Niche Twins - Weeks where decades happen 📣

TGIF. This is the Niche Nugget. A monthly roundup where we bring you SEO and creator news and insights from across the industry.

What happened? What's it all mean? We've got you covered.

Here’s the crispy nuggets we've cooked up for you in August 👨‍🍳:

• Google search officially ruled a monopoly
• Is the August core update leading to HCU(X) recoveries?
• Facebook alleges censorship by FBI

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Google Gets DOJ'd

Lowdown

Back in September 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dragged Google into a 10-week trial where they insisted Google had been engaging in a "monopolistic feedback loop".

Fast forward to earlier this month, nearly an entire year after the trial began, and a federal judge has officially sided with the DOJ, ruling that Google’s search business constitutes an illegal monopoly.

The 277-page ruling is dense, but the evidence leaned on most heavily for Judge Mehta's ruling is Google's relentless spend on distribution contracts that lock them in as the default search engine for browsers, phones, and other platforms.

When you open up the Safari browser, Google is the default search engine. When you open up the Firefox browser, Google is the default search engine. When you open an Andriod phone - you guessed it - Google is the default search engine.

And this isn't simply because they're the best - it's because they pay a sh*t load of money every single year to get locked in as the default.

Exactly how much is a sh*t load? In 2021 alone, Google spent $26.3 billion on these distribution deals.

It's been a brutal year for Alphabet and it's only getting worse.

Earlier this week, Yelp used this ruling as an open door to sue Google (likely the first of many companies to do so), alleging they manipulate their search results.

And just to add a cherry on top, on September 9th, Google heads back to court for yet another trial with the DOJ, this time for "monopolizing the market for digital advertising and undermining competition".

Takeaway

This is the largest antitrust decision since 1999, when Microsoft was ruled to be a monopoly for bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.

It's a big deal.

Exactly how big remains unclear and will ultimately depend on the sanctions that get handed down - a process that will take additional trials, appeals, and time (years) to sort out.

The base case here seems to be Google being forced to cancel these exclusivity agreements. But it's entirely possible the penalty could be as minor as a fine or as severe as the company having to divest major parts of the business.

What does seem clear, is the competition for search is going to continue to heat up and Google's grip on ~90% of all web searches is likely to loosen.

And that's a good thing for consumers.

Google search hasn't had to truly compete in an open market for a long time now...and it shows.

August 2024 Core Update

Lowdown

Google's much anticipated August 2024 core update started rolling out on the 15th.

This was no ordinary update, given that it "takes into account the feedback [Google's] heard from some creators and others over the past few months".

For sites that haven't moved an inch since getting smacked by the September 2023 helpful content update, this felt like their final chance to regain visibility.

In hilarious Google fashion, less than 24 hours after announcing the update, they confirmed an unrelated ranking bug in their algorithm "affecting a large number of search results".

The bug was fixed a few days later on the 20th, but it made monitoring the early impact of this update interesting to say the least.

Takeaway

So what's the deal? Are HCU(X) sites finally seeing some movement?

It's worth noting, that as of today we're only halfway through this rollout and a lot can change between now and mid-September.

That said, early signs do look pretty encouraging.

The most reliable metrics we have to date come from Glenn Gabe's August 28th Core Update Notes:

On top of this, independent publishers like House Fresh and Retro Dodo who have made a lot of noise since September's reckoning have both confirmed they're seeing positive movement.

To be clear, we're not talking about full recoveries here.

We're talking about sites, that in some cases lost 80-90% of their traffic, now seeing a fraction of that traffic return.

But it's a start.

Look, we've thrown legitimate criticism at the Google search team for years and this is the first time I can recall them listening and taking action. That's worth acknowledging.

And yeah, you're naive if you think Retro Dodo didn't get some extra attention from Brandon Saltalamacchia's lunch with Danny Sullivan. Of course it did. But Retro Dodo is also site that deserves to recover. Both things can be true.

Facebook Admits to Censorship

Lowdown

A few days ago, Mark Zuckerberg accused the FBI of pressuring Facebook in 2020 and 2021 to "censor accurate reporting about then-Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden" and to "censor certain content...related to COVID-19".

In his brief letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg apologizes for his part in it, saying he regrets he was not more outspoken at the time and that moving forward, he's prepared to push back.

Takeaway

The bottom line is this - America's top law enforcement agency forced a private company into censoring the truth...during an election.

There is something deeply insidious happening on our social media platforms - it's almost as if free speech is somehow back on the negotiating table.

Regardless of your politics this should scare the sh*t out of you.

Memes of the Month 🤣

...yeah, I ended this month's Nugget with some self promotion. Sue me. But before you do, go check out Keysearch. 😉

That's a wrap on July. See you in August!

-Keith