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]

[backdraft7]

@TOI - I doubt their MO is a "better user experience", I'd say it's more bottom line driven. The more "newly monetized" videos they can display, the better for Google. GOOG is at $837.20 /share. Do the math.

[SerpsGuy]

The search results in my niche are dominated by subdomains on blog sites, and profile links. Top three are alright, but I previously was page one num 2 and I felt I earned it I have 1500 word articles minimum for everything. In depth stuff, now its replaced with trash.

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

As a search engine do you think it's better to have an algo that ranks the longest, most informative page(s) on every occasion or the page(s) your visitors respond best to regardless of length or depth of coverage?

Another way of saying it without the rhetorical question is: If shorter more concise less informative pages are what Google's visitors are responding best to, then your 1500 word pages aren't what's best for them to rank, even if from a "depth of coverage" and "information presented" point of view yours are much better.

What's best for Google to rank in my opinion really has to be subjective and their visitors really have to be the driving or determining force behind the length, depth of information and amount of coverage they want to see from Google's results, not what we think is obviously better.

[edited by: TheOptimizationIdiot at 9:00 pm (utc) on Mar 11, 2013]

[not2easy]

And if from the same IP..( Geo IP based and IP history <= yes they store what your IP has looked at ..and they do so for years..it influences the ads you see and the serps you see ) .IP personalisation..even with all the rest turned off or blocked..even with cookies cleaned and from other machines on the same IP..

Makes sense of nonsense to me. My ISP is ADSL and my IP can change multiple times in 24 hours even. I guess that explains the off-target geotargeting of ads I see which are always hundreds, but often even thousands of miles away. What a misguided idea.

[SerpsGuy]

Actually I noticed today that all the terms I used to rank for I am now on page 31. Does that mean something?

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

Follow up to the series of posts I made about removing tons of work from pages since the ones I didn't "do all the extra to" were ranking better.

It seems like the last thing you should do, but they way they rank skank these days, it's hard not to follow suit. It raises the whole design for SEO or design for the user quandary. You never really mentioned, did it improve your results and did it stick?

Found the first one today at #8 for one of the two main phrases that were targeted.

It'll definitely be interesting to see if it shuffles up a bit and sticks over the next few days like the others without the extra info have.

I know it seems like a counter intuitive move, but when I can see "less is more" in the results, it sort of has to lead me to believe I should "throw more out". Hopefully it works as well as it's appearing to have based on the initial "pop" into the top 10 I'm seeing, cause this page hasn't been there since the additions of "better" from a "me deciding what's best" perspective were made.

[edited by: TheOptimizationIdiot at 9:52 pm (utc) on Mar 11, 2013]

[Wilburforce]

all the terms I used to rank for I am now on page 31. Does that mean something?

Pretty soon you'll be joining me in the Page 47 Club?

[networkliquidators]

I seem to be ranking very well for my website (broad and specific product terms). All I have done is aid in building a great user experience targeted to our customers (E-commerce).

In addition, implementing best practices for technical SEO.

Traffic is flowing naturally.

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

Lucky you!

I'm sure there's quite a few of us who have done the same thing without the same results. For an example check out my series of posts (starts on page 8 @ 30 posts per page) relating to deleting better, more informative, well written content that was miles ahead of what the competition was doing to improve rankings.

* Believe me when I say I did not "pull" hundreds of hours of work I spent creating unique, well written, informative, topical content from hundreds of pages lightly, but the algo decides what's "best" or "better" not me and based on the results for the terms targeted it became increasingly obvious less is more right now, so the "better" content went away, for a while at least.

[aok88]

Search Engine Land just reported Matt Cuts saying there will be a significant Penguin update in 2013 and we can expect a Panda algorithm update this coming Friday (March 16th) or Monday (March 18th).

[Shepherd]

Search Engine Land just reported Matt Cuts saying there will be a significant Penguin update in 2013

Wish I hadn't read that before bed...

Well, haven't built any links since April, 2012 so shouldn't have anything to worry about right, yeah right!

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

Search Engine Land just reported Matt Cuts saying there will be a significant Penguin update in 2013 and we can expect a Panda algorithm update this coming Friday (March 16th) or Monday (March 18th).

And that seems to say what we've been seeing isn't Panda or Penguin, but something different. Interesting.

