March 2026 Google Search Observations

[Micha]

Weird month: News site back in Discover, so numbers are good, revenue is okay, even though RPM is still pretty low. Shop revenue up a whopping 44% compared to February last year.

Overall: The ranking is jumping back and forth, which is really wild. But for the first time in a long time, I can finally be satisfied again.

[edited by: not2easy at 11:24 am (utc) on Mar 1, 2026]
[edit reason] New month, new thread [/edit]

[christianz]

The so called "Discover update" (I don't know why they call it that since it affected all sites, even those completely unrelated to Discover) was one of the worst in history and built upon already deeply awful ideas on how to rank websites that Google has been implementing for the past year.

[not2easy]

It is a confusing name. The news about the Discover Core Update was posted here: [webmasterworld.com...]

[ichthyous]

Doesn't seem like it's over to me...searches down 23% yesterday and 22% today so far. That is after the supposed end of the update. My top ranking terms dropped like a stone again yesterday and today for desktop searches. Mobile rankings are increasing.

[RubicCubed]

Mobile rankings are increasing.

For the most part, the mobile layout is AI Overviews at the top and People Also Ask underneath it which takes up the full screen on a mobile phone. Under PAA is a block of Youtube videos, but sometimes they're swapped with the block of Youtube videos above the PAA box. G's layout is designed to hoard users for themselves by wiping out organic traffic, and that's why even ranking #1 delivers no mobile traffic for us. I just don't see being ranked the absolute best, and getting no traffic from it, as sustainable for us. Google is killing the web fast.

Just by the big drop in traffic, and the poor quality of what traffic remains, it looks like Google used that Discover update to slip in something else that's proving to be a real anti-publisher doozy.

[christianz]

Doesn't seem like it's over to me...searches down 23% yesterday and 22% today so far.

Yes, its going at full strength, no slowdown at all.

it looks like Google used that Discover update to slip in something else that's proving to be a real anti-publisher doozy.

Yes, "Discover update" was just random distraction. It has nothing to do with Discover specifically. It is also not just traffic stealing layouts that are causing harm, it is also failed ideas on how to rank websites and filter out spam. Ideas that failed already for years and caused the "Reddit" hysteria where it suddenly dawned on them that people can't find genuine content and have to attach "reddit" to searches. We are back to square one, plus the traffic theft layouts. In combination it makes it worse than ever.

[markRg]

Yes, the update has not been completed yet. Traffic on some websites is decreasing, while on others it's increasing.

[RedBar]

As could be expected our ME offices are extremely quiet at the moment however we are aware that certain port infrastructure has been damaged but to what extent I do not know.

[ichthyous]

I used ChatGPT to write a blog post today and it included blocks of three images per article section...so numerous blocks of images included in the text. One of my own site images was included in most of the blocks of text. Not one was credited to my site nor was my name mentioned, nor was there any link. Just putting it out there...they are lifting images from websites, using it for their own purposes without even crediting the site like Google does.

[RedBar]

@ichthyous

Yep, I've seen this for a while now, in fact I was so pi$$ed off yesterday I almost closed all my widget sites since G is no longer a driver of business enquiries for me, actually not just G, the entire SE sector.

[morpheus83]

A core update usually follows some mini google earthquakes. But with such a widespread conflict going on I am assuming Google would be fine tuning the algorithm to curtail misinformation.

[Micha]

The update, or whatever Google is doing, is causing quite a stir again today. Search results in Germany are partly in German and partly in English, a lot of nonsense is popping up prominently again, and Google's traffic has plummeted.

I hope this stops soon...

[morpheus83]

@Micha, its exactly same as Feb. Traffic plummetted and a few our stories published before the 1st of march are showing up in discover with dwindling numbers. Depressing to say the least.

[ichthyous]

This update is definitely not over. I am seeing a repeat of the February update...a huge sudden drop in the humber of top ranking terms for desktop, independent of the mobile terms. The totals are fluctuation wildly from week to week now. I don't worry about these big drops because they will all return just as suddenly. Traffic is weak in general, but there is a lot of international news now. The orange chaos agent strikes again...

[Micha]

@morpheus83 It's the same with my news site: old articles attract some Discover traffic, but new ones don't appear. The shop is also at a standstill. It's really annoying right now

[Martin Ice Web]

Down -50%
Sales: -95%
User engagement: Zero
Serps match query: 20%

Amazon sales: +250% again

Differenz between google and amazon?

amazon does anything for their customers while google does everything to trick their users.

[Micha]

New day, new slump. We were hoping things had picked up, but no, after yesterday's sharp decline, it's continuing. The shop is effectively at a standstill, but it's nice that Google is taking 380 percent of the daily budget for AdSense. The news site is in free fall.

As for the search results, if Google intends to make the search completely useless, then they're on the right track. Two days ago, they were at least usable, but now... oh, and the bots are back too...

