Niche Twins - Is Forbes fuc*ing kidding me? 🦃

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 November👨‍🍳:

• Google algo still searching for answers while Forbes goes pillow soft
• Google is 'once, twice, three times a monopolist'

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Google Algo Still Searching for Answers

Lowdown

• Site reputation abuse update: On the 19th Google updated their March site reputation abuse policy stating “Site reputation abuse is the practice of publishing third-party pages on a site in an attempt to abuse search rankings by taking advantage of the host site’s ranking signals.” Manual penalties were then quickly handed down to large publishers including CNN Underscored, WSJ Buyside, and Forbes Advisor.
• November 2024 core update: Ranking volatility has heated up over the past few days following Google's November 2024 core update release on November 11th. The update should finish rolling out any day now.

Takeaway

Leave it to Google to hand down penalties and run a major core update straight through Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Out of the gates, we have to acknowledge how absolutely insane it is that a 2 trillion-dollar company built on the back of an algorithm, has resorted to trying to clean up parasite SEO via manual actions.

Seriously, is there any clearer sign of defeat?

As many small publishers have pointed out, when Google came for us with HCU there were no warnings and no path for redemption. When they came for the big publishers, they received an 8 months' notice and a to-do list.

And sure, many big publishers will continue to noindexed or remove penalized content all together and I am sure most of these penalties will continue to be lifted.

Or in Forbes case, it looks like they'll just continue to dodge the penalty all-together one new subfolder at time. 😉

And to go on a small tangent here - this response from Forbes SVP of Strategy made me genuinely laugh out loud:

Many small publishers are the be-all and end-all of their sites. They design the website, they write the content, and they place the ads.

Over the years we've become fully accustomed to SEOs looking at our sites that are so often a 1:1 reflection of our work...and having those sites torn to fu*king shreds under the guise of receiving 'unbiased feedback to help improve user experience'.

Meanwhile when Forbes, the parasite of parasites, is gently challenged to defend the content that just got penalized, all the sudden it's "woah, woah, woah man...let's not get personal here!" 🤣

I'm sorry but that's a pillow soft response.

Alright, rant over.

Google Is ‘Once, Twice, Three Times a Monopolist'

Lowdown

It feels like Google has once again been in the trenches this month, facing legal battles from all sides...

• Chrome spin-off: Last week the US Department of Justice formally proposed a partial breakup of Google search with a recommendation to a federal judge to force a sale of their Chrome web browser. Google will now file its own proposal for the spin-off of Chrome by next month, with a judge ruling expected sometime next year.
• Advertising antitrust case: Earlier this week the antitrust case concerning Google's ad-tech business officially wrapped. The DOJ closed by making the case that Google holds over 91% of digital ad markets and stated that "these are the markets that make the free and open internet possible." Google closed by challenging the DOJ’s definition of the advertising market and arguing that its true market share is only 10% when including all competitors. A ruling on this case is expected by the end of the year.
• EU search changes: In March a non-compliance investigation was opened by the European Commission against Google under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Specifically, the concern is that Google's vertical search services (Shopping, Flights, Hotels) violate Article 6(5) of the DMA which states "The gatekeeper shall not treat more favorably, in ranking and related indexing and crawling, services and products offered by the gatekeeper itself than similar services or products of a third party." In addition to the 20 modifications already made to search in the EU over the past year, on Tuesday Google announced they are running a test to remove some hotel features for users in Germany, Belgium, and Estonia. Instead they will show a list of individual links to websites without any of the additional features (similar to the old “ten blue links” format from years ago).

Takeaway

Back in our August edition we outlined how a federal judge had officially sided with the DOJ, ruling that Google’s search business constitutes an illegal monopoly.

What remained unclear at that time was the severity of sanctions that would be handed down.

Well as of last week, we have our answer.

While it will certainly be appealed, the forced sale of Chrome would be a step in the right direction in attempting to hinder the 'self-favoring practices that actively encourage consumers to remain within Google’s ecosystem'.

In the end, antitrust law is meant to promote competitive markets.

Regardless of the remedy that is ultimately pursued, in a few years' time just two questions will be used to measure success:

1. Did more viable search competitors enter the market?
2. On net, did the experience of search get better for users?

If we can answer 'Yes' to both, the DOJ has done their job.

Memes of the Month 🤣

That's a wrap on November. Happy Thanksgiving and see you in December!

-Keith