Google Updates and SERP Changes - April 2013

4 days in, Im still getting really blitzed results for my main keyword. Makes no sense that they bumped out the big brand names. I doubt it will stay permanent.

If you run Google Adsense on your page, click on your serp listing to see if you get a pop up that says

"The page at [google.g.doubleclick.net...] says: This page requires AC_Run ActiveContent.js "

Looks like all the April Fools messing around at Google has now broken the serp link to our site.

No wonder we are getting zero traffic this morning!

Here in the UK I'm seeing a mess in SERPS since Friday 29th/Saturday morning... some new low spec sites taking top spot on keywords that are knocking out well established ones in our niche. Very bizarre!

We've also taken a drop ourselves in last couple of days.. up n down all over the show... anyone else?

Hope this is just a part of April fools trick. Hope to see rankings back on their positions tomorrow morning.

click on your serp listing to see if you get a pop up

Normally don't click my own stuff but no pop up when looking at cache preview, cached page or clicking SERP link.

April 1st around 9am, noticed one of my keywords that drives a lot of traffic to me is gone. Browsed through the serps to find it, page 32 is where it sits.

Same behavior I saw on March 6th 2013 (last month). First one word dropped, then they all disappeared from search. Maybe this is a continuation of the gradual rollout?

Either way, pretty bummed. I will keep an eye on rankings all day today, and will update if more KW rankings disappear.

@SerpsGuy

9AM EST?

Something weird happened to the results here to around 11AM EST. Big flux, site links were updated and pages were flipped around. I also noticed extra spacing between all of the results. It was in the Adwords and the Organics. Then all of the SERPS flipped back to normal (if there is such a thing), except the extra spacing stayed.

@SnowMan68 - Yep, EST so I guess around 6am PST.

I feel like there's been a focus back from content to IBLs. Just an anecdote based on what I'm seeing.

[edited by: Panthro at 9:12 pm (utc) on Apr 1, 2013]

As a side note to my conversation with Leosghost yesterday: Knocking out the mobile devices users from my PPC campaign has really made a nice difference today. Zombie mobile traffic is down to only 21% so far today as opposed to nearly 40% yesterday. The remaining traffic is interacting somewhat better today.

A focus BACK from content to IBL? Ill try to rephrase that properly- You are saying you believe the focus is on internal backlinks vs external links?

Generally afaik IBL is understood to be In-Bound Links, so my interpretation of the post is the speculated shift is from content on-page to In Bound Links to a page, which could (would afaik) include on-site links to a page, but is definitely not limited to on-site links to a page.

From what I know of general use of abbreviations IBL includes any link to a page. So rather than your distinction of a shift in focus between on-site and off-site links, any link (on or off site) is an In Bound Link to that page and that is what's being speculated at as the 'shift' in importance for rankings over the actual content on a given page.

If I'm missing something or misinterpreting, hopefully the OP will give us a more definite interpretation of what they're saying.

TOI has the correct interpretation of my gibberish.

feel like there's been a focus back from content to IBLs.

What is being looked at in the IBLs? Is it anchor text? Quality of the page that the link is coming from?

If you can aggregate 7 cheap, junk websites and write a little blurb around them, you'll rank #1. One of G's pal's has been holding that spot for a few weeks now with such drivel, based solely on the authorship metric (and a cute little personal photo of the author to match next to the listing). Once you bare all, I guess you gain endless credibility and can post anything.

I've been fighting the rash of "30 Amazing Widgets!" type articles for months now, most include photos of MY widgets. Posting a personal photo and claiming to be an author should not allow these oafs to steal copyrighted content and RANK on it!

haha okay got it. I dont think thats the case, I have only forum links I posted myself to my site and I rank first in google. Even for one word terms. I do have excellent content I write myself though, with information not available anyplace else.

Was anyones traffic still down yesterday compared to weeks prior? Has anyone seen a bounce back yet after the Easter holiday?

On my main site I don't focus at all on on-page keywords anymore. I jut try to write everything for the user now. No more trying to game search engines in anyway whatsoever. The long term hassles are not worth the short term gain. If you pick a topic and then write completely naturally without any focus on keywords, its amazing how the keywords you would have targeted had been a keyword specific article, get blended in anyway. Some of the main keywords around a topic cannot be avoided anyway. Forcing yourself to use keywords in an article just ruins the natural flow of it.

