July 2025 Google Search Observations

[Martin Ice Web]

And like every time, google lies about he start of this core update. It definitly started on friday.
And again it rewards old fashion, low content, bad html websites. Even websites with no pics or pictures smaller than 300 width are rewarded.

[edited by: not2easy at 11:55 am (utc) on Jul 1, 2025]
[edit reason] New month, new thread [/edit]

[Martin Ice Web]

Can someone explain to me what Google is doing?

profit maximizing!
All the lost ad clicks from AI overviews must now be accomplished by very bad serps.

[ichthyous]

Google needs to show Wall Street that earnings are keeping up with the rest, that's all. The narrative has been that Google search is dying due to AI, and the stock price has languished for months. Now suddenly it's rising again as people realize that Google is one of the biggest AI players, has huge investments in AI and data centers, and Youtube is beating Netflix. Google reports earnings today...if they are strong the share price will shoot back up

[nordland]

[youtube.com...]

Neil Patel.
"You're showing up in Google but your customers are making decisions somewhere else.

TikTok. Reddit. Amazon. ChatGPT. These are the new "search engines" and most marketers haven't caught up. In this video, I break down one of the biggest shifts in internet history: why ranking no longer equals revenue and what to do instead."

[ichthyous]

@nordland

1) I would take anything Neil Patel has to say with a grain of salt. I wonder how well his own traffic is faring these days? Now he's an expert on everything non-google too?
2) My customers are not on tiktok, nor will they ever have TikTok accounts. If your demographic is teenage kids and GenZ AND you sell low-priced items from the latest influencer's makeup tips then definitely. Not saying that it doesn't work at all, it definitely does for the right product...but just doesn't work for many high-end products. Neither does Instagram.
3) Many of us cannot sell via Amazon and neither do our competitors. This is all highly dependent on the type of product and the price point. I wish I had an alternative platform like Amazon, but Amazon doesn't offer what I sell. My competitors all have their own sites and that's where the sales happen.
4) Reddit - probably the best place to have people talking about you now. Everyone (including myself) Googles Reddit to find businesses and read real world (mostly) opinions...even though the Reddit comments are highly tainted with fake comments, you can still ascertain what is real from what is mostly spin.
5) ChatGPT - nobody is making purchases from ChatGPT yet. They may use it to compare reviews or information about products before buying, but you still need to go to a website or to Amazon to buy. I allow AI Bots to crawl my site and it is generating some traffic. That traffic doesn't make up for what has been lost in search, not by a long shot.

[nordland]

I think you are wrong about a lot of what you write. Who are your customers who are not on Tiktok? Just as an example, I follow an electrician from the Netherlands. He installs a lot of home car chargers, which I am interested in. You don't think all the millions of views he creates generate money for himself and the companies he works for? [tiktok.com...]
Just one example, then of course he has YouTube and Instagram too.

[nordland]

I think you are wrong about a lot of what you write. Why are your customers not on Tiktok? Just as an example, I follow an electrician from the Netherlands. He installs a lot of home car chargers, which I am interested in. You don't think all the millions of views he creates generate money for himself and the companies he works for? [tiktok.com...]
Just one example, then of course he has YouTube and Instagram too.

[RedBar]

@frostitomik

It is a well known fact that Bing audience is much older than Google audience.

Ok, then please show me this well-known factual analysis.

I'm not disputing your claim however I have seen such statements before but with no proof.

For instance is this a US-only "survey" or a general global claim?

Plus, with G's massive dominance in search and at least half the world's population being "older" then why is Bing's overall market share not higher?

[Martin Ice Web]

Customers are on amazon since long time. But after this update we see rising numbers in amazon sales. What means that a big number doesn´t line up with the current serps.

instagram, tiktok aso. will become big players while the now younger users will grow and for sure stay with their socail media platform.

google could be a countweight while presenting clean and relevant serps. Not cluttered with ads.
But instead google tries to be cool for the younger generation. It is just like they tried to be cool with google+. And we all know how it was ending.

[ichthyous]

@nordland. Tiktok is a young audience...that is not who buys fine art, which is what I sell. Most of my sales are to people in their late 30's - 60's. Pieces sell for tens of thousands. As they get older and have more disposable income they will become buyers, will they still be on tiktok at that age? I doubt it highly.

[nordland]

I think Tiktok could be the perfect place for you. I see a lot of people selling paintings there. I just checked my Tiktok stats. 82 percent of all visitors came to my page via the search function. I post new kitchens from the biggest suppliers. I don't sell anything, just post, my own material.

[dakh]

The rankings I lost a year ago have suddenly returned — without any major changes on my end. This just confirms that Google can demote high-quality pages on a whim. Honestly, that’s anything but trustworthy.

[tangor]

@dakh ... Welcome to Webmasterworld!

Sometimes the best move is to do nothing. Over the last several decades we have seen g do this time and time again, while never offering any explanation. Experience suggests that patience is necessary, though one always needs to be wary that the change/loss is in fact LONG TERM and IRREVERSIBLE.

Happy for the Revival! Meanwhile, don't bank on it. g is always "tweaking" the algo/serps. Unfortunately some sites/niches will be impacted.

