Generative Data Intelligence

The Twiddler That Didn’t Twiddle – How To Track Clicks and Click Through Rate For Google’s AI Overviews (if you have a manual action)

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Yes, you read that correctly. There’s a loophole in Google right now where sites with manual actions are removed, or heavily demoted, from the 10-blue links but can still rank in AI overviews. And in a weird twist, that creates a unique opportunity to better understand clicks and click through rate for AIOs. That’s until Google removes the loophole… so get moving. 🙂

Google AI overviews and manual actions loophole.Google AI overviews and manual actions loophole.

It’s common for site owners with manual actions to reach out to me for help, or if they feel something is not right with the manual action that was applied. While analyzing a site recently with a manual action at the directory-level, I noticed it was still driving a decent amount of traffic from the SERPs. And not just that, but it was ranking number one in the search results for many of those queries. Yes, #1. Something wasn’t right…

The AIO Loophole for sites with manual actions:
For some reason, there is a loophole with Google’s AI overviews where sites or directories impacted by a manual action can still rank in AIOs (and rank well in them). It makes no sense at all, and several SEOs (me included) have shared about it publicly.

For example, Lily Ray shared about it a few weeks ago and then I reshared her tweet with additional information after seeing the loophole for myself. And those tweets led to a post from Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Roundtable.

So it’s been out there for a bit.

The Twiddler That Didn’t Twiddle:
Twiddlers are adjustments that Google can implement to boost, demote, or filter rankings. We don’t know exactly how manual actions are applied when rankings are processed, but it’s entirely possible that a twiddler is involved. If that’s the case, then when a site has a manual action, Google can apply a filter, or use a twiddler, and the site in question can tank for those queries.

And if you’re wondering about deindexing when manual actions are applied, I’ve shared before how “deindexing” for some manual actions isn’t really deindexing. It’s more like the Removals tool in GSC (where the urls are removed from the SERPs, but not actually removed from the index). Here is my tweet about that.

Well, if there is a twiddler being used for these manual actions, then TWIDDLER DOWN! The sites are ranking just fine for AIOs while they are being nuked from the 10-blue links.

And this leads to an amazing opportunity, and one site owners have been asking for from Google for a long time. Little did we know that manual actions could yield pure AIO data. It’s ironic to say the least.

Tracking AIOs in Google Search Console (GSC): The maddening adventure just took a twist.
Last year I wrote a post on SER about the maddening adventure of trying to track AIOs in Google Search Console. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t provide a filter in GSC for AIOs, and there isn’t a specific set of reporting for AIOs either (like we have for Discover or Google News). Instead, AIO rankings and data are included but mixed into the performance reporting with traditional rankings (10-blue links).

So yes, Google is providing data for AIOs, but it’s mixed in with everything else. Needless to say, this makes analyzing the data for AIOs extremely challenging. In other words, what was the impact of ranking in AI overviews on clicks and click through rate from the SERPs?

The need for data versus what Google tells us…
Google has explained in the past that people who use AI overviews are more satisfied with their results, and that they are seeing higher engagement from younger users when they use AIOs. Google has also said that links included in AIOs get more clicks than if the page appeared as a traditional SERP. That sounds great, but let’s face it, we can’t analyze that data so we need to take Google’s word for it. The core problem is that nobody had solid AIO performance data.

That’s until now. Well, at least RIGHT NOW

How To Track AIOs in Google Search Console (only if you have a manual action…)
Note, you should move fast with what I explain below. Google has not taken action yet to remove sites with manual actions from AI overviews, but I’m sure that will happen (and maybe sooner than later).

1. Fire up Google Search Console and access the Performance reporting.

2. Isolate the content that has the manual action applied to it. That might be a directory or subdomain, or maybe even the entire site (although I haven’t tested this with a site-level manual action yet).

Side note about setting up directories as properties in GSC:
This is also why having directories set up as properties is a great way to go. You could select the directory property and not worry about having to filter the reporting by landing page.

3. Isolate the timeframe AFTER the manual action was applied.
We want to view data after the manual action was applied to see the queries driving traffic while there is a penalty on the site.

4. Check queries and position.
Is the directory or subdomain still driving traffic from Google during the timeframe AFTER the manual action was applied? Then check the queries and average position for those queries. You might see queries ranking number one like I provided earlier, yet there’s a manual action for that area of the site. If so, that’s a strong sign you are ranking in AI overviews.

Note, AIO rankings take on the position of the AIO block (which ranks #1 in the SERPs). That includes all links in the AIO by the way… They will all have a position of 1 if ranking in the AI overview.

5. Check the SERPs for AI overview rankings.
Fire up Google (both incognito and logged in) and see if an AIO triggers for the query. And of course, check to see if you are ranking in the AI overview. Again, if GSC shows number one rankings and there’s a manual action on the directory or subdomain, then you are probably ranking in AI overviews.

6. Jump back to GSC and slice and dice the data.
At this point, you have isolated a query that is only ranking in AI overviews. That means you have data based on ranking in just AIOs for that query. Yes, the loophole is providing you a rare look at AIO performance. Don’t wait, start digging in.

7. Clicks, CTR, and Position:
First check the overall metrics for the query now that the site is ONLY ranking in AIOs. Ranking in the 10-blue links is not altering the data as of now since the section has a manual action. This is pure AIO data. Again, rare to see this. For example, the screenshot below shows a number of queries where the page is ranking in an AI overview. You can see average position of 1.2 and a CTR of 4.9%.

And that compares to an average position of 4.6 and a CTR of 2.7% when the site ranked in the 10-blue links for those queries.

You could also zoom out date-wise and check the overall change in position and CTR trending for that query (or group of queries). Below you can see the jump in position when the manual action was applied and only AIOs remained. Again, AIOs rank #1 since they take on the position of the AIO block in the SERPs. And as you can see below, CTR jumps as well (at least for this group of queries).

And as I provided earlier, you can check the CTR for all of the queries that were ranking in AIOs (all with a position of one like I explained). As you can see, the CTR isn’t super high for those… You would definitely want to check your own data and queries, but this is what I saw when digging in for the site I was analyzing.

If you don’t have enough data for one query, you could also use a regular expression in GSC and combine the queries yielding AIO rankings for a specific landing page. You can see that in the screenshots above. For example, use pipe characters via regex to combine a number of queries yielding AIOs to get more data (which could help you identify changes easier than just one query without a lot of data). When you use pipe characters, Google will show you the data for all of the queries combined. It’s not optimal, but you might need that if there’s not enough data.

Summary: The ironic advantage of manual actions for AI overview tracking.
Again, move quickly to check this out if you have a manual action. It’s a rare opportunity to view performance data when ranking in AI overviews. For example, what does the click through rate look like, how have clicks changed now that the site only ranks in AIOs, etc.? This may be one of the few times (or only time) a manual action will benefit a site owner.

GG

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