Anyone else seeing weird CTR swings after the latest Google updates?

[mike_donovan]

Been noticing some pretty odd behavior on a few of my sites over the last couple weeks.

One affiliate site in particular is still holding rankings fairly well, but CTR is all over the place. Same page positions, same snippets, but traffic is bouncing harder than usual. I’m seeing some pages lose clicks even when they stay in the top 3, while a couple lower intent pages are actually picking up more impressions.

I’ve been testing a few things:

– rewriting title tags to be more specific and less “SEO-ish”
– tightening up meta descriptions for commercial pages
– adding a few comparison tables above the fold
– swapping in more direct affiliate-style CTAs
– using AI to rewrite older content blocks, then manually cleaning them up

Honestly, the biggest lift so far has been from simpler title changes, not fancy content tweaks. A lot of the “best practice” SEO advice still feels too abstract. In my experience, if the title doesn’t clearly match what the searcher wants, CTR tanks fast.

Also curious if anyone else has seen:
– impressions up but clicks down
– affiliate pages getting hit harder than informational ones
– AI-assisted updates helping, hurting, or doing nothing

I’m trying to figure out whether this is just another temporary Google wobble or if the SERPs are getting more selective with click behavior.

Would be good to hear what others are seeing, especially if you’re running affiliate sites or using AI content in the mix.

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