Recent Comments on Search Engine Roundtable

UncleKrusty commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Very Heated January 29 & 30

<blockquote>I don't believe there will be zero alternatives forever.</blockquote>Bing, Yahoo, DDG, ChatGPT, etc. are alternatives and they haven't even put a tiny dent in Google's market share. You seem to be the only one here hanging onto a thread of hope that Google will suddenly cast away their evilness and revert to what they once were. It just isn't happening.

Comment ID #6831289076 01/30/2026 10:39 am

Mumuu commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Very Heated January 29 & 30

Sam, I mentioned about "real alternative". There's plenty of alternatives on pure search as we knew it (i.e DDG) but all tend to move in same direction OR simply users do not use them in the numbers that we hope because hey AI works better (that in itself shows where preferences shift). As for AI in itself, again is plenty of alternatives -- similar to where Google is heading. I speak here about real alternatives, not same practices all along, so Idk where you took it as if I suggested otherwise so to say that you don't believe there will be zero alternatives forever. The reason behind what Google does shifting to AI led, is precisely because there are multiple alternatives already on the market (yet same practices, keeping all behind closed doors or via paid mostly). Social media space is such an example, so Idk why you speak about no alternatives scenario.

Comment ID #6831288026 01/30/2026 10:37 am

Sam commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Very Heated January 29 & 30

Google surviving only works if NO alternative emerges. When advertisers can't measure ROI and Apple offers this through Apple Pay, "too big to fail" becomes "too broken to use." Yes, publishers like us are dying now, our content stolen and mashed up. But the monopoly needs users, customers, and advertisors... and to a lesser extent our content. I don't believe there will be zero alternatives forever. That's the bet. Do you think that? March 2026 tests it, if Google don't rollback silly updates, stupid AI strategies etc then there f@uXed because someone will fill the gap in the market and utilise cut to kill business strategy. We don't know who that is yet but I suspect it's apple who's been hiring for search for a very long time.

Comment ID #6831274787 01/30/2026 10:11 am

Mumuu commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Very Heated January 29 & 30

I'm not as concerned about their $300B business (so be it!), more about small sites and SMEs dying out whilst they may/may not risk their £300B business; so should you be really. The real problem is they're too big to fail. This fact alone is scary, as it means they can be allowed every other option on the table regardless (like extorting SMEs via higher CPCs, less value for money; extorting the user via subscription as @codecommander:disqus suggested earlier for whatever service which is based on knowledge copied without permission from long-gone small sites and SMEs). All these at the expense of the end user (who will be served whatever sort of AI crap) and at the expense of over-exploited publishers & SMEs dying out in the absence of a real alternative. I personally feel Google is not pushing for AI because they love it, they do or die. Whatever course of action we see they push for, it is a direct measure of the pressure they themselves feel coming from the trend shifting towards AI. Users are the real problem here.

Comment ID #6831245937 01/30/2026 09:15 am

actualart commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Very Heated January 29 & 30

Yeah it seems like a crime group, not a company.

Comment ID #6831245435 01/30/2026 09:13 am

DataDonkey commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Very Heated January 29 & 30

No traffic or sales from Google. We need to quit calling this volatility when it's just the Google Crime Syndicate sticking another knife in our backs.

Comment ID #6831239929 01/30/2026 09:01 am

DataDonkey commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

<blockquote>Datacenters don't matter if they can't monetize AI.</blockquote>It's already monetized. Google has AI contracts with governments, NATO, etc. Heck, even Krogers recently announced they are using Gemini Enterprise for their grocery shopping assistant. Late last year I saw the news that Google's datacenter capacity needs to double about every six months to keep up with demand because that demand is that strong. Even if Google doesn't use that capacity themselves, they lease it out to other AI companies. Google is onboarding commercial customers for their AI all the time. Maybe the consumer side is lagging, and why they are now offering a new $8 monthly budget Gemini plan, but Google's government/commercial customers will pay the bills. Google's rapid datacenter expansion is also so they can monopolize that too.

Comment ID #6831227775 01/30/2026 08:33 am

Sam commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Very Heated January 29 & 30

We're watching it collapse in real-time guys...this is bad...frantic tweaking can't fix a broken ROI model. AI Mode / AI overviews / Gemini / Nanbanana if that's what you call it - doesn't send clicks, ads doesn't convert, publishers close down. Destroying a $300B business to chase AI hype

Comment ID #6831225793 01/30/2026 08:28 am

Claire commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Very Heated January 29 & 30

i think it is really the end... been trying facebook ads for the past few weeks and it is horrible. i've also installed a custom tracking script and i notice some of the 'users' would leave the page in less than 0.1 second. some would even click my cta button in less than 2 seconds on page, which is humanly impossible! it just points down to bot traffic. to make things worse... i still haven't heard back after sending out another round of resumes... :(

Comment ID #6831217578 01/30/2026 08:06 am

Mumuu commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

a very valid point as another revenue model, sadly! This alone and would still allow them to push for AI forward. What I feel Sam doesn't get is that Google is not pushing for AI because they want/love it, they're forced to do it by the market around them, no choice for them either. If they don't do it then they experience the Nokia feeling! Later edit: The only ones capable to stop this AI crap are the end users to say NO to it (I have no hope they will ever do!).

