Google Search Console may have another data bug, maybe, this time with product snippets. If you look at your Search Performance report, then filter by search appearance for product snippets, you will likely see a surge in impressions and clicks over the past few days.
I spot-checked about a dozen Search Console properties, and they all had exactly the same pattern. I'll share a few charts below to show you.
I found this via Connor Bonam who notified me of this on Threads and his theory is that there is a bug where Google is showing AI Overview data in place of product snippets data in this search appearance filter. I don't think that is right, I think it is some sort of other bug unrelated to AI Overviews.
That being said - it must be some sort of bug - right?
Here are a few charts showing the spike:
Have you seen this issue? I assume Google will confirm this as a bug or a change in data - either one - at some point in the near future.
Forum discussion at Threads.
Update: John Mueller from Google commented saying he thinks this is a bug and unrelated to AI Overviews but the Google Search Console team will update us soon. He wrote:
The folks here are looking into the details of this, and it does look like a bug on our side in Search Console reporting (and FWIW it doesn't seem to be related to AI Overviews at all, but I can see how that would be tempting). Once we know more (and ideally have fixed it), we'll likely add an annotation in Search Console & an entry in the data anomalies page.
Update 2 on May 29th: It looks like Google is fixing the issue:
Looks like the Google Search Console product snippets surge bug is being fixed... original story at https://t.co/L2L3H8wBsT pic.twitter.com/AZmlSrXUOn
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) May 29, 2024
Update 3: Google has now posted in the data anomalies Search Console page that between May 15 - 27 there was an issue with Product snippets reporting. Google wrote:
A logging error affected Search Console reporting on product snippets from May 15, 2024 until May 27, 2024. As a result, you may notice an increase in clicks and impressions during this period for the Product snippet search appearance type in the performance report and impressions overlay in the product snippet rich result report. This is just a logging issue, not an actual change in clicks or impressions.
