AI answers are spreading to even more searches
A survey of 1,076 business software buyers found 69% picked a different vendor than planned after an AI chatbot told them something. Meanwhile Google is putting AI answers on weather and sports scores.
Read the whole week in one goSpam update done, penalties up, trackers unreliable
Why your traffic moved
Some sites hit by earlier spam updates are bouncing back
Sites knocked down by an earlier spam update (a ranking change aimed at sites breaking Google's rules) are recovering during the September one. Glenn Gabe shared a site hit in August that is surging now, and says Google appears to be recalculating its spam scoring.
sites previously impacted by spam updates can recover during subsequent spam updates and I'm seeing a bunch of those now
Who this affects: Site owners who lost rankings in a past spam update.
- Open Search Console, compare the last two weeks to August.
- Fix the thin or duplicate pages before expecting a recovery.
Getting into AI answers
AI answers now cover even simple, everyday searches
Google is now testing AI Overviews (the AI written answer at the top of results) on weather and sports scores, and Glenn Gabe says they also show on health, finance and legal questions.
I'm referring to real queries that people scan AIOs for now and move on.
Who this affects: Any site that gets traffic from people asking questions.
- Our take: ask ChatGPT what it recommends in your category.