cuts! I can see it in my traffic, there's no sudden dips or highs for me just a slow downward line at a 5 degree angle downwards since AI overviews were launched I suspect to watch it go all the way down to zero in 18 months at this rate but the incentive to keep the site online will be gone sooner, and this IMO is what they are banking on = Google is the internet!.

[goodoldweb]

@Micha

At this point, nothing Google does comes as a surprise anymore. The broader picture is clear: everything is moving towards AI, and achieving that vision requires enormous processing power and massive investment. To reach their goal, Google is maximising the use of every inch of digital real estate they control.

As webmasters, it's our responsibility to inform our readers and customers about what's happening—how it impacts their choices, reduces competition, and ultimately drives up the prices they pay at checkout.

To help raise awareness, we’ve added the following message to the bottom of all invoices and order confirmation emails:
“We no longer recommend Google for search. Click to read this article: How Google is obstructing trade and affecting your prices at the checkout.”

It's time to take a more proactive stance i think.

[Micha]

@saladtosser Yes, you're right. Today is one of those days when you'd rather not get out of bed. The shop is running, the news site has hardly any visitors... The only constant is the downward trend.

@goldoldweb Well, a lot of people would have to join in for that to work, and unfortunately I don't see much hope here in Germany, as most webmasters are not even aware of the problem.

[UpOnOne]

@OneOnOne - is your site page content consistently and tightly on topic? There’s been a lot of off topic targeting by G over the last 12 months or so.

Do you have brand recognition in your stats? (That said, I’ve seen “brands” hit that relied on content generation as a central pillar).

Yes, pages are always on topic. Brand recognition is shown in my stats but it is not as popular as the content.

@UpOnOne If you haven't found any signs, don't assume it's a penalty, but rather the usual “Google is acting up.” And don't try to change anything. A crash like that hurts, but it's happening a lot at the moment and it usually doesn't take long for a page to recover. Of course, I can only speculate without knowing your site, so it's hard to say anything for sure.

That's a very good point. I need to keep investigating before reacting. My first thought is always to get to updating but this is not like other penalties I have seen in the past. A little over 20% of my pages have now been de-indexed from Google but at the same time, visits from Googlebot have gone through the roof.

I appreciate the feedback. It's hard to analyze things objectively while I am in shock :)

[danielmsv]

In Brazil: Discover is full of ads, posts with no rhyme or reason, totally disconnected from reality, news from 2 or 3 days ago... Linked to this, I see a 70% drop in my Discover traffic. Anyone else?

[Micha]

@danielmsv Yep, that's exactly how it is in Germany right now...

[Treud]

If I look stuff for myself, for example, Dark Cycling for Aquarium, I have a lot of Reddit, Youtube (this is ok WHEN speaking about topics), and I have to go super deep to get Blog posts ...

[haramamba]

[arstechnica.com ]
The Department of Justice (DOJ) rested its case in Google's search remedy trial earlier this week, giving Google a chance to push back on the government's attempt to break up the search giant. Today is arguably Google's best chance to make the case that it should not be harshly penalized in the ongoing search antitrust case, with CEO Sundar Pichai taking the stand.

Pichai attempted to explain why Google isn't abusing its market position and why the DOJ's proposed remedies are too extreme.

[goodoldweb]

Poor Sundar dos'nt get it.

That's right! When you are a monopoly that also abuses your position by optimizing for revenue and not quality, then you get broken up, Sundar. This is why you should get fired! Stop obstracting trade, Free the web.

[Micha]

Sundar understands this; he's not that stupid But he works for the shareholders and their short-term profits. It's no longer about the product, because Google has enough market power; it no longer needs to consolidate its position. As long as the shareholders are happy, he won't be fired and Google won't change.

[goodoldweb]

@Micha

Microsoft too thought they could get away with systematic market abuse.

And I do think Sindul is not particularly smart, he's killing the Google brand. Spammy Google ads and popups clutter the entire web at a rate never seen before.

[edited by: goodoldweb at 11:34 pm (utc) on May 1, 2025]

[Micha]

Yes and no, Google is a bit different. In recent years, Google has lost its reputation as a super innovative company. It has become inflexible while other companies are overtaking it. What we are seeing right now is that they are milking the cow for as long and as much as possible. Now it's all about profit. What you have to hold against Sundar is that he's an administrator, not a visionary, and that he was the wrong person for the job of Google CEO from the start. But back to the topic of the website: yesterday was a bad day, with a massive crash of the news site, and let's not even talk about the store. Google seems to have been in holiday mode.

[Treud]

But still 90% of market shares for Google. Maybe reputation still bad, the ecosystem they built is like everywhere. From search, video, map, anything is built for you to stay and feed them.

[azlinda]

Back in the day AT&T found out also!

