I am a pretty avid diyer. Its my relaxation from technical thinking all week.
I typically order OEM parts 99% of the time.

I have not ordered any parts in a half year roughly. I typically gggogle search "Mercedes genuine parts" and it returns many "regular" OEM sites selling parts. I typically pick several of the sites that indicate that I have previously selected them "website text color changed on gggogle after being selected"

Over the last two days I have run into an interesting situation when searching for parts to order.
Firstly, the gggogle returns are now a different array of websites. several that I have used, that had very competitive prices are now missing.
To find them alternatively, I used previous order receipts to actually search for the previous sites, about half are not selling parts online or the have an "entry blank" to request a parts inquiry

The next issue is really strange. The sites have all been updated (not so strange), but they now do not have some categories that previously existed.
The big one is ENGINE PARTS... the category does not exist in about 15 OEM sites i searched.

For those familiar, if you type in a part number, part of the returned information is the group (hyperlinked) to which the part belongs. You can select the group and see all of the parts in that group.
My idea to get to the "ENGINE GROUP" was thwarted when I typed in the part number for a camshaft adjuster. The part returned with a price; HOWEVER, it no longer lists the hyperlinked ENGINE GROUP. This means that you will need to know the engine part numbers and cannot search for engine parts by selecting that group. I used this feature often.

I also typed in "CAMSHAFT POSTION SENSOR" in the search entry blank. It did show in the shortcut drop down in the search entry blank, but when i selected it, the result said, "part cannot be located". SO, they have not completed the update fully, as you get many part names that "still" drop down in the search blank, but they are broken results when referencing engine parts.

Also, the prices are much less competitive between the various OEM sites.

QUESTION: what is happening? are we in the midst of an effort to reduce Online parts ordering by car owners and diyer's. i am puzzled and hope some forum memebers can get me straight. (The websites were previously grouped in bunches sharing about 5-6 different layouts across all of the OEM website part search areas. My recent results show just one main layout now in the part search area for the websites)

When a few of the forum members have a little time, can you search for engine parts on OEM sites based on your own gggogle searches. id like to know if this is widespread. and other members will likely fine other OEM sites. Maybe there are some that have not been updated (for the worse)

i hope I'm wrong about this

 

I've noticed that as well. There are several dealerships out there that operate on the same EPC (electronic parts catalog) just with a slightly or very similar look and feel. I remember in the past you can click on picture diagrams and see the corresponding part labeled by numbers, and below would be a list of numbers with their corresponding part #, OEM numbers. I typically would then google that specific part number to find the best price of it, then compare it to FCP Euro's price. If FCP Euro has the part, I most likely would buy it from there, even if its slightly more expensive because it's covered under lifetime warranty.

 

Online marketing is going through some huge transformations right now. I've worked in marketing for over 2 decaeds and what you're seeing is an effort from Google to do a better job of providing better search results, in its own opinion, and to reduce or eliminate the SEO "tricks" companies have used so pervasively over the last few years. One of those tricks is exactly what you guys noticed, several supposedely different websites that are in fact operatd by just a couple companies. One of the guys posted a chart of the forum, I think in the W222 section, ahowing different prices for the same parts on the different websites, even those who you could clearly see were operated by the same company. It was a great example of companies using Google to gouge consumers. Google doesn't like that, so you're going to see less of it. It has been a common practice in online sales for years. I can't say with 100% certainty that it was all on Google, it could be that the site's operators realized what was going to happen, and made the changes proactively. I'm NOT a fan of Google, but I do think this initiative provides clarity for consumers.

 

within the actual OEM website parts search, i can no longer click on the "engine group" to see the entirety of all parts available for the engine, because its "gone". This is outside of googles reach. it is the website making this search unavailable. why would this be taken away "within" the OEM parts search? this is not google.

Also, i have two websites, and google has never anything to do with my website layout, design, links, or content.
so, although i understand your argument, i am not so much in agreement.

I feel there is something else going on here. i am hoping others can link to OEM online parts searches that have not gone this way.
This is bad

 

What you are seeing has nothing to do with google or changes in online marketing. It has everything to do with scum organization that is MBUSA. They are harming the consumer's right to maintain.

 

It's is both, I can tell you from direct experience with large companies it's both. However, the reasons are what I expressed, regardless if those uninformed want to understand that or not.

 

This is happening with websites all over the place, not just car part sites.

 

If you go to eBay and search for your part, there is a seller called Partscontainer with very good prices, and you get the eBay Motors guarantee of a full refund if the parts are not OEM Mercedes. It appears MB has cracked down on the group of MB dealers who were offering 40% parts discounts. All these dealers were using the same platform that was very easy to search for the part needed. Several of these MB dealers, who were selling discounted parts, are now offering much lower discounts and only offer local pickup of the part (no shipping).

For now, the eBay option appears to offer the best alternative.

 

With all of the above::

Google has recently change the algorithm to a new AI base algorithm that is geared towards directing you towards the scum and away from legitimate users, too.

It used to be that when I google this-or-that several times in a week, google would send out *-bots to find more on what I was searching (computer architecture stuff) and then when I googled the same thing again I would get mew and better answers. Now I get new and worse and more devious answers.

 

To your point. Youtube is even worse. I really enjoyed searching and learning on Youtube, now I always get served something really crappy; car crashes, negative police stuff, or people behaving badly. FB is absolutely the sorse platform for me. After doing some research for an uppcoming conference, my entire feed is related to one singular thing, which I have zero interest in, or use for, at this point. I absolutely hate it! I've told my clients for at least two years now that the algorithms are broken; they don't work nearly as well as in the past. We can thank IOS 14 for making privacy easier to accomplish. Even though the experience is not as fulfilling as before, I choos privacy over ease. What's most amazing is people aren't aware of the drastic changes they've experienced. Just my $.02 cents.

 

Back to the original topic, yes I've noticed this as well.
They seem to have changed/"upgraded" their part sorting and browsing setup, they all seem to use the same setup from mbusa to specific dealerships.
​​​​​​I don't think prices have changed for the one I use but it is now impossible to find anything, if you enter the PN it still shows up so maybe a temporary issue?
It is basicly unusable now unless you have the PNs you want to buy...