Comment ID #6831214907 01/30/2026 07:59 am

DataDonkey commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

You're tunnel visioned on ads and not seeing the bigger picture. Google knows they can't rely on ads for growth which is why they are pushing subscriptions. Just recently Google killed background play on Youtube for non-paying users. Google will continue to turn the screws to make people subscribe to one thing or another. Just like we couldn't imagine organic results pushed to the bottom of the serps a few years ago, it's hard to imagine Google not being reliant on ads for their main revenue. But that's where it's going and organic results may be gone for many queries soon. If users hated Google's AI, they would scroll past it and we would still be getting traffic. But most user's aren't scrolling and traffic for us is down 95%+ on some queries where we rank #1. If Google were losing users, they would have already disabled AI or given users the option to easily disable it. Google hasn't done this because they aren't losing users or at least not enough to be concerned with. All indications point to Google's continued push forward with more AI and less free traffic to publishers as they use their monopoly to push toward a subscription based revenue model.

Comment ID #6831213506 01/30/2026 07:55 am

Mumuu commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

Heheh, you look too simplistic, but sorry to tell they have that time and beyond that. I said they'd need 2-3 yrs to discover the right spot to monetize it, but you'd be surprised to know that in this transition period there will be "plenty of fish" represented by the advertisers willing to spend money with them (even if as a one time only) and it still makes for the 2-3 years they need to figure it out. If them won't succeed on this path, no one else will so I feel you're slightly naive to think otherwise. I am telling you from own experience, we spend in the region of $50K to $80K/month (in peak months) with Google Ads and we receive calls from their reps with all sorts of updates and AI features they plan on pushing forward and yes they will get there. To top it off, from own standpoint -- if let's say tomorrow Google is forcing us to advertise in just AI mode and AI overviews, guess what we would do? We have no choice than to try it out. No business in this world will say no to it without trying it out for a while (so it makes the 2-3 yrs easily). Saying no to it from the start would mean not much business left. That's a reality. Lets wait and see, make no mistake I'll save your above comment!

Comment ID #6831207833 01/30/2026 07:38 am

Sam commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

You're giving them 2-3 years they don't have. Advertisers won't spend with noreturn for years waiting for Google to "figure out" ROI. They pull spend within quarters when they can't measure returns. I actioned to stop millions within 24 hours when I worked for Amazon. The stock won't survive 2-3 years of declining revenue. And in 2-3 years, what's left? Publishers gone, real content gone, AI training on AI slop. You can't rebuild the ecosystem after it collapses. The problem isn't user adoption - users already use ChatGPT and Perplexity. The problem is that chatbots AI structurally can't monetize like search. No clicks out of conversations = no ROI proof. Nokia had resources. Yahoo had resources. IBM had resources. They all had years to "figure it out." but the didn't Time makes it worse, not better. Every month: publishers are gone, content goes down, advertisers retract payments, the market won't wait 2-3 years. Advertisers spend in quarters, not years. If they follow this strategy and Google are still throwing billions on AI in 3 years like it is now I will eat my hat.

Comment ID #6831202957 01/30/2026 07:25 am

Sam commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

Datacenters don't matter if they can't monetize AI. They will just burn cash regardless of tax breaks. Apple just released an update to collect user data every 15 minutes to see what they are searching for. You have to turn it off. (Apple intelligence) iOS 26.2 which was a LATE update which never normally happens. Apple won't call it a search engine just modifying Siri, but it will be search. Tax benefits mean nothing without profit. When advertisers can't measure ROI, they pull spend. Stock crashes. We're at the traction now where Google could revert but if they don't do so by March 26... then it will be game on cartnage, for them and for us.

Comment ID #6831197708 01/30/2026 07:09 am

BVB Borusse commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

Now it's getting serious: Google informs me in Search Console that my pages have been deindexed. The reason for the deindexing is an unspecified “redirect.” At the same time, all past data in Search Console is being changed as if my site had neither clicks nor impressions. My site has been around since 1999. It contains in-depth information on almost 3,000 pages. Google has demonstrably “trained” its AI with every single page of my website. In some cases, the content of my site is even offered unchanged by Google in its AI overviews as its own Google content. Now Google apparently no longer sees any value in the content of my site. Everything has already been copied and backed up. Google no longer values new content from my site, but prefers to deindex my entire site and spit out my life's work. To the John Muellers, Elizabeth Reids, Gary Illyes of this world: I hope the bonuses for 2025 were adequate. May Google choke on its money!

