Google the undisputed king of search, has shaken things up once again. Their recent Google algorithm update promises to fundamentally change how we search for information online. While some see it as a user-centric revolution, others fear it might disrupt the ecosystem of the web. Get ready, because the way you search for everything from recipes to rocket science is about to be transformed. It will never be the same.
Google Algorithm Evolution
Google’s major algorithm updates 2 years ago: Google search went through a series of major updates that changed how it works. These updates include powerful new AI features that make searching the internet more effective and efficient than ever before. One example of this impact is how people look for product reviews online. If you search for air purifier reviews on Google, you’re likely trying to find in-depth, reliable information like the kind you would see on Houses Homemade. Understand which products were worth buying and which were just surrounded by marketing hype.
Google Algorithm Update
This type of content is exactly what many people are looking for when they use Google to find product reviews. House Fresh is a great example of an independent publisher that has been successful in producing the kind of original content that Google claims it wants to promote. After House Fresh launched, Google began showing it at the top of search results. This visibility helped the website grow into a thriving business. However, in September 2023, Google made a big update to its search engine algorithm.
This update had a dramatic impact on House Fresh. The search terms that were used to bring people to House Fresh’s website started directing them to big lifestyle magazines instead. These magazines often didn’t test the products they wrote about and were sometimes filled with incorrect information. As a result, House Fresh’s visibility and search results dropped greatly, affecting its traffic and business growth.
Google Algorithm Update
When the second Google algorithm update happened in March, it had an even worse impact on House Fresh. Their daily visitors dropped dramatically from thousands to just hundreds. The website, which had been thriving, was hit very hard by this change. Because of the loss in traffic, House Fresh had to lay off most of its team. The business is now struggling to survive. If the situation doesn’t improve, House Fresh might not be able to continue operating.
Despite this, a spokesperson for Google said that the company only makes changes to its search algorithm after careful testing. They said these changes are intended to be helpful for users. At Google’s annual developer conference, the company’s CEO Sundar Pichai made a major announcement. He revealed that Google search would now provide its AI-generated answers to questions.
This new feature is called AI Overviews. Instead of just showing links to other websites, Google search will now offer direct answers to questions right at the top of the search results. This means that when you search for something, you can get the information you need faster and more easily. This feature has already been made available to users in the United States.
Google Algorithm Changes
The reason for the changes to Google algorithm: The recent changes to Google algorithm happened because Google understands there is a problem with the web. Many websites are built using search engine optimization techniques designed to help articles and web pages get noticed by Google search and rank higher in search results.
But there’s a downside to SEO. Some website owners figured out ways to exploit it. They discovered that they could make more money by creating content specifically to satisfy Google algorithm instead of focusing on what real people need or want to read. For example, they might stuff their pages with popular keywords, even if the content doesn’t make much sense or provide real value. They may also use clickbait titles to attract clicks or use other tricks to manipulate their search ranking to attract traffic. So when you search for valuable information, the results are filled with websites that don’t provide much useful information.
Instead, these sites have lots of ads and links to online stores. These links make money for the website owners every time someone clicks on them and buys something. Because of this, the valuable content you are probably looking for often gets buried. Google made the changes to its Google algorithm in an attempt to address this issue. They want to promote high-quality original content over websites that simply use SEO tricks to rank higher. The goal is to improve the overall quality of search results, making it easier for users to find reliable and valuable information.
Google’s Impact
The updates had a big impact on reducing spam and unoriginal content. Google reports that as a result, there is now 45% less low-quality, unoriginal content appearing in search results. This means that when people use Google to search for information, they are more likely to find helpful and genuine content.
The effect of the updates on major sites: Google updates had some unexpected results. For instance, data from SEMrush, a tool that measures how much traffic comes from Google search, showed that the New York Magazine website lost 32% of its Google traffic in the last 6 months. So what does this mean? Well, it seems that fewer people are finding New York Magazine through Google searches.
But the magazine disagrees. They say that the data doesn’t show the whole picture and doesn’t match up with what they have in their internal analysis. Some other websites also saw a decrease in their visitors. For example, GQ.com got 26% fewer people visiting. Urban Dictionary, which is a famous website where people share slang words, had a big drop of 18 million page views. This is more than half of its visitors from Google search. OprahDaily.com had an even bigger decrease of almost 58% in its visitors.
Reddit’s Traffic Boom
Even though many big websites are getting fewer visitors, Reddit is doing the opposite. According to SEMrush, Reddit’s traffic from Google search grew a lot by a huge 126%. This means more and more people are finding Reddit through Google. Reddit recently shared its earnings for the first quarter since it became a public company in March 2024, and guess what? Their revenue reached $243 million. That’s a huge increase of 48% compared to the previous year.
And Reddit isn’t the only website benefiting from Google’s recent Google algorithm updates. According to data from SEMrush, other sites where users create content like Quora and Instagram also saw huge increases in traffic. Similarly, LinkedIn, a platform for professionals, and Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, also experienced big traffic increases.
Google’s Brand Bias
Some website owners and experts have said Google is favoring big, well-known brands over smaller independent websites. This shift doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the quality of the content on these sites. Some people even think that Google might have changed its Google algorithm on purpose to target these smaller sites. This change is worrying for smaller website owners because it means they might not show up as much in Google search results. If people can’t find their websites easily, it could hurt their traffic and business.
The future of search engine: Google believes that by updating and enhancing search, they can create a new and exciting era of technology that addresses many common problems on the web. According to the company, the new updates will improve the way people find information online. However, not everyone agrees. Critics argue that these changes might create new problems instead of solving existing ones.
Google’s AI Impact
One major concern is that as Google modifies its algorithms and uses artificial intelligence to shift from being just a search engine to becoming a search and answer engine, it might harm many businesses that produce the content people enjoy. These critics worry that Google’s new approach could highly reduce the visibility of many websites.
If Google starts providing direct answers to questions rather than directing users to other websites, people might stop visiting those sites. This could lead lead to a big drop in traffic for many online businesses, potentially putting them out of business. Travel writer David Ligher has raised another concern about Google’s AI, saying it’s taking their content without permission. However, a Google spokesperson explains that the AI overviews are created from various websites, not just one.
Google’s Legal Battle
The idea is to show users relevant links to find more information. The spokesperson further stated that website owners can use a special tag to decide if they want their site linked in the AI overviews. However, once the AI collects information from a website, it might be tough to delete it completely. This means even if a site owner doesn’t want their content used, it could still end up in the AI overviews. People are starting to wonder if Google has too much power over the internet.
Right now, Google is dealing with a lot of lawsuits. One big lawsuit is from the US Department of Justice. They say Google is running the search engine industry like a monopoly; they have too much control. However, the company revealed it faces a lot of competition, and people can choose how they search online. If Google loses this case, they could get fined a lot of money.
There’s even a chance they might have to split up the company into smaller pieces. This is a big deal because Google is a major part of the internet, more than 90% of the worldwide search business. If it changes, it could affect how we search for things online and how other companies operate, too. People are watching closely to see what happens next in this legal battle.