[ichthyous]

Total collapse in traffic today...up to 80% drop in some categories. My USA traffic is -34% at 2pm. International traffic also way down. I understand why the Middle East traffic is down, but why USA? More Google pandemonium I think

[saladtosser]

With operation Epstein Fury going on right now in Iran, on top of having traffic creamed off quarter by quarter from the ecosystem by Google, we can now look forward to another round of Ukraine war type inflation and price hikes from website hosting to our food and everything in-between making the cost of doing business/Living significantly higher yet again. And that's ignoring consumer and advertiser confidence falling off a cliff as price hikes are factored in.

SERPS seem to be A/B/C testing for weeks now between 3/4 datasets every few hours, I would guess they are testing which version produces maximum profit before settling on said SERP dataset for a few months before throwing in another challenge for webmasters around the beginning of Googles following financial quarter.

[RubicCubed]

amazon does anything for their customers while google does everything to trick their users.

Sad but true.

Attempting to connect with potential customers on Google has become a waste of time with efforts better spent elsewhere. I'm sure shoppers who use Google find the experience grueling with their time better spent going to Amazon or another marketplace.

There's only so much monopoly juice Google can squeeze the market with until it runs dry and people go somewhere else. I hope we reach that tipping point soon if we're not already there.

[ichthyous]

Attempting to connect with potential customers on Google has become a waste of time with efforts better spent elsewhere. I'm sure shoppers who use Google find the experience grueling with their time better spent going to Amazon or another marketplace.

Wish all of us had this option. Google search is still the main source of leads for my business by a long shot. Amazon isn't even a possibility due to the high end products I sell, and I have a no returns policy since they are custom produced. Partnering with 3rd party sites in the niche over the years was costly and produced poor results, I canceled all of those accounts and saved the money. Of the ones that I used...two are defunct and taken down, and the most expensive one was bought by a private equity firm which had also just bought it's main competitor and is merging the two. That means that they were both in weak enough shape that they could be easily picked off. I know for a fact that these platforms are suffering from greatly reduced traffic from Google search, which was a main source of traffic to their articles.

I don't mean to sound morbid, but it's a bit of a death spiral online now, and the AI platforms are going to continue to devour the share of traffic as more people find them easier to use. As I mentioned earlier this week, I used ChatGPT to write a blog post earlier this week. It pulled images from numerous sites to illustrate the subject matter, including my own copyrighted images from my site. No credit, no link, no mention of the author. At least Google still links out, even if the site is overwhelmingly cluttered now.

[ryanfalner]

Based on the recent observations made in March 2026, Google Search appears to be even more focused on content quality, user experience, and topical authority. Web pages that provide useful information in well-structured content and directly address the queries of the users are achieving better rankings in the search engine.

Another notable observation is the significance of EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust). Web pages with clear expertise, authorship, and trustworthy sources are achieving better rankings in the search engine.

In addition, Google is observed to be relying more on AI-based search features, which implies that content that is clear, factual, and easy to read has more chances of being included in the AI-based search engine results.

In conclusion, the key takeaways for 2026 are:
Less focus on tricks, more focus on useful content, better site structure, and genuine authority in the niche.

[RedBar]

@ryanfalner

Biting tongue ... Without being rude,for which G dept do you worK?

[saladtosser]

@RedBar, wait, have you not heard of Ryan Falner? He's a very well known "SEO Analyst" with 12 followers on Insta. When he shares his knowledge from ChatGBT, we would do well to yolk his expertise!

[edited by: saladtosser at 12:39 pm (utc) on Mar 6, 2026]

[Micha]

@saladoser, thank you, I'm laughing to myself right now. But let's be fair: it's nice to read the usual tips that you get everywhere again.

[shadowlight]

SERPS and ranking fluctuate wildly on a daily basis, its like they cant make their mind up. Obfuscation?

"Web pages that provide useful information in well-structured content and directly address the queries of the users are achieving better rankings in the search engine."

Not true in my experience, if I search for "buy red widgets" there are results on page one that explain what red widgets are or how to use them or what benefits you get by using them that you cannot buy from. These results are only vaguely related to the query and do not match the intent. I know why they do this, it is obvious. If I wanted the other results I would search for them.

[ichthyous]

Ryan appears to have time-warped in to the conversation. What year are you joining us from Ryan? My guess is circa 2016...

[morpheus83]

Well some sites have benefited a lot from the Feb update. Check similarweb to get an understanding.

[christianz]

"Web pages that provide useful information in well-structured content and directly address the queries of the users are achieving better rankings in the search engine."

That is pretty accurate description of exactly the opposite of what this "update" is doing, and it is still ongoing.

[Martin Ice Web]

Worst ever beginning of a week.
There was another big update this weekend - lost about 60% of traffic.