SEARCHENGINES
Large Google Search Ranking Volatility; Is It The Tail End Of The Product Reviews Update?

As of yesterday afternoon and certainly today, I am seeing signs of some really large Google search ranking volatility and ranking changes. The question is, are these fluctuations from the tail-end of the March 2022 product reviews update or is this some sort of new update?
I am seeing significant and some off the charts volatility and fluctuations being reported by the tracking tools. Some are literally as high as they can go. I am also seeing a spike in chatter from within the SEO communities and forums.
Google Product Reviews Update Related?
As a reminder, the March 2022 product reviews update kicked off on March 23rd, it was quiet for some time, we saw small tremors that day but it really spiked on March 31st. Then it went quiet again and I thought it was pretty much done. I even posted my big Google update data review on Search Engine Land. Because by two weeks out, normally with these updates, we don’t see too much change this late in the game.
So is this related to the product reviews update? Possibly. I did ask Alan Kent from Google for an update last night, but he did not reply. Instead, Lily Ray published a chart of her own, showing for one site she is tracking, that it looks like we are still seeing big changes, as recent as yesterday:
doesn’t seem like it 😛 pic.twitter.com/uGogh6Z6p0
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) April 5, 2022
I asked Glenn Gabe to share some charts this morning as well and yea, similar:
Seeing late volatility with some sites impacted by the March 2022 Product Reviews Update. Most of that movement is in the same direction (surges continuing or drops dropping more). Maybe the tail end of the PRU… Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/9PmpUQB0co
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) April 6, 2022
SEO Chatter
So what kind of chatter am I seeing within the SEO community. I can share the public WebmasterWorld forums, where the chatter normally precedes the tracking tools and here is some of that chatter:
Traffic improved over the weekend, but UK traffic was way off on Sunday. Today traffic started normally but simply fell off a cliff at 11am sharp and has been very low all day. My home page is -54% today. USA -14%, Canada – 49%, Australia -63%. Referral traffic and social media traffic has been down for almost two weeks as well.
Google has started bloating my websites. The traffic spiked very high for the last few days, but I am not celebrating because I have seen it in 2020. The same pattern. High rise of traffic followed by complete crash about a month later for at least a year. And it also happened in April 2020. Anyone seeing something similar.
Anyone else getting weird numbers in GA realtime today? (Metric total looks right, but ‘right now’ is lower than it should be)
Same here, the realtime stats of active users is def not working correctly at the moment.
Started this morning around 07:00 AM (CEST).
So the chatter seems to just be kicking off now, but it is hard to know when Google Analytics may have had some delays?
Tracking Tools
If you look at the tracking tools, some are literally off the charts. Some are showing massive spikes in volatility and Google ranking fluctuations. Here are screenshots and I may update some of these throughout the day, as some tend to update later in the day.
So what do you all think? It seems to me like it might be the tail-end of this Google product reviews update based on Google not yet telling us this update is complete, based on Lily Ray’s chart and based on all the recent volatility. But you tell me, look at your analytics and tools and let me know in the comments.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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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