Google Updates and SERP Changes - March 2013

[gyppo]

< continued from [webmasterworld.com...]

I'm seeing daily switching between 2-3 datasets across around 600 keywords. Seeing roughly 10-20 keywords swapping in & out of positions.

[edited by: tedster at 2:47 pm (utc) on Mar 1, 2013]

[menntarra 34]

I don't think 404 errors in WMT have to do anything with traffic drops/rankings etc.
FYI i have 1.200.000 errors, no problem with that. Google tries a lot of urls such as
domain.com/name-of-article/page1
domain.com/name-of-article/page2
domain.com/name-of-article/page3
Despite the fact that i use rel="prev" rel="next", and i also use NOINDEX on these paginated pages.

Of course in some situations where you don't use right guidelines to tell google what to index and what not to index 404 page increase can mean something but it does not HAVE always. At least in my situation i think it means nothing.

[menntarra 34]

Here's what google sais in WMT, i think that sais it all:

Googlebot couldn't crawl this URL because it points to a non-existent page. Generally, 404s don't harm your site's performance in search, but you can use them to help improve the user experience.

[HuskyPup]

Oh dear, smashed, my CMS unique image gallery has been blown to smithereens today by Google!

As I type this PVs are 9% of average with AdSense earnings at 1/2%, yes, that's half a percent.

No need to ask IF there's been an update is there?

[ScubaAddict]

@HuskyPup -

Didn't you know - you don't own your content, Google does. New(er) image update:
[seroundtable.com...]

[HuskyPup]

Hi ScubaAddict

If you notice the WebmasterWorld thread seroundtable refer to was started by myself:-)

[ScubaAddict]

Haha - oops!

Fact still remains about "who actually owns" your content.

[ScubaAddict]

By the way, it's been 6 weeks since the last Panda update - Jan 22. Longest interval since the Panda #9 (Nov 18, 2011) to Panda 10 (Jan 18 2012).

Think we have one coming this week?

[gyppo]

Longest interval since the Panda #9 (Nov 18, 2011) to Panda 10 (Jan 18 2012).

That particular update had a huge positive impact on our main site, in fact that one was the only Panda update that brought us out of Panda completely (then back down the rabbit hole in March).

Assuming this upcoming update might be more than just a refresh.

[Convergence]

Longest interval since the Panda #9 (Nov 18, 2011) to Panda 10 (Jan 18 2012)

Providing it hasn't already ran or is running now - so many Panda-like indicators the past 10 days or so...

Been wondering when the minor weather reports are going to stop...

[Martin Ice Web]

@JesterMagic Yes, I mark them as fixed. But they come back and back again. G* used all ever seen links and submitted sitemaps to crawl the site. Unfortunatelly there seems no time limit for old 404s and 410s. I think it has something to do with site history.

@menntarra I think, like all these days you can not infer from your site to other sites. I think sites with "penguin/panda" flag have other criteria for quality ranking.

Googlebot couldn't crawl this URL because it points to a non-existent page. Generally, 404s don't harm your site's performance in search, but you can use them to help improve the user experience.

Read between the lines!


Edit:

Panda Update today? We have -50% and lots of new silly affiliate/spammy pages in index. Must be a quality algorithm update.


ecom, germany

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

Yeah, 404s [googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com...]

[Martin Ice Web]

TheOptimization, this is from 2008! Things have changed.

[Wilburforce]

this is from 2008!

Well, the "Do 404s hurt my site?" part is dated May 2011, but that doesn't necessarily mean the advice there still applies.

I note in passing that there is a link ("help them find what they were looking for") that supports the use of custom error pages:

[support.google.com...]

Another possible problem with doing that if you have a large number is that (in my case, anyway) WMT reports duplicate title/description tags for 404 pages: it treats the content of the custom error page as if it was the content of the missing page.

[Martin Ice Web]

Doesn´t a great number of changing content e.g. deleted pages look like spam? I could think ( that g* thinks this queer ) that spammy pages have a lot of 404s because of deleting old pages and create new ones? There could be a treshold and of course brands are exepted.

