Google favors e-commerce sites and user-generated content

A recent study by digital marketing agency Amsive documented a noticeable change in Google search rankings over the past year.

The study found that Google is providing more e-commerce and user-generated content sites while reducing the visibility of product review and affiliate marketing sites.

Here are the takeaways and implications for online businesses if the changes continue.

E-commerce domination in search results

The study found a significant increase in the number of e-commerce sites appearing in the top search positions for many commercial queries.

Keywords that previously returned results from product reviews and affiliate sites are now primarily for online retailers.

For example:

• “Bird feeders“: E-commerce stores now occupy all top 10 positions, replacing several product review sites from the previous year.
• “Laptops“: The top 10 results currently only include e-commerce sites, with some appearing multiple times.
• “Towel warmer“: E-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart have a lot of offers, completely replacing affiliate sites in the top results.

An increase in user-generated content

In addition to e-commerce sites, user-generated content (UGC) platforms have seen significant increases in search visibility.

Reddit, Quora, and YouTube now often appear in the top positions for various queries, whereas previously they were absent or ranked lower.

This trend is especially noticeable for longer queries, such as “toys for 2-year-old boys”, where UGC pages are more visible.

Influence on product reviews and affiliate sites

The change in search rankings creates challenges for product review and affiliate sites as they are now less visible to many commercial queries.

While Google hasn’t explicitly stated that product review content is considered “unhelpful,” the data suggests that recent updates have disproportionately impacted these pages.

Implications for digital marketing strategy

Due to these changes, product review sites and affiliate sites may need to reconsider their strategies to maintain visibility and traffic.

The authors of the study, Lily Ray and Silvia Gituto, suggest diversifying traffic sources by:

• Greater focus on digital media and PR.
• Greater engagement on social media.
• Creating video content for platforms such as YouTube Shorts and TikTok.
• Podcast content development.
• Active participation in relevant online forums.

What does this mean for websites

For e-commerce sites, this is an opportunity to increase visibility and traffic.

They could take advantage of this change by including more customer reviews and user-generated content on their sites.

Product review and affiliate sites may need to change their strategy.

Promoting yourself on social media, recording videos, starting podcasts and participating in online forums can help make up for lost Google search traffic.

To ensure continued success, you will likely need to adapt to these changes, especially when it comes to user-generated content.

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