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Google Search Console Anonymizes Tons Of Queries

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A couple of weeks ago, Patrick Stock of Ahrefs released a bombshell report showing that on average about 50% of queries in Search Console are hidden, i.e. classified as anonymized. I reached out to Google, giving them a chance to respond to this, and the result led to Google updating its help document on anonymized queries and the export/API capabilities.

As an FYI, I covered this in some detail at Search Engine Land yesterday but this deserves a mention here and more attention from the SEO industry.

In short, Google updated this help document from saying “Very rare queries (called anonymized queries) are not shown in these results to protect the privacy of the user making the query” to saying “Some queries (called anonymized queries) are not shown in these results to protect the privacy of the user making the query.”

Google cannot call 50%, and in some cases over 80% of queries being hidden for some sites, “very rare,” as I pointed out to them. So Google updated the help document to be more reflective of what is true. But truth is, it should not say “some,” it is way more than “some.”

Google also added a section about “other limits on queries” that says “due to internal limitations, Search Console stores top data rows and not all data rows. As a result, not all queries beyond anonymized queries will be shown. Instead, the focus is on showing you the most important ones for your entire property.”

These changes went live on Friday, again, I knew about this then but I held the story for Monday so it is more visible and SEOs are more aware of this.

The Ahrefs study looked at 146,741 websites and about nine billion total clicks and it compared the total clicks by URL compared to the clicks by query reported in Google Search Console. It found that Google hid 46.08% of all query data, or as Google calls it, classified them as anonymized queries.

This site shows the total clicks at 1,016,076 but is only showing query data for 547,382, which is 46.13%. That is a ton, more than “very rare” and more than “some.” Here is the scatter plot from the Ahrefs study that shows how often this comes up for those 150,000 or so sites:

click for full size

You can see how this works on your own site because Patrick Stox made a Data Studio report that will show you. Here is the report, and here is what you do to replicate this:

  • In the top right, click the three dots and then click “Make a copy.”
  • In the dropdown for “New Data Source,” select the GSC data source for the site you’re interested in.
  • If the site isn’t available, select “Create data source.” Search for “Search Console” and click it.
  • Click the GSC property you want to use > click “Site Impression” > click “Web.” Then in the upper-right corner, click “Connect.”
  • In the upper-right corner, click “Add To Report.”
  • Click “Copy Report.”

These help doc changes are not a change in any new behavior from the reports, it is just Google admitting it is more than just “very rare.” John Mueller of Google confirmed that on Twitter:

Brodie Clark has a nice look at the before/after of the help doc:

Patrick Stox saw it coming:

And Glenn Gabe on how big this can be for some sites:

This is data in 2022 and I doubt it will get better but you need to be aware of this and check the Data Studio report to see how big of an issue it is for your sites.

Forum discussion at Twitter.



Source: www.seroundtable.com

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Google Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2023

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Google Hanukkah 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.

Google Hanukkah Decorations 2023

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.

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Google Pay Accepted Icons In Google Search Results

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Woman Checking Out Store Google Logo

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:

G Pay Accepted Google Search

Here are some more screenshots:

Brodie Clark also posted some screenshots after on X:

Google Pay Accepted Google Search

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.



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Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived

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Dog Astronut Google Logo

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:

Google Discover Old Stories Follow

Google Discover Old Stories Follow2

Have you noticed this in your Discover feed?

Forum discussion at X.



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