SEARCHENGINES
July 2022 Google Product Reviews Update Kicking In Friday Afternoon

On July 27th Google said it began to roll out the July 2022 Google Product Reviews update. But we didn’t see it impact the Google search results until a couple of days later on Friday afternoon, July 29th.
What is interesting is that most of the tracking tools are still not really picking up on the Google Product Reviews update. But we did start to see chatter where SEOs are drilling into specific sites and noticing big ranking changes.
So while it took a couple of days to start to kick in, it is now being noticed by the SEO industry.
SEO Chatter
Currently, there is not a lot of chatter in the forums but we are seeing chatter on Twitter from over the weekend. The chatter that is out there, shows the changes are indeed significant, but currently there is just not a lot of chatter.
One of the first to post about the fluctuations being noticed that I found was Vlad Rappoport who is on PST time, he posted on Twitter and said “Beginning to see noticeable volatility as of this morning, probably due to Google’s PRU. Also seeing some review sites lose their rich snippet stars they previously earned back with the most recent core update or earlier.”
Yes, you can lose rich results after a core update or product reviews update.
Glenn Gabe has been posting what he has been seeing throughout the weekend:
Here are some screenshots of visibility changes *just starting* to show for sites impacted. I’m sure the tools will show much more visibility swings starting tomorrow. Again, GSC and GA show much more of the impact. pic.twitter.com/BnbU1jBEOh
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) July 30, 2022
And here are some exs of surges based on the July PRU. The last screenshot is a super-interesting one that I’m digging into heavily. It’s a massive drop, but I’m not sure that’s correct… Wouldn’t shock me to see a change there as the update continues to roll out (via a tremor). pic.twitter.com/4isWpVZQS3
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) July 31, 2022
The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread and Black Hat World have a bit of chatter but not much yet:
Traffic is soaring again today…highly unusual for a Friday. It coincides with a recovery of most of the top3 terms lost last week. A closer look shows relative weakness in USA and UK traffic since July 21st. But Canada and Australia seem to be much stronger than I have seen in months…Germany also.
It’s only during these surges that I get any inquiries at all. Getting traffic hammered for the entire week and then surging for a day or two simply doesn’t cut it. Sales are drastically down compared to 2021. That is also the mild recession at play, but it’s mostly Google. You can adjust pricing downward during a recession…but if you have no traffic and no inquiries then it’s just impossible.
Following my post above, all rankings gone this morning. Still nothing in search console, still looking normal as site:xxxxxx but absolutely nothing in the SERPS
I noticed a huge drop in my traffic, around 80 -90% of my traffic was gone. Maybe it’s because of the update? I thought that I was penalized or something.
I also lost ~50% of my traffic in the last few days, hopefully it will recover after the update gets completed.
Google Tracking Tools
The tools are not showing huge changes, despite SEOs starting to notice the changes this past Friday. This is what the Google tracking tools are showing this morning and throughout the weekend:
So are any of you seeing anything big?
Forum discussion at Twitter & WebmasterWorld & Black Hat World.
Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Testing New Video Layout In Search

Google may be testing a new layout for videos it displays in the Google Search results. Google is testing a new format for how the videos show in the Google Search results.
This new format shows a larger video in the listings, as opposed to a smaller thumbnail image with more details. This was spotted by Khushal Bherwani on Twitter who shared the new and old screenshots.
New video format:
Old video format:
Google has been testing and displaying larger video thumbnails for some time, as an FYI.
I am not sure which one I like more, I would have to pick I guess the smaller thumbnail?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Microsoft Bing Event Today – Expecting ChatGPT Search Integration

I am currently in Seattle and headed to the Microsoft Campus in Redmond for an in-person press event. I decided to go, assuming it would be related to ChatGPT and Bing but Microsoft would not tell me what it was about, nor would Microsoft let us say we are going to the event. Then yesterday at 2pm, when the news broke about Google Bard (story will be here), Microsoft said we can talk about the event.
So the news is out there that there is a event, see Techmeme. The email Microsoft sent says, “Microsoft has some exciting news coming in February and we’d like to invite you to an in-person experience at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond.”
“We can’t share a lot more at this stage, but you won’t want to miss it. This invitation is for you only, but if you’re unable to attend please let us know and we’ll see if we can consider another of your teammates,” Microsoft added.
Then after the Google news came out, Microsoft sent an email saying, “In light of recent announcements, you may now acknowledge your participation in tomorrow’s briefing in Redmond, leveraging the language in the briefing invitation.”
So yea, this press event seems to be about the Bing ChatGPT solution. I am very much looking forward to seeing what Microsoft Bing has to show here and I’ll be sharing the news here, on Search Engine Land and likely will be tweeting a ton @rustybrick. So make sure to follow me on Twitter to see the latest from Bing on this news.
And we have this photo of Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft with Sam Altman of OpenAI together last night:
hello from redmond! excited for the event tomorrow pic.twitter.com/b7TUr0ti42
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 6, 2023
I am expecting this to look a lot like the Bing ChatGPT interface leaks we covered earlier. Here are those screenshots:
Here is the home page screenshot that widens and enlarges the search box and says “Ask me anything”:
Here is his screenshot of the results, the answers being returned:
And here is the GIF he made of this:
Brain buzzing with all the search news and announcements this week! SEOs cannot sleep. What a time to be alive! The future is bright 🚀
— Fabrice Canel (@facan) February 7, 2023
More to come soon.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search People Cards Visible In US

Back in 2020, Google Search introduced a feature named people cards. It was only available in India but now it seems like it might be expanding, as I can now see it in the United States.
Brian Freiesleben’s card, which he created when it was first announced by spoofing his location to be in India, is now showing up as a people card for searchers in the United States. Personally, I was able to bring it up on my mobile device in New York.
Here is a screenshot he shared of this on Twitter:
He said, “I found my name now triggers a ‘people card’. This was introduced in Google India back in 2020. I spoofed my location back then to create the card and now (finally) it’s appearing.”
Glenn Gabe was able to replicate it as well:
Thanks!
Man, I have tried to kill that flickr page so many times…it pops back like a weed every time. This is new motivation to try to unlock that account and delete it haha.
— Brian Freiesleben (@type_SEO) February 3, 2023
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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