Comment ID #6831194853 01/30/2026 07:00 am

Mr Bob commented on 33% Will Block Google AI Search Experience: AI Mode & AI Overviews

Total distraction. If you opt out of AI using your content, does that only apply from that point onwards? Like, they stop using anything new you post, but they don’t delete what they’ve already taken in and trained on? Because once a model has been trained, they can’t realistically “unlearn” your data, so opting out feels like it just means “we won’t use MORE going forward”, not “we remove what’s already baked in”. Then there’s the bigger issue: who actually regulates this and checks it’s being honoured? Google? Some watchdog? Because if AI can paraphrase and spin content, there’s no reliable way to prove whether your opt-out was respected. And even if one company does honour it, other AIs will still spin the same ideas for other people to copy and paste onto their websites which Google will then train off if they don't also opt out. So your knowledge gets reused one way or another, regardless. This is all pointless IMO

Comment ID #6831194234 01/30/2026 06:58 am

Mumuu commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

I think you confuse big time the general idea of search (how you & I used to know it - that is what I say will not exist anymore) to where the AI led search goes - which is into conversational mode. Let's catch up in less than 2-3 yrs and you will see I'm right in the sense that ofc Google can't return ROI NOW using AI Mode and AI Overviews, but things will change dramatically in the short term future. It is obvious why they can't yet offer good ROI on AI as this is something quite new for them as well, but make no mistake they will figure out the right path just in time when the user gets familirized with the sort of AI led experience . As soon as the user is ready, I bet you will see Google doing well using only or mostly AI mode & overviews. The mistake you do is that you judge Google now based on something which is sure to change. We can't know yet how good or bad they will do but I bet they will figure out the way to go about this, having a scary financial power and otherwise data, resources, knowledge etc. I would love to see them struggle like SMEs do during this transition, but I am afraid they won't taste from this sort of pain small sites and SMEs suffer now.

Comment ID #6831192715 01/30/2026 06:53 am

DataDonkey commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

Google's marketshare is 90% while Bing's is 4%. If the Google Crime Syndicate weren't heavily engaged in economic crimes against humanity, you would expect them to have delivered revenue 22.5 times that of Bing or 4,624.42.

Comment ID #6831186467 01/30/2026 06:32 am

Ted (or Big T) commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

It's getting worse every day. Soon traffic will be 0.

Comment ID #6831182164 01/30/2026 06:17 am

DataDonkey commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

<blockquote>The "stay in your lane" now does not apply as Google has tried to invade every lane, including now our lane which made them who they are.</blockquote>Correct. Which is why I said other big tech doesn't want to pick a fight against Google (search) and why they stay in their own lanes so they stay out of Google's crosshairs. Google borrowing money is to be expected since they are rapidly deploying datacenters around the world while maintaining about $100 billion cash on hand. Depreciation reduces tax liability and Trump's Big Beautiful Bill allows Google to depreciate 100% of the cost of datacenter equipment the year it's placed in service from 1/1/2025 forward. Most of the datacenters have property tax abatements and energy subsidies, so the cost of keeping them online after build is minimal for a company as large as Google. Ads won't go away, but subscriptions will rise. Like all big businesses they model growth with forecasts for 5-10 years that provide a blueprint for actions to be taken. I'm sure Google will push more monetization models simply because they can and nobody can stop them. Even something like a PPC (Pay Per Crawl), where publishers are billed by Google for the pages Google crawls, would not shock me. But for the time being, they can maintain revenue with ads as they focus on growing AI subscribers. If need be, they can spam the AI Overviews box with ads to compensate. I don't see a return to Google sending free traffic to publishers. It's not Google's business model that will fail, but everyone around them who they victimized with content/traffic theft that will fail. Sure, the part timers and hobbyists will survive because they have other income coming in. But for those of us who do this full time, and survived this far, it's not looking good at all.

Comment ID #6831172669 01/30/2026 05:39 am

Sam commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

They were all in it together for 15 years but now Google broke it. AI Overviews and many updates, and spam has stopped publisher revenue and with it advertiser ROI. They did this to themselves. Google Shopping competied with Amazon and Amazon pulled their ads. If Google wanted AI-first, why are they still showing the ten links? They have not got rid of them because 74% of their revenue is ads - $300 billion. Subscriptions make $18 billion, maybe $36 billion if they 10x subscribers. That's an 88% collapse. You don't survive that. And they are burning $91-93 billion on AI capex, $115 billion next year. By 2030 depreciation costs will be $400 billion annually - more than their total profit today. They're borrowing money for the first time because cash flow won't cover it. IBM, Kodak, Nokia, Blockbuster, Yahoo - all "too big to fail" until they weren't. The blue links prove AI mode doesn't make money. They're burning cash while the ad model collapses. The "stay in your lane" now does not apply as Google has tried to invade every lane, including now our lane which made them who they are.

