SERPs traffic up 500%, Google Shopping down 75% on same day

[nickster999]

I had a strange thing happen on the 25th July. I've been doing very well with Google Shopping (what was Froogle) - getting around 10% of my traffic from it, appearing near the top for many of my products.
My positions on the SERPs have never been that great - first page for a couple of keywords, page 5 or 6 for my main keywords.
No matter what I've done over the last few years, it never seemed to have much effect on our position on the SERPs.

I now have a theory why....

On the 25th July, Google shopping traffic went down 75% and SERPs traffic went up 500%! In fact, the change almost cancels itself out as visitors are around the same level, problem is that the SERPs traffic converts at a much lower level :( I'm now at the top of page 2 for one of my major keywords which was on page 6.

Or, I just suck at SEO ;)

And before you ask, nothing changed on my site as I was on holiday in Majorca at the time!

With my paranoid hat on, it feels like I'm a experiment Google are carrying out to see how Shopping performs compared to SERPs (I use Analytics, so they can see how I'm performing). I can see why I might move down Shopping or up the SERPs, but why would I move up one and down another in such a sudden and massive way on the same day? Were they limiting my SERPs position and boosting my Shopping position?

Without my paranoid hat, it just looks like a coincidence Google changed algos for both on the same day and they happened to cancel each other out in terms of visitor numbers....

What do you reckon?

[tedster]

There may well have been an experiment - but it's not likely that it involved only your site ;) Part of it may have been dropping Google Shopping results from the universal results for some query that's important for you.

[bwnbwn]

Actually I am seeing the shopping results not at the top of the pages now but in the middle of the pages between 4-6 positions. This is most likely why the drop in traffic.

[tedster]

Yes, I think that's what Propools is seeing in another thread [webmasterworld.com]. I've been checking into that this morning, and it's not a consistent thing - just here and there on searches for various types of products.

Interesting experiment. I wouldn't be surprised if Adwords clicks went up when the Google Shopping results are not competing so strongly for the visitors' attention.

[bwnbwn]

Interesting experiment. I wouldn't be surprised if Adwords clicks went up

ted I think ya just nailed that one.