SEARCHENGINES

More Google March 2024 Core Update Ranking Volatility

Published

5 months ago

April 10, 2024

As the Google March 2024 core update hits the 36th day of its rollout, we are seeing more ranking fluctuations and volatility being reported both by the Google tracking tools and within the SEO community through a spike in chatter. Maybe this is the last wave of the update before it is done?

This is a weird update with lots of ranking systems within the overall Google core ranking system is being updated. So we are/were expecting numerous big ranking volatility throughout the rollout. We were also expecting the update to take 3-4 weeks to roll out but now we are into week 5!

SEO Chatter

That being said, here is some of the chatter around the new volatility spotted over the past 24-hours or so from WebmasterWorld, social media and the comments on this site:

The update is still in progress. There are still small and medium-sized sites left to disappear or replace with expert forums

Similar here. It seems that tracking tools out there are still seeing instability going on though, so….. :

german serps are now flooded with Kleinanzeigen ( former ebay Kleinanzeigen), Aliexpress, marketplaces from big companies, shops i would never ever buy from.

Very high volatility on all my sites. Local and global websites, in several languages. End of the march core update?

Looks like USA and UK traffic are clamped down hard again this morning…-54% and -30% at 9:30am. Traffic to my home page is -76%! Let’s see if it suddenly shoots upward toward the latter part of the day as has been the trend. These ‘updates’ are killing off my business for weeks at a time…

Yesterday,Tuesday 9th April, my global site had three very unusual occurences. It is very rare that it has a one hour period of zero traffic whatsoever, yes it has occurred in the past especially on Xmas Day however yesterday three times in 24 hours it had zero traffic at 00.00 – 01.00, 11.00 – 12.00 and 22.00 – 23.00.

Furthermore its traffic looked very similar to the mess it was a few months ago i.e. mostly single page views. USA / Canada traffic was way down and looked very spammy whereas most of the other traffic looked normal.

So far today it’s looking messy as well plus US trafic is almost non-existant, hmmm…In-depth logs here I come.

we are seeing this lack of traffic too. But not this long time periods. More 10 to 15 min.
And we see a traffic pattern that has not been seen for some month now: a short rush on a single item. Like 10 to 15 visitors in one second. In most cases it is safari browsers

I’m noticing the same too. Mass visits on a single post for a few weeks now. However, the traffic is very unstable even today, one hour is good or higher than last week, while the next hour the traffic is much lower than the previous week. The AI Disaster Continues

Ditto here. The roll on continues.

I see the same thing here. In addition, the pattern is currently emerging that traffic generally drops from 2 p.m. and suddenly rises very sharply from 6 p.m. onwards.

What is unfortunately also noticeable is that the number of posts in Discover that are pure advertising is increasing significantly. Especially about strange medical products

Google is definitely cooking something new. It’s not your regular shuffling. They haven’t rolled it out yet as I can see that version of the SERPs maybe once every 15 times I search but in the past, when that happened, that version became the real thing after a few days. Hard to explain it but I am bracing for another hit

this is for my other site that wasn’t hit. I checked it and for the main keywords, it was on the bottom of 2nd page. Again, if I check the sites normally on Chrome or Firefox that is the latest version, I see no changes. But a very old Firefox shows the change every few times I search, like something that is propagating but not rolled out completely yet.

.@rustybrick I’m guessing the March Core Update is still going? Seeing some pretty big fluctuations over the last 24-hours or so.

— Taylor Kurtz (@RealTaylorKurtz) April 10, 2024

Google Tracking Tools

The Google tracking tools show some levels of volatility over the past day or so but it does not seem as extreme as the level of chatter within the SEO industry. Here is what the tools are showing now:

SimilarWeb:

Semrush:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Google Ranking Volatility, Apple Intelligence, Navboost, Ads, Bing & Local

Published

12 hours ago

September 15, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Google Ranking Volatility, Apple Intelligence, Navboost, Ads, Bing & Local

For the original iTunes version, click here.

Well over a week after the Google August 2024 core update finished, we still have a ton of volatility. Apple Visual Intelligence was demoed at the Apple event this week, it is neat. I covered a bunch of statements on Navboost over the years from Googlers and others. Google replaced the cache link with a link to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Google added a spam warning to the Indexing API documentation. A new report shows that about half of the links in the AI Overviews are from the top traditional search results. Google is showing AI Overviews for commercial shopping queries again. Google is testing a new interface for AI Overviews. Google said Exif data is not used for rankings. Google Search now supports a new ineligible region property. Bing may use ProductGroup markup in the future. Bing also treats 308 redirects like 301 redirects. Google Ads is sunsetting eCPC in March 2025. Google Ads is testing a new ad label design. Google Ads introduced confidential matching for privacy reasons. Google is emailing LSA advertisers about verification requirements. There has been an increase in complaints from advertisers about fraud in the Google Ads Search Partner Network. Google Business Profiles emails about broken appointment links. Google Maps shows business photos in reviews. Bing is testing Facebook and Yelp icons in the reviews in the local pack. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Sponsored by Similarweb, the all-in-one- strategic SEO software. Get clarity of the SEO landscape through competitor analysis, keyword research, rank tracking, SERP insights and more. With industry-leading traffic and keyword data, based on real user journeys, Similarweb gives SEO professionals the whole picture so they can strategize smartly and drive sustainable business growth.

Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast player to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:

Search Topics of Discussion:

Please do subscribe on YouTube or subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don’t forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

Source link

SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 13, 2024

Published

2 days ago

September 14, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google Ads is launching confidential matching, a new privacy-centric ad feature. Google is testing a new AI Overview interface. Advertisers are complaining about fraud on the Search partner network. Google is testing for reference boxes in search. Google is testing search results without breadcrumbs. Plus, I posted my weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Ranking Volatility, Apple Intelligence, Navboost, Ads, Bing & Local

Well over a week after the Google August 2024 core update finished, we still have a ton of volatility. Apple Visual Intelligence was demoed at the Apple event this week…

Google Ads Introduces Confidential Matching

Google Ads announced what it calls “confidential matching.” Confidential matching is a “way to securely connect your first-party data for our measurement and audience solutions,” Google said. And it will be used on Google Ads in numerous areas.

Google Tests AI Overview With Small “More” Link

Google is testing removing the large “show more” button and replacing it with a small “more” link at the bottom of the AI Overview snippet. Also, the AI Overview header and Gemini logo at the top left is being removed, or at least being tested being removed.

Complaints On Google Ads Search Partners Network Fraud

I am seeing a spike in complaints from the PPC community around there being an increase in fraudulent traffic from the Google Ads Search Partner network. Many have seen an unusual spike in fraud from that network in the past week, say some advertisers.

Google Testing For Reference Search Box

Google is testing a new search box named “for reference” which is placed under a set of search results and contains more news articles related to the query. This seems similar to some other features Google has tested over the years.

Google Tests Search Result Snippets Without Breadcrumbs

Google is testing showing search results snippets without the breadcrumbs in the URL section of the snippet. Google has tested removing URLs and breadcrumbs completely before, but now Google is testing removing just the breadcrumb and leaving the URL.

Hummus Party At Google Dublin

Here is some sort of event where there are a bunch of Googlers eating hummus, and other dips, with pita bread, at the Google office in Dublin, Ireland.

Other Great Search Threads:

Local Pack in Desktop Search Results – Google is now testing showing close up of business location on the map as main image. PS – Quote tweet is also like this one but last image being the map close up and that test was in mo, Gagan Ghotra on X

Every now and then, we get questions about whether “valid HTML” is a ranking factor, or a requirement for Google Search. Jens has done regular analysis of the validity of the top websites’ homepages, and the results are sobering., John Mueller on LinkedIn

here is o1, a series of our most capable and aligned models yet: https://t.co/yzZGNN8HvD o1 is still flawed, still limited, and it still seems more impressive on first use than it does after you spend more time with it., Sam Altman on X

Local businesses that I’ve looked at have been mostly safe from all the core updates in the last year – except this last one. I’m hearing multiple reports on Facebook, Reddit, and our forum of local businesses being hit by the Augu, Joy Hawkins on X

On the one hand, I don’t make the search results, on the other hand, I use both of those sites intensively for programming-related queries, I wouldn’t blindly see one of them as being good and the other as being bad., John Mueller on LinkedIn

Set tROAS recommendation is now also increasing your daily budget if you apply the recommendation! Pay attention, Here all you need, Thomas Eccel on X

These Are The Spam Practices Going On GMB And Google Maps By Lead Gen And Local SEO Agencies in 2024 In India Also where Google takes extra steps to make sure guard Business Profile’s integrity, Ayman Ali on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

Source link

SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 12, 2024

Published

3 days ago

September 13, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

I covered some old statements from former Googlers on Navboost from Hacker News. Google replaced the cache link with links to the Wayback Machine, but they are deep inside. Google says it doesn’t use Exif data for ranking. Google updated its Indexing API docs warning not to abuse the API or else. Google has had this get definitions box for a while.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Ex-Googler Forum Statements On Google Navboost

In my interview with Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, I tried to get more details on Navboost and how it plays a roll in core updates and general rankings. I was pretty much shot down (I am a good loser). That being said, here are some old posts from ex-Googlers (from what I can tell) on the topic of Navboost from the Hacker News forums.

Google Indexing API: Submissions Go Undergo Rigorous Spam Detection

Google has updated its Indexing API documentation to add a few things but the largest update talks about how “all submissions through the Indexing API undergo rigorous spam detection.” Plus, it says that attempts to abuse the Indexing API “may result in access being revoked.”

Google Replaced Cache Link With Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine

After Google has angered tons of SEOs and searchers over removing the cache link from the search result snippets, Google decided several months later to add links to Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. This will give you snapshots in time of what that webpage looked like, but it is not powered by Google.

Google’s Martin Splitt: We Do Not Use Exif Data For Ranking

Over the years Google has been wishy-washy on if they use or do not use Exif (Exchangeable image file format) data for rankings. In 2014, Google’s Matt Cutts said Google can parse the data and reserves the right to use it. But in 2019, Gary Illyes from Google said it was not used for rankings. Now in 2024, Martin Splitt of Google said it is not used for rankings.

Google: Get Definitions & Translations As You Search

Google is now notifying some searchers of a translation feature within the search results. It says, “Get definitions and translations as you search. Select words to get definitions & translations without leaving the page.”
Google Silence Phone Boxes

We saw the Google silence box before, but it was one box. Now here are photos of many of them, also in the Google Paris, France office.