[RedBar]

My last 24 hours, since 13.00 UK Wednesday, have been the most consistent and stable in ages, it's been like turning the clock back 2-3 years with a good variation and flow of global visitors viewing several related widget pages.

You're simply a big teaser G trying to convince me this would be my traffic if only I were to participate in your classads scheme!

[Martin Ice Web]

@redbar,

confirmed!
But don´t trust the chicken!

[ichthyous]

I'm seeing the opposite...the higher traffic has dropped off considerably and traffic to my home page and some main pages down by a third. It could also just be summer doldrums...

[RedBar]

It could also just be summer doldrums

Being in a global-supply industry often shipping to specific timetables all year round, I tend not to experience this so much except for shipment port arrivals in the West at Xmas and Easter, the Chinese New Year, Diwali and other such festivals. Large projects take on a life of their own 24/7/365 with all the many trades involved in constant liason with each other to ensure a smooth working environment.

Likewise large sporting events or inclement weather conditions or natural disasters, worklife continues generally unabated ... The biggest interuptions / hiccups I ever see are G's annoying updates !

[Micha]

Today is the worst day of this disastrous week. The news site didn't get a single click from Google today, even though its ranking is rising again. The shop has had zero sales via Google today, even though AdWords is spending a lot of money, of course. It currently looks as if Google is re-evaluating websites and once again weeding out small sites.

[seokees]

Dropped again today. Seems like it is still bouncing, but only on page 3 and 4 now... A 95% total drop since July 1th.

[makintocheplus]

My traffic from Google jumped from ~50 to ~100 and fluctuating around... So double the traffic but earning wise I am lower...

[EditorialGuy]

A blog post from Stay22.com, an affiliate platform for travel sites, has an interesting take on the June Core Update's impact:

"Traffic Is Up for Travel Bloggers - June 2025 Google Update"

"After nearly 18 months of punishing updates, this might be the first time creators are finally getting a break, and it’s about time....

"Since the beginning of the Google Update, we’ve seen an 11% bump in impressions across the Stay22 network. The week of July 14th to 20th (when the update finished), compared to the same week in June, we saw an 18% increase."

The Stay22 analysis is based on numbers from some 3,500 travel bloggers who are part of the Stay22 affiliate network.

Stay22's observations are roughly in line with my own experience: Our main site was hit by HCUs in 2023 and 2024 but has witnessed a meaningful improvement with the June Core Update. (I'll wait to cite a specific percentage change until I'm confident that the update and its aftermath are complete.)

Here's the Stay22 article:

[blog.stay22.com...]

[mosxu]

@EG

Are you actually serious? Who is stay22?

On a different note I am using G about 20% since ChatGPT and Grok!

It is happening!

[Whitey]

A blog post from Stay22.com, an affiliate platform for travel sites, has an interesting take on the June Core Update's impact:

"Traffic Is Up for Travel Bloggers - June 2025 Google Update"

@EditorialGuy - i think the devil will be in the detail, rather than an "overall" picture that averages out the lift. There will be winners and losers among the 4000+ bloggers. This affiliate network depends on revenue from their bloggers, so anything they can do to inject some enthusiasm is in their interest. Their business model will be under pressure, unfortunately.

The reality, I feel, is that producing text based content is on a trajectory to nowhere in the face of AI. It has to be multimodal these days, top quality, shareable and structured for citation retrieval, unique and delivered with brand reputation behind it. I doubt if a substantial proportion of the 4000+ bloggers will be responding to those requirements.

Which begs the question, why did Google let a whole lot of site's have improved visibility? One answer that springs to mind is that participation in content production via the HCU was gutted, stalling incentives across the internet pool. There's not a lot left to be removed from the live index, Google has it all.

AI eats AI then produces AI and then loop the loop.

[Conro]

@Whitey Because many sites did not deserve to be hit by hcu, but a machine does not understand it, so they will have improved it To better recognize real sites and not spam ones created or pumped with AI to make money and that's it. Also, if you train AI with the web, you need variety, sites that specialize in a topic, all stuff that Google was annihilating. Google then leaving too much space to brands and forums will have realized that it was not a good idea or at least could not continue like this in the long term, also because in my opinion they had a collapse in advertising revenue from the advertising banners of older websites

[Martin Ice Web]

Chicken has left the house again! Big drop today. Zero user engagment. As i see in the logs it started yesterday at sharp 8pm.

[Micha]

Traffic remains low and rankings continue to improve, which is a strange contrast. According to Semrush, SERP volatility has increased again today. So Google is still playing its games. However, there is no discernible pattern.

[Martin Ice Web]

@micha, we lost 50% over night. Complete rubbish traffic.

[Micha]

@Martin Yes, 99 percent of Google traffic is currently nonsense. Google has once again chosen the perfect moment for this. Summer vacation and updates are too much for any small business.

[Martin Ice Web]

wow, worst friday ever so far. Must be a new update or the core in´t over yet.

[Whitey]

The tools are continuing to show volatility. I wonder what’s going on.
[seroundtable.com...]

[Micha]

I agree, I've never experienced a day like this before. Google is silent, even though there's definitely an update in progress.