Last Google Core Update

[darkeye]

There was a Google Core Update recently, and unfortunately, many forums in particular have been negatively affected. One of my forums is also affected. Have you also had fewer visitors from Google for about 10 days?

I can't understand this... in the age of Chat GPT, where a lot of standard text is published, "expert contributions" in forums (user-generated content) are penalized. What the hell is the point of that?! :-(

In my opinion, forums are still very important for good content. There are several neutral opinions on a given topic, including opinions from real experts.

Forums should be valued more, not penalized.

 

[duderuud]

It seems to me that all forums are negatively impacted except Reddit.
Why is that?

 

[darkeye]

Google reportedly pays Reddit for access to its extensive data, which is relevant both for improving AI systems and for its search index.

In light of this, it is reasonable to assume that, unlike other forums, Reddit has not been penalized but may even benefit from preferential treatment.

 

[Chris2]

Google has been hell bent on pushing Reddit and other larger sites to the top and smaller sites down and out for a good while now. It only gets worse and more apparent with every “update” they do. Google has a large vested interest in Reddit, so of course they do them favors. The smaller sites just don’t have much of a chance these days.

 

[Mr Lucky]

It seems to me that all forums are negatively impacted except Reddit.
Why is that?

Because on Reddit people find what they think they want to know, on forums they just find what they actually need to know.

 

[darkeye]

Well, what do you mean by "smaller websites"? I run a forum on a specific topic with about 1 million views a month, and now many important rankings have slipped, and other sites have appeared at the top of the Google rankings, offering significantly weaker content! That can't be right. The new Google Core Update promotes weak chat GPT texts rather than expert posts.

 

[Alpha1]

Reddit has better SEO, higher authority and somehow doesn't get penalised like large forums do.

 

[benFF]

A years worth of gains wiped out here

Oh well, could be worse

 

[Mr Lucky]

Reddit has better SEO

Can you say what it is they do that is better? I mean something specific we can learn from?

 

[KSA]

Google has been hell bent on pushing Reddit and other larger sites to the top and smaller sites down and out for a good while now. It only gets worse and more apparent with every “update” they do. Google has a large vested interest in Reddit, so of course they do them favors. The smaller sites just don’t have much of a chance these days.

I won't blame google, i blame XF.

 

[Mr Lucky]

i blame XF.

For what?

 

[ENF]

I won't blame google, i blame XF.

Yes, for what exactly?

We are trending upwards again.

 

[James]

Google reportedly pays Reddit for access to its extensive data, which is relevant both for improving AI systems and for its search index.

In light of this, it is reasonable to assume that, unlike other forums, Reddit has not been penalized but may even benefit from preferential treatment.

I can't remember the specifics but it was something to do with reddit charging for api access, I believe Google was one of their first deals.
Rumours were $50m/y.

Also came at a convenient time when reddit were about to have their IPO.

 

[Digital Doctor]

It seems to me that all forums are negatively impacted except Reddit.
Why is that?

they pay.

Xenforo doesn't have data structures that improve content over time.

 

[nodle]

Ah, I was wondering what was happening, makes more sense now.

 

[briansol]

Xenforo doesn't have data structures that improve content over time.

but, they do. what don't you think they have? There's even been contributions from a rep from google on that thread.

 

[Digital Doctor]

but, they do. what don't you think they have? There's even been contributions from a rep from google on that thread.

as time goes on, thread information density drastically worsens.
The idea that someone wants to go to a new site and read a chit chat thread for 45 minutes over 19 pages is inaccurate.

 

[Suzanne O]

as time goes on, thread information density drastically worsens.
The idea that someone wants to go to a new site and read a chit chat thread for 45 minutes over 19 pages is inaccurate.

Love having a general discussion board though. It's much better than Reddit.
Reddit is an overmoderated piece of garbage

 

[Chris2]

Love having a general discussion board though. It's much better than Reddit.
Reddit is an overmoderated piece of garbage

I’m glad you aren’t a fan of overmoderated forums!

 

[MySiteGuy]

There was a Google Core Update recently, and unfortunately, many forums in particular have been negatively affected. One of my forums is also affected. Have you also had fewer visitors from Google for about 10 days?

I can't understand this... in the age of Chat GPT, where a lot of standard text is published, "expert contributions" in forums (user-generated content) are penalized. What the hell is the point of that?! :-(

Google has been increasing forums in search in recent years, and just because some forums are hit doesn't mean it's a widespread issue. I've seen this topic come up over and over again for years, and for each site that goes down, another site(s) is going up. We only hear from those going down.

Additionally, Google's search liaison made it very clear at a recent Q&A that AI generated content generally doesn't add value, they try to catch it and not give it good ranking.

In my opinion, forums are still very important for good content. There are several neutral opinions on a given topic, including opinions from real experts.

Forums should be valued more, not penalized.

Forums are not penalized. A penalty is not about a page not ranking well because Google doesn't like the type of content (social network, business info, blog, forum, shopping or whatever). A penalty is a deliberate negative indicator given to a site for violating core Google guidelines such as mass machine generated content, spammy linking, selling links on ranking pages, etc.

This is the same old story I've heard for 3 decades, someone upset because they think that out of the hundreds or thousands of sites covering a topic, theirs deserves better rankings than all the hundreds or thousands who also think their site deserves better ranking in the topic.

Reddit ranks well because they have a huge number of people creating content, linking to them and searching specifically for Reddit content. The amount of articles linking to Reddit, for example is huge, because it's easy for lazy authors to find a Reddit thread to write about. This was happening long before any deal with Google.