Shaddows - 8:04 am on Oct 26, 2011 (gmt 0)

@mhansen

Could this shift at this site mean that the change on the 20th was MORE than just a Panda change? Maybe a shift toward the usual commerce algo that rolls out for Xmas shop[ping season every year?

Absolutely. I called it about 30 posts ago.

I have access to a few bellwether sites, sections, subdomains and even pages, as well as having a database of "sites of note" which behave strangely in different circumstances. Importantly, they cover a wide range of niches.

There is no doubt in my mind that this was NOT a Panda change, it was a realignment of users with sites, either by reinterpreting query intent, or by reclassifying sites.

A classic sign of a traffic realignment is reports of zombie traffic and related phenomena; increased traffic but static gross conversions, static traffic but decreased conversions, and spiked traffic followed by either a semi-permanent increase in conversion rate, or a total crash

Besides, as soon as @ohno and @backdraft show up, you know its a discrete ecom update