Massive Drop (up to 10x) in Install Traffic for Extensions
David Walker
Dear Chrome Web Store Team,
Since approximately February 7-8, we have noticed a massive traffic drop across almost all our extensions and their disappearance from Google Search.
Together with other developers that we are in contact with, we collected screenshots showing a clear drop in traffic following certain changes in the Chrome Web Store (CWS). This issue clearly isn't random. Some extensions experienced a 2-3x drop, while others dropped as much as 10x:
Extension 1:
Extension 2:
Extension 3:
Extension 4:
Extension 5:
The affected extensions belong to different developers, operate in various niches, and have different global audiences.
We directly link this traffic drop to extensions disappearing from Google Search results. We tracked search rankings and found some extensions dropped from the top 10 positions to beyond the top 50.
While investigating, we discovered a recent change in the CWS Sitemap.
Previously, each extension had one URL chunk in the Sitemap (as recommended by Google Search), structured like this:
<url>
<loc>https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol</loc>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en" hreflang="en" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-GB" hreflang="en-GB" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E3%83%84%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=ja" hreflang="ja" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-US" hreflang="en-US" rel="alternate"/>
</url>
This structure correctly indicates translations as alternate versions, not duplicates.
Now, each translation is listed as a separate page with duplicated alternate links:
<url>
<loc>https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E3%83%84%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol</loc>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en" hreflang="en" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-GB" hreflang="en-GB" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E3%83%84%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=ja" hreflang="ja" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-US" hreflang="en-US" rel="alternate"/>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en</loc>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en" hreflang="en" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-GB" hreflang="en-GB" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E3%83%84%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=ja" hreflang="ja" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-US" hreflang="en-US" rel="alternate"/>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-GB</loc>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en" hreflang="en" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-GB" hreflang="en-GB" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E3%83%84%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=ja" hreflang="ja" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-US" hreflang="en-US" rel="alternate"/>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E3%83%84%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=ja</loc>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en" hreflang="en" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-GB" hreflang="en-GB" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E3%83%84%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=ja" hreflang="ja" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-US" hreflang="en-US" rel="alternate"/>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-US</loc>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en" hreflang="en" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-GB" hreflang="en-GB" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E3%83%84%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=ja" hreflang="ja" rel="alternate"/>
<xhtml:link href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/e-start-startup-page-sett/hehmkjmjappgeijgebepcnnckihfjbol?hl=en-US" hreflang="en-US" rel="alternate"/>
</url>
This approach contradicts Google's guidelines for localized pages (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions). As a result, these pages might be treated as duplicates, harming their search positions.
Essentially, each extension now has multiple duplicates (depending on the number of translations), causing the rankings to drop.
There might also be another issue involved. We kindly ask that you investigate this matter.
Thank you in advance!