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

Actually JohnMu was quoted here in late 2012 as saying 404s show your server is functioning properly.

The only way 404s actually hurt is if you link to them.
The info I cited is still applicable.

404s don't hurt.
Links to 404s can.

I had someone ask me to fix all the 404s on their site, because they thought they were causing a Panda/ranking issue, but there's not a Panda or ranking issue any more and there's still tons of 404s, because it's a waste of my time to do anything with them.

They were totally convinced like so many people here 404s caused issues. It wasn't until after the site was fully indexed and ranking again without one of 404s fixed they "got" that 404s really aren't an issue.

BTW: If they really were an issue I could put up a million or so random broken links to any site I wanted to tank and pull them down and do it again a week later to more random non-existent pages and there's no way anyone could keep up with "fixing them". (I might be "the average idiot", but I not completely stupid so there's no way I'd do it cause it would hurt my site, not yours or anyone else's.)

It seems like it might be a good idea to stop reading between the lines, go with what's been repeatedly publicly stated about 404s since at least 2008 and start looking in other places for issues, but that's totally up to you.

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

Here's one from JohnMu Oct. 2 2012 (bold added)

My recommendation would be to make sure that this page returns 404, and then to let these errors settle down. It's fine to keep them visible in Webmaster Tools, you can also mark them as "fixed" if you prefer to keep a cleaner UI (the "fixed" status is just for yourself, it's not used by our websearch pipeline). Having pages that return 404 is fine, so I wouldn't worry about them showing up in Webmaster Tools.

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/webmasters/FtLeQ0mrXk0

[Wilburforce]

Between yesterday morning and today my Home page has dropped back from page 5 to page 47 for key term.

Two other ex page 1 sites are now on the same page. All three have different backlink profiles, different key-term count and density, different content styles, different menu structures, you name it. Apart from effectively an identical penalty, what do we have in common?

[Martin Ice Web]

Wilburforce: Code styling!

[Shepherd]

Apart from effectively an identical penalty, what do we have in common?

ecom? costing google adwords clicks?

[Wilburforce]

Code styling!

No, that isn't it.

As far as the code itself goes, one is (ahem) FrontPage, with 83 errors, one is XHTML Strict with 159 errors, and mine is hand-written and validates.

Everything about the sites/pages is very different, apart from:

1. We have all been on page 1 for key term;
2. We are all in the Key Term business;
3. We are all on page 47 now.

[Wilburforce]

ecom? costing google adwords clicks?

No, and no.

Maybe it is coincidence, but three on the same page looks suspiciously like it isn't.

[epmaniac]

my main site has suddenly vanished

[Wilburforce]

my main site has suddenly vanished

Do you mean most/all pages across a lot of search terms?

[epmaniac]

most pages... has there been an update?

the site which scrapped my content is ranking above me

[Wilburforce]

has there been an update?

Possibly. As posted previously, my Home page has gone back from page 5 to page 47 for key term, so something has changed.

On my site most other pages/search terms have not been affected, however.

[foxhunter]

Any news on an algorithm change in the last 24 hours?

Yesterday was the highest traffic day I have ever had, and today all but a few pages are nowhere to be found in the serps.

I had a couple terms that ranked number one and now are 5-10, and I had 20 or so other pages that ranked on the first page for different search terms but are all out of the top 100 this morning.

This is almost identical to what happened to me back on December 10th, and the same pages seem to be effected in the same manner. My terms all but vanished until January 3rd, when everything came back stronger than before.

Anyone else seeing a big change right now?

[joe121]

Yeah, I'm seeing HUGE changes today.

Yesterday, everything was ranking fine and then today around 5 of my sites have disappeared from the SERPs. I've never had a problem before so I feel some algorithm change must be going on.

Let's hope this gets sorted sooner rather than later.

[epmaniac]

Do you guys think its going to be temporary or permanent?

[louisewayne]

I agree with foxhunter. I am also seeing the same pattern.I also faced December 10 effect and recovered on January 3rd but now i am seeing the same changes.

[mirrornl]

About 12 hours ago something happened for sure, i lost 3 more sites
Guts tell me it's permanent,
Panda?

Europe