Odd traffic spikes in Search Console look like bots
Joy Hawkins saw huge click spikes across three sites and says the click-through patterns point to bot traffic, not customers. Google also moved the AI answer on brand searches off to the side.
Read the whole week in one goAI answers cut clicks at some sites, not all
Why your traffic moved
Big jumps in your Search Console clicks may be fake
Several sites are showing sudden huge click spikes in Google Search Console (Google's free report on your search traffic), and the pattern looks wrong. Joy Hawkins says three sites so far look like this and she is fairly confident it is bot traffic. Nobody has explained it yet, so do not treat a spike as real customers.
Based on the CTR patterns I'm seeing I'm fairly confident it's bot traffic.
Who this affects: Everyone with a website who checks Search Console.
- Check if your sales or enquiries rose with the clicks
- Our take: wait a few days before changing anything
Getting into AI answers
Google moved the AI answer on brand searches to the side
When someone searches your brand name, Google is now showing the AI Overview (the AI written answer) in the right column instead of at the top of the results. Glenn Gabe says he is seeing this too for larger brands. That pushes your own pages back to the top spot on searches for your own name.
I prefer this to branded AIOs as the top result (often with links to competitors or other third parties)
Who this affects: Anyone whose business name gets searched on Google.
- Do nothing, this is Google's change and it favors you
Do not do this
Cheap press releases can win AI answers, then stop working
One SEO showed that $6 press releases are getting a site named as the best in its category by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews. Edward Sturm says AB Newswire charges $500 for 83 releases, which works out at $6 each. Glenn Gabe replied that the same site's AI search visibility has plummeted over the past year.
$6 press releases are hacking ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google.
Who this affects: Anyone tempted to buy bulk press release packages for AI visibility.
- Skip bulk press release packages sold as AI visibility