[EliZha]

WEIRD, huge website lost all the /blog/ section, what could be the reason? Is it just me? In addition i see drop in impressions and clicks, but when i check with inspect tool it show me "page indexed". WEIRD.

[Martin Ice Web]

Big shuffeling in germany again. Now ALL transactional queries are filled with manufacturer sites where you even can´t buy from (except amazon) . So the only way for a user to find/buy a item is to click on the ad.
All our competitors are gone, even big players ( e.g. ebay ) have been pushed down to page 2 or 3. So this updates are killing all the classic resellers.
Very, very unsatisfying for every user.

[webdev29]

I've had a long career in SEO and I'm shocked to see the violent impact of updates.

Here, today, an e-commerce site that is doing very (very) well and that has been enhanced by all the updates has literally lost 100% of its converting traffic since this morning!
Traffic is still there, but no conversion.
I've noticed some movement in the SERP on the position of certain kw's, but nothing major.

Google's ability to drive traffic wherever it wants is truly shocking (even frightening).

[Conro]

Google must be dismantled as soon as possible, having a monopoly in search has damaged the entire open web because sites depend on Google traffic

[ichthyous]

After a couple of strong weeks we appear to be right back to the same very poor traffic. What I am seeing now is a very distinct pattern of half a day on / half a day off. Traffic is moving along until 11am-1pm or so, then suddenly drops off a cliff for the entire rest of the day. This is happening day after day and when it kicks in you suddenly see traffic drop from around the world simultaneously. Less often. the trend is reversed, the first half of the day traffic is lagging and then suddenly jumps up in the 2nd half of the day.

When this type of pattern is in play there are no inquiries, no calls nothing. So that half a day of supposedly decent traffic doesn't seem to amount to anything. If you manage to get 1-2 good weeks a month now out of Google consider yourself lucky. The rest is just misidentified spambots, AI crawlers, and very clueless visitors who submit nonsensical inquiries.

I personally think that Google needs to be broken up...it would be in the national interest, and in the interest of the web as a whole.

[Micha]

I'm seeing heavy Discover traffic again today. I've been testing a lot with articles over the last few weeks and it looks like I've figured out what's being picked up. As a result, the numbers for my news site are extremely good today.

Shop: fewer visitors, reasonable sales. However, I have no idea where this is coming from.

[Treud]

Me tbh I can’t tell as my business depends on China to US mainly. We have to wait to make sure the shipping methods that are optimized, but the customs will know them as well :D

[ichthyous]

Exact same pattern today...traffic spiked at 11am, dropped through the floor and stayed down the entire rest of the day. Most of the drop is in USA traffic, but also Germany and Canada. It will be impossible to do any business with this being the new daily norm.

What is causing this mid-day drop? It can't be that AI overviews are off in the morning and turned on at 11am sharp every day. This is something else...

[RubicCubed]

Google must be dismantled as soon as possible, having a monopoly in search has damaged the entire open web because sites depend on Google traffic

I very much agree with this statement.

In the recent court news Google admitted under oath that our efforts to opt out of AI training does not apply to AI O. Meaning Google decided by itself it was entitled to take our content, display it in AI O and deprive us of the traffic we need to survive. The USA has become a Totalitarian nation with Google above the law creating standards that benefit only them and at great harm to everyone else. Dismantled Google must be, and I also think the executives need to be charged for these crimes and go to prison.

[christianz]

Google must be dismantled as soon as possible, having a monopoly in search has damaged the entire open web because sites depend on Google traffic

If Open Web is living organism, Google is cancer. Urgent surgical intervention necessary.

So far the May update appears to be total failure.

[tangor]

g changes/challenges (for all) are due to behind the scenes alterations to the Black Box to mitigate any court required discovery and revelation of algorithms down the line. Meanwhile g no longer picks winners and losers: everyone loses a little bit while chasing the ad spend.

As for all the AI stuff, beware what you ask, you just might get it!

Meanwhile various NATIONS around the world are RAPIDLY UPGRADING their electrical grids to POWER this BRIGHT SHINY OBJECT technology that will have the ability to screw things up at light speed velocities. (sigh)

NOTE: NOT QUITE satire, though tongue is inserted in cheek.

[Treud]

Been a few weeks with almost no inquiry, traffic sent is low and crap. I know the tariff are hurting the trades but it’s only the US !

[honeybadger]

All I see is a falling graph. Reds :(

[Micha]

The weekend was strange. On Friday, news traffic suddenly increased significantly. This continued until Sunday, and although it has slowed down today, news traffic is still high. The “normal ranking” has also improved somewhat. However, I can't see any changes in News/Discover in Germany that could explain this. I therefore attribute this to the content adjustments we have been making for several weeks.

The Shop: The weekend was okay, today it's slow, but it's Monday, so I'm not surprised. The rankings haven't changed. In fact, for several weeks now, it has been running completely in sync with the same time last year.