@SM68, till yesterday our traffic picked up a bit. Today is seems like normal. Conversions are very low. Bounce rate is low.
One of my competitors is back, although he has buyed many links.
One some queries big g* ignores complete one or two keywords. I donīt like that from a user point of view. Its like in a big warehouse where you can only go through the whole house to get to the checkout - i donīt like it.

Some of my pages in the serps are not the actual goal for the query but this pages contain links to actual page for this query. It is like g* donīt shows the 90%-100% matching pages but the 50% relevant pages.

ecom, germany

I see a site ranking at the top of page 2 with no content, very few links and nothing but a simple submission form on the home page. My resource has been sent to page 26! The damage seems to be isolated to the EMD term, so I am guessing it's that as there's nothing wrong with the site.

There has been a tonne of movement over the bank holiday weekend here in the UK. Not across all verticals, and again the movement appears to be isolated somewhat. I've seen sites (not just mine) rising and falling 100s of places from day to day. Talk about a rollercoaster ride... !

6 days in and Im still getting warped results for my main keyword. An industry and brand names that have been at the top for at least 2 years, maybe longer! Im sure google will get its act together at some point. The question is...when...hrm.

So frustrating... Keywords that I have ranked well for the last 8 years and I am now loosing to a popular magazine that created a best of list. Little content that hasn't had a recent update. One of the comments on the page puts it best "well, the article, to me, reads as though it represents about 10 minutes worth of research".

Google has to realize that brands can create garbage as well.

Here's how to rank...

1. Get a writing gig with one of those answer sites.
2. Open a G+ account,post your head shot and enter all your personal information and verify it.
3. Get hundreds of people on your G+ circles.
4. Begin slinging trash and it will rank on page 1.

A few weeks ago it was photo spam sites, now it's swinging back to the thin answer sites and G+ authorship, not matter how unrelated to the topic.

@backdraft7

now it's swinging back to the thin answer sites and G+ authorship

That headshot of a woman? You talking about a two word phrase that's real close to your domain name? The pic I saw is like you said, 600+ Plus circles and every article she's written is on the same "buddy" site (just found her site so she does write elsewhere on a totally unrelated niche).

I tend to think, nowadays, that when it comes to article and forum spam, G has a floor and a ceiling for penalties; a few signature links on a 10,000 thread forum is spam, 300 links means you're participating in that forum - 5 or six articles is spam but 100 or more you must be a regular contributer.

When it comes to comment spam I know they aren't catching it.

1. Get a writing gig with one of those answer sites.
2. Open a G+ account,post your head shot and enter all your personal information and verify it.
3. Get hundreds of people on your G+ circles.
4. Begin slinging trash and it will rank on page 1.

Or you could replace No. 4 by writing quality articles that will also rank highly and earn you money. Just a thought!

@GLL - You could do that, but it's clear some don't yet still rank high. That's ok, what works today may not work tomorrow. It's all in flux, but it's all good. Today seeing improvements, especially right after fixing a simple canonical error that was affecting hundreds of pages.

Was anyones traffic still down yesterday compared to weeks prior? Has anyone seen a bounce back yet after the Easter holiday?

Yes and yes.

Traffic was lower than normal yesterday. I attributed it to the day after Easter being a travel day for some, as well as April Fool's Day (which seems to consume a lot of people's internet time).

Today it looks like everything is back on track for me.

Yes, a much better "feel" to traffic today...if that sounds odd, it is. I'm still under the impression that many of the issues reported are not related to Google at all, but instead constantly changing pattens evolving in the very fabric and connectivity of the billions of end points that make up the internet as a whole. It doesn't sound very scientific, but sometimes to understand something, you have to observe it from a completely different point of view. If I tell you my traffic is better today, will you believe me because I told you so or because you are experiencing the same and I just verified your observation? While that might be true, a mere two observation points or even a dozen or a hundred or a thousand can in no way predict the operational behavior of a machine with billions of points and all the permutations thereof. Enjoy the problems we are not seeing today, because they are guaranteed to swirl around like so much weather and be back tomorrow, or the next day. Just remember, our planet was designed, bought and paid for by mice, and the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42. Now wasn't that fun?

[edited by: backdraft7 at 9:25 pm (utc) on Apr 2, 2013]