Since Caffeine went into full swing, my traffic growth rate has gone from a steady several year long gallop, to a crawl where growth can be measured by the millimeter. I don't know what has happened "this time", but the Caffeine update is the most damaging curve ball that Google has thrown at me to date.
Some random observations:
I have a huge chunk of search rankings that seem to have reverted to exactly where they were 8 months ago, and apparently they're now stuck there. New content is generating substantially less traffic, and in some cases none at all. Longtail search referrals have dramatically declined. New content indexing is more sporadic then it's ever been, with huge indexing bursts, followed by long dry periods. Post-Caffeine inbound links seem to have zero impact on my search rankings. My age old age rankings are holding steady, but pulling in way less traffic than before.
For the first time in six years, I may actually stop creating new content.
