Is Joe Surfer adapting

I've noticed a change in traffic

[too much information]

I noticed in my logs today that my traffic is increasing post-Florida but for terms that didn't seem to do as well for me in the past.

I have always ranked very well for this phrase and even now I am #1, but traffic has always been low. Today it is starting to equal what my traffic was for some of my top key phrases.

Has Joe Surfer adapted? Are regular users not running from the mid-Florida update but instead working around it to find what they want? Is this happening to anyone else?

*Don't let this get into another Directory pages, Florida bashing thread. I honestly want to know if anyone else is noticing that their traffic is comming from different keyword combinations than pre-Florida.

[martinibuster]

Word stemming by Google putting you up top for the phrases? Could you be the beneficiary of what others have been complaining about?

More likely.
:) Y

[Krapulator]

Stemming has definitely helped this little black duck :)

[TheDave]

Most definately TMI. I would expect so with such a major shift in the algo. Noticing a few more "quoted queries" though.

[edayle]

It only stands to reason. Joe Surfer will adapt and evolve. People (web surfers included) do not like to change habits. Those who use Google as their primary search tool will keep using it. It will take more than this last update for them to move on or seek out another. If "Joe Surfer" wants to purchase land and dosent find local realtors by entering the keywords of anystate, anytown ,reality he will try again and add the search term "buy" at the end. Oh and to answer your question TMI, we too have had an increase...

[flicker]

As a Joe Surfer, if there's nothing remotely useful on the first page of a search I don't even bother going to the second page; my first instinct is to refine my search by adding extra words (or, if many of the returned sites are about the same thing, even subtracting some) and then try again. After trying for 5-10 minutes if I'm still not seeing anything useful at all I'll switch to another search engine; if the second search engine doesn't give me anything useful I'll often assume there's nothing useful online and change tactics. There's my data point. (-:

[Kirby]

>Noticing a few more "quoted queries" though.

Not seeing more, just higher percentage. Without quotes they get directories, not me.

[DRGather]

I've actually seen an increase in traffic from other SE's in the past 2 to 3 days. Those are far outranking the Google traffic in that time frame. And yes, I've also noticed some KW hits that I wouldn't have expected to get.

[jim_w]

Humans are creatures of habit. Even if they were not, I think it would take a bit longer for them to change. I’m not convinced that Pavlovian conditioning takes only a couple of weeks. If anything my bet is they are getting more frustrated, for I am see more hits from page 2, etc. Also, there was a piece on the news, NBC I think, where they told people to be more accurate in their searches and to use more than one or 2 words when looking for holiday gifts.