SEARCHENGINES
Google March 2023 Broad Core Update Tremors Continue

As you know, Google has started to roll out the Google March 2023 Broad Core update on March 15th, it should probably continue to roll out through the first half of next week and complete. But like most Google updates, we see tremors and fluctuations during (and sometimes after) the roll out.
In the past 24-hours, I’ve been noticing larger tremors and fluctuations with this update. It may signal that the update is almost done rolling out or that there is a big more to go. There are over 400 comments on the original story with SEOs following these fluctuations closely, as well as chatter on WebmasterWorld. I will quote some of it below but let me first start with the tracking tools.
Tracking Tools On March 2023 Core Update – Updated For March 24th
As a reminder, this update started on March 15th, but here is what the tracking tools showed over the roll out. You can see a big spike the day or so after it was announced and then it started to calm. Then the past 24 hours or so, the spike and volatility started to kick up a notch again. Here are what the tools are showing:
I suspect some of the ones that are showing lower volatility will update today with higher volatility…
Renewed SEO Chatter On March 2023 Core Update
Here is some new chatter from the over 400 comments on the original story here and WebmasterWorld.
My total traffic in the past 48 hours is only 3 (Three). I suspect if analytics is broken. How about yours?
Back to normal here, the second shuffle round didnt start here yet.
Look into your own real server logs. No webbug shows better numbers.
I think so second wave is under the way. In UAE I can see the websites with .nz, .ca, co.uk, .com, .au ranking on 1st and 2nd page.
today traffic is lowest of all these years and same time the Bard Launch for public in US and UK!
Just coming up to 19 hours of my Goggleday and US traffic is 50% of its usual level.
Nearly all non-US companies in my widget sector have been pushed down to a minimum 30+ for the top selling widgets but I wonder what the actual organic traffic levels are since there are so many ads and images it’s nearly impossible to find them.
This new core update has been quite a roller coaster for me – I initially went up around 35% week over week, then went down, and then back up again. Overall, I’m back to my early Jan rankings/traffic levels, so no biggies.
Our 21-year-old editorial travel information site had a nice uptick about a day before the March Core Update was announced. In the days immediately after the update began rolling out, we had a moderate but sharp decline in traffic, seemingly across the board.
Traffic dropped maybe 10 to 15 percent, depending on the day, with average positions in Google Search Console dropping from the 17-18 range to 26 one day and 19 or so overall.Things have perked up a bit in the last couple of days, but we’re still below the levels of the same dates last year.
Usually I don’t see this much volatility during major Google updates, and in most cases we’re barely affected by the updates at all. I’m guessing that our site won’t see a lot more change from this current update, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong (preferably in a good way!).
I was doing well as well, until today. Anyway Core update not yet done. I’m receive almost no traffic from the US/Canada too.
My site is ranking higher and higher, with a big increase in top 3/10 ranking pages in the last two days, but traffic to my home page and some of my landing pages is in the dog house. my top landing page that was doing well, is down 80% this morning. I checked and there are two ads at top of page, then local search results, then I dropped from 1st to 2nd, but my site has the wide carousel of images underneath. I would call that good placement…but an 80% drop.
Traffic overall has been higher since this core update, but USA and Canada are definitely not sending more traffic. There are zero new inquiries for the last week or more…unusual for this time of year.
Anyway, we are not done yet – and I hope you are all managing during this update.
We will keep you posted on any future changes – as always.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2023

Hanukkah (aka Chanukah) starts this coming Thursday night, December 7th. Google has added its Hanukkah decorations to the Google Search results interface to celebrate. Google does this every year and I expect to see the same rollout in the coming weeks for Christmas and Kawanzaa but for now, since Chanukah is in the coming days, we have the Hanukkah decorations live at Google Search.
Here is a screenshot of the Chanukah decorations as they look like on the mobile search results.
You can see it yourself by searching on Google for [chanukah], [hanukkah], but not yet [חֲנוּכָּה] or other spelling variations yet but it should soon. It looks better on mobile than it does on desktop results.
To see the past, the 2023 decorations, 2021 decorations, 2020 Chanukah decorations, 2019 Google holiday decorations, the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and so on.
Happy Chanukah, everyone!
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Pay Accepted Icons In Google Search Results

Google seems to be testing a Google Pay Accepted label or icon in the Google search results. This label has the super G logo followed by the words “Pay accepted” words next to search result snippets that support Google Pay and notate such in their structured data.
This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani who shared some screenshots of this on X – here is one:
Here are some more screenshots:
Here is test and without test window for same query. pic.twitter.com/n9cYWBOsro
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) October 20, 2023
Brodie Clark also posted some screenshots after on X:
In continuation from the test from October, Google is now testing out a new Google Pay label associated with organic results. Last month, Google was testing Pay Accepted text, with this month changing it to Pay encrypted checkout. More details: https://t.co/MvFNoPmMDR pic.twitter.com/WDVVc4RbTO
— SERPs Up 🌊 (@SERPalerts) November 30, 2023
I tried to replicate this but I came up short.
This is not the first time Google had similar icons like this in its search results.
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived

Typically, Google Discover shows content that is less than a day old, but it can show content that is weeks, months, or even years old. However, typically, Google will show more recent content in the Discover feed. Well, that may have changed with the new Google follow feature.
Glenn Gabe, who is a very active Google Discover user, noticed that since the Follow feature rolled out, he has been seeing content that is weeks and months old way more often than before the follow feature rolled out. Glenn wrote on X that “this could also be playing a role. i.e. Google isn’t providing as much recent content, but instead, focusing on providing targeted content based on the topics you are following.”
It makes sense that if you follow a specific topic and if Google Discover only shows the most authoritative types of content, it might be hard for Google to find new content on that topic. So it does make sense that Google may show older content more often for that specific topic you follow.
Here are screenshots Glenn shared:
Have you noticed this in your Discover feed?
Forum discussion at X.
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