It seems like Google Search is now giving its old Google Groups forum area a massive ranking and visibility boost in the Google Search results. This started a couple of months ago and it may be related to Google surfacing more hidden gems around then? I am not sure.
Brian Freiesleben posted about this on X saying, "Google Groups conversations are indexed and can rank well. Maybe this is related to Google's recent preference for UGC in SERPs...you can see a huge jump in rank starting this October."
Here are some of the charts and screenshots he shared:
Google Groups conversations are indexed and can rank well 👀 maybe this is related to Google's recent preference for UGC in SERPs...you can see a huge jump in rank starting this October. pic.twitter.com/Uz9ymH5lER
— Brian Freiesleben (@type_SEO) December 1, 2023
The overall amount of KWs ranking hasn't really changed much over the past few years...just traffic has jumped a ton which I attribute to stronger rankings pic.twitter.com/lIzSXQBpud
— Brian Freiesleben (@type_SEO) December 1, 2023
Glenn Gabe took a quick look and noticed the uptick as well:
Well, something is going on there. Wow. pic.twitter.com/FJFmNSXVI1
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 1, 2023
And so did Lily Ray:
Wait this seems related https://t.co/tNwCooFdAp
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) December 1, 2023
I am not sure exactly what is up, but this does raise your eye brow a bit...
Confirmed across US, UK, DE. It's still rising as of 10 minutes ago. pic.twitter.com/HV6oSdk9JE
— SISTRIX (@sistrix) December 5, 2023
Forum discussion at X.