Comment ID #6831138319 01/30/2026 03:11 am

John A. User commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d36ce9459a10960fa1e26ccdf51bfc409424ea91d0f2cee94682526d60fca748.png For me, Bing provides double the income Google does, the figures are extremely low as well compared to Nov 22.

Comment ID #6831131861 01/30/2026 02:37 am

Ekees SEO commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

Same. But Bing is just slightly gaining ground. It is more a case of declining traffic overall, where G traffic is vanishing update after update and Bing increasing just a tiny bit, so in anaytics it looks like Bing and duckduck etc are growing, but they arent in my case.

Comment ID #6831131802 01/30/2026 02:37 am

Gyan Singh commented on Google Search Ranking Volatility Remains Heated

Really seeing a major drop in rankings and traffic since Jan 27, which aligns with Gemini 3 becoming the default model for AI Overviews globally. The continued SERP volatility appears to be driven by ongoing algorithm adjustments, AI-driven search tests, and increased competition, resulting in highly unpredictable ranking and traffic fluctuations.

Comment ID #6831131703 01/30/2026 02:37 am

Daniel commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

After a significant drop, I notice that in the last 7 days, almost 50% of the traffic that brings me money from Google is actually BING. This means that Google is regressing and Microsoft is gaining ground. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7cebfd5f153c655d02acc5574090b85a831583b235d2ea685f37aae463e461b9.jpg

Comment ID #6831123211 01/30/2026 01:45 am

Rowan commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

Just yesterday, BBC News posted this on their homepage (not the top, of course, but near mid-section). <b>How to make Google put preferred sources up top when you search</b> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260128-how-to-make-google-put-trusted-sources-up-top-when-you-search">https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260128-how-to-make-google-put-trusted-sources-up-top-when-you-search</a> Not just BBC, I also noticed some other big publisher websites posted the same notice some time back. It makes you wonder how desperate big publishers are too...

Comment ID #6831102606 01/29/2026 11:29 pm

Mark commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

Its definitely still possible to make money in seo, but some of the complete car crashes of websites you see people posting here... most look to have no chance. I'm glad you seem to have made peace with the fact this won't work for you any more, and moved on from it employment wise at least. There's a few more regular posters that need to accept that reality and join you there. Some people have been working for 10 cents an hour here since you got that job.

Comment ID #6831067408 01/29/2026 09:08 pm

Sensei commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

<blockquote>take the fitness niche is there something that hasn't been phucking said 1000 billions times</blockquote>At least every once in a while some failed attempts at doing something new in that niche have been entertaining. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5d180851a27004bd7eba4b176709cd9d9dd51c77acea89bd4889623deb7dfd0.gif

Comment ID #6831036738 01/29/2026 07:28 pm

Mark commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

I mentioned this the other day but Youtube is painful as an end user right now, Shorts are already dead for me. With the increase in quality of these tools / availability of them to Scumdars ditch pooping pals, its only going to get a million times worse. I've been looking up loads of videos on home construction as I build a little house in my garden. I'm having to filter through utter garbage like this - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xMYJliRTJso">https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xMYJliRTJso </a> There's zero disclosure before I click on that that its just a load of absolute rubbish. Just one random niche observation but it's the same all over YouTube now, in every niche unfortunately. And this only gets worse & worse & worse as its easier to spam it up with full length vids of this shit.

Comment ID #6831030832 01/29/2026 07:09 pm

Mark commented on Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Now Jump To AI Mode

If your blog is about premier league football then you're completely and utterly screwed as once you stop updating the site for a week you've got no content anyone is going to be searching for. If your content is relatively evergreen, you can leave it live indefinitely without it looking bad. My hobby site, I've not updated in a good while now but it doesn't look awful, the info is all still valid, nothing is stale cos there is no 'breaking news' in my hobby niche. Perhaps I'm causing my hobby sites downfall by refusing to update it but the give/take with Google is bust now as far as i'm concerned... I used to spend a lot of time/money creating really good content and win back more than that from amazon comms over the next year. Now I'd need to be stupid to keep trying that. I'm genuinely working for < min wage in UK if I keep trying to push that stuff. So as always, the main sites / spam stuff continues as they pay the bills, and my actual useful content is being retired :(

Comment ID #6831027091 01/29/2026 06:56 pm

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