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SEM & SEO
Volatility For The March 2022 Google Product Reviews Update
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Apr
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Earlier this week I reported that we were not seeing huge changes yet for the March 2022 Google Products Reviews update. Well, it seems like some of the tools and a number of SEOs are now noticing larger changes specific to sites that would match the product reviews categories.
I am seeing some more chatter and some SEOs, like Glenn Gabe and also Lily Ray, are posting screenshots of sites they track in the sector seeing larger changes. Also, the tracking tools, some of them, are starting to show a larger upswing in volatility.
Charts Of Specific Sites
Here are some charts from Glenn Gabe, Lily Ray and Marie Haynes of specific sites they track in the product reviews sector showing changes – likely from the product reviews update:
I mentioned yesterday the March 2022 Product Reviews Update was mild so far. Well, I’m seeing more movement now (with some seeing initial movement this week). Still not like the previous two PRUs volatility-wise (yet), but more movement for sure. Just a heads up. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/fBhBlNi1me
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 30, 2022
And here is more movement I’m seeing across sites with reviews content. Some sites are surging after dropping with previous Product Reviews Updates, or vice versa. And like I saw with the December PRU, there are dueling machine learning systems at play (core updates vs. PRU). pic.twitter.com/p3t2IfP3LB
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 31, 2022
And remember, just because a site surge doesn’t mean it’s back to where it once was. Here’s an example of a nice surge, but it’s only a partial recovery. The drop from the December Product Reviews Update was huge… We’ll see where it ends up once the March PRU is done. pic.twitter.com/kLPepIxnlJ
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 31, 2022
More examples of Product Review sites starting to make a comeback, after being hit by the December PRU.
I actually think most of these sites do go above and beyond to meet Google’s product review content quality guidelines, so I think the new update is “working” pic.twitter.com/Qa9s93Sc7L
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) March 30, 2022
What’s interesting is that with the December Product Review update, many transactional, head-term rankings shifted into favor of major ecommerce retailers
That trend seems to be reverting back to top rankings for many Product Review sites with this recent update pic.twitter.com/vV2mqAkVHY
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) March 29, 2022
Another affiliate site.
They are also seeing increases for searches containing “best”.
Content speaks of personal expertise…”We tested these and analyzed them for comfort, durability, strength, etc.” pic.twitter.com/ACZPpmoi3I
— dr Marie Haynes🐧 (@Marie_Haynes) March 29, 2022
The TrackingTools
Like I said above, some of the tracking tools are starting to show some more widespread changes in the Google search results. I suspect many of the tools that have not shown the swings yet, will do so soon.
Here are some screenshots from the tools showing the volatility and I’ll update this story throughout the day as the other tools update.
Mozcast:
Google weather for Wed 3/30 – 99 deg. F and Stormy (https://t.co/cOmqWYr560)
— MozCast (@mozcast) March 31, 2022
The last two should update later today with new data – I’ll be updating them as I see them change.
SEO chatter
So the ongoing WebmasterWorld has had some chatter since the update, he is the chatter specific to the product reviews update:
Very big drop (-40% to 50%) since 2 weeks now. Serps itself doesn´t seem to have changed so it could be some super AI that is going wild.Wow today for some of my searches im seeing position 1-6 all YouTube, I had to triple check i wasn’t in the video section ! Website traffic continues to decline and according to my YouTube analytics traffic from google to my channel has improved by 46% since this time last year! I am seeing continuing increases in top 3 ranking, but English language traffic is weak. USA is consistently weak every day for about 10 days now, UK also lower most days but not as much. Today Canada is also off by 37%. The theory about the war in Ukraine having an impact might be true, but if so why not lower traffic from continental Europe? Also, why the sudden shift and decline…if it were news related it would be more gradual, not overnight.
The sudden declines in traffic following the same patterns indicates to me that it’s all manipulation on the part of Google. They are once again experimenting with page layout and other ways to ensure that website don’t get any traffic and they keep it all. I see some sites that were major competitors reduced to running ads for everything now…which is exactly what Google wants of course. They won’t make any profit at $5 per click with all the fraudulent clicks too. I tried it last year…Google’s traffic from adwords is pure crap.
According to SEMrush I had a very large boost in visibility today, now passing or on part with my top competitor. Yet my home page traffic is down 71% and my USA traffic is down 56% so far this morning. Ranking really is not correlating with traffic. I wish I had the time and skills to analyze why, but I can’t afford to hand Google more of my time, I’m busy looking for ways to diversify away from search. I have to say, social isn’t much better. If you aren’t paying FB or Instagram you will get nothing from those platforms either.Something happened on Saturday 26th March for me:
Global site 1-25 March 100% The last 4 days 83.6% and today looking lower however inquiries stil good.
UK site 1-25 March 112% The last 4 days 81% and, as above, today looking lower.
Today it’s even lower and still dropping…home page -61%, USA -40%, UK -27%. Many of my landing pages are down exactly 17% at the same time, others down 45%, and the most highly trafficked -60%+. This has been getting worse for ~10 days now and business has vanished completely.
So it seems like this update may be finding its legs? What are you all noticing?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