[backdraft7]

Just one more excuse to knock us all down a few more pegs and move G's self interests into the spotlight. It's been that way since 2010, so why expect anything "positive" that might benefit the expendable masses. The Wild West days are over, get used to more and more "control".

[Lenny2]

When i read the headline that a "significant" panda update was/is in store for us this year... My whole body shuttered... Then i realized that only about 20% of our traffic comes from google organic.

Gone are the days of sleeplessly worrying about google rankings... I have to tell you guys its quite the freeing sensation.

You still think about it... You just dont worry about it!

[shadowdaddy]

Then i realized that only about 20% of our traffic comes from google organic

If you lost that 20% you could bet it would still hurt...especially if the share of new traffic to the site from org is higher than that.

[Wilburforce]

especially if the share of new traffic to the site from org is higher than that

That is the problem: I don't need Google for repeat business, but if I forget to ask a caller "how did you find us?" I can usually guess.

Google organic results will become dispensable when most people start using something else.

[netmeg]

When i read the headline that a "significant" panda update

Significant Penguin update. Makes a difference.

[Dymero]

"And that seems to say what we've been seeing isn't Panda or Penguin, but something different. Interesting."

It's possible it's something different, but we've seen major shifting in the SERPs before other Panda refreshes. Maybe they were doing some major testing of this one before fully rolling it out?

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

Maybe they were doing some major testing of this one before fully rolling it out?

That's a definite possibility. It'll be interesting to see if the odd results people were seeing "stick" when Panda finally rolls out.

Another thing I think is possible is they were processing the data and will be rolling it out over the next week, which could account for some of the really odd delays in getting things updated.

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

BTW: It's a +15% indexed page count day for me today and new pages are still being index slowly.

[Sand]

Maybe they were doing some major testing of this one before fully rolling it out?

That's my hunch as well. I'm still seeing at least 2 very different result sets for a lot of searches. One of them is largely unchanged from the 'normal,' while the other has some pretty significant shifts. I've been seeing it periodically for a week or so now, so I definitely think they're testing something pretty thoroughly.

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

Has anyone else seen what looks like a "reserved spot" for a result from a site?

I've seen one with 4 or 5 different pages rank for the same query (one page at a time not multiple results). The odd thing is every page that's been shown for the specific query has ranked in exactly the same position every single time.

So query stays the same. Position stays the same. Page ranked changes fairly frequently. Oh and other results have the standard "flux" so it's not likely cache or personalization or cookies or anything along those lines.

[arohan]

Has anyone else seen what looks like a "reserved spot" for a result from a site?

Yes, I have seen this. Interestingly, this particular page's spot is reserved at #18 (page 2). All the other pages shift around it and this one does not budge from its spot. Been this way for at least a couple of months.

I assumed they are testing other pages on various signals and Google has this particular page already figured out. Doesn't make sense but I have no other better explanation.

[garyr_h]

I'm seeing two completely different sets as well. One of the sets has my website completely out of the top 5 pages while the other one is 'normal'. Makes me wonder if the Panda update will completely kill my site this time.

[TheOptimizationIdiot]

One of the strangest things for me is I can't find the difference in the site: search between the result sets.

It's a big site and I know the site: search can return some odd results, but from a + day to a - day for indexed page count even if I go by directory like site:example.com/some-directory and site:example.com/another-directory they are either the same or within a few pages from one day to the next, so it's almost like the estimating algo is a bit different from one to the other for the main site: search but not deeper searches or something along those lines.

[Martin Ice Web]

@garyr_h, i see the same. The "good" one brings traffic where poeple are going through our site, means they fetch more then 3-4 pages. The bad one birngs traffic where poeple fetch one site and then bounce back.

Yesterday I did some reasearch about products we selled a lot before penguin and now not one in a year. I found that all results to rtelated queries are complete with the same information sites/blogs, wikipedia... not one ecom site left, ah wait one is still on page one: amazon. And certainly googgle shopping is very prominent placed and on the point.

ecom, germany

[mirrornl]

Serps rolled back here to pre 5th March

[indyank]

All indicators are predicting a friday Panda...

[superclown2]

Serps rolled back here to pre 5th March

Yes, I have seen that this morning here in the UK.

[Martin Ice Web]

Serps rolled back here to pre 5th March

confirmed

All indicators are predicting a friday Panda...

yes, and domain stuffing is very high again. See lots of results with only one domain. Friday is gonna hurt...


ecom, germany