Google Updates and SERP Changes - November 2013

[Panthro]

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System: The following 20 messages were cut out of thread at: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4614058.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 1:36 am on Nov 4, 2013 (PST -8)

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I'm seeing some interesting SERPs right now. Queries seeming to be matched to the most generic term available instead of the specified query. IE - a search for "type of something" returns a list of "somethings". These are geomodified queries.

No surprise, just interesting to see.

[pontifex]

I'd see a strong change in revenue starting on the 14th and manifesting on the 15th... definitely something changed for my site! to the worse :-(

[webcentric]

Does anyone feel that there might have been some type of update on November 15? That was last Friday.

I have absolutely no doubt of it. It was like the switch that G flipped off for us on the 14th of October was flipped back on on the 15th of November. We lost 90% of our traffic on October 14th and got pretty much all of it back on the 15th of this month.

We took a few steps over the last month to address some thin page issues (noindexed some pages, fixed soft 404's and bulked up other pages). Whether any of the steps had anything to do with this (cross my fingers, knock on wood) recovery is hard to say but this was apparently related to a monthly cycle of some sort at the plex and my guess is that Panda played a roll.

[robert76]

Concerning the "yellow Ad graphic", I began to see this weekend in firefox on a Windows 8 laptop only. Doesn't show in firefox on my other systems. I would be willing to bet it doesn't stick around that long. I think it's great from a consumer perspective but I'm sure the added level of transparency brings Google click revenue down quickly.

[EditorialGuy]

I would be willing to bet it [the yellow ad graphic] doesn't stick around that long. I think it's great from a consumer perspective but I'm sure the added level of transparency brings Google click revenue down quickly.

On the other hand, if the yellow ad graphic leads to fewer "clueless clicks," advertisers' conversion rates should improve, making it cost-effective for them to bid more per click. So why knows--maybe Google could end up with fewer clicks but more revenue.

[wockawocka]

Wasn't the Yellow Ad graphic forced upon google by the EU? They don't have much choice?

[aquanaut]

Anyone else seeing movement from the 14th? Noticing more changes again today, all in a positive direction for a change.

[Martin Ice Web]

@robert, recently i clicked on a yellow flag ad on purpose. It was the only page where the snippet matched my query. Before the yellow flag i was going around the ads.

[ohno]

I'm sensing some serious testing going on since around the 11th. Yesterday(18th) traffic was well up on one domain & well down on another.

[philipboyle]

We have experienced almost alternating +/- 5% traffic shifts over the last 8 weeks, more positive than negative, especially around mid October, but definitely negative last Wed 13th Nov / Thurs 14th Nov and remaining consistently down so far.

The Mozcast for the 14th certainly seems to back up that there has been a major shift of some sort.

[bsand715]

Weird - (My web sites)Some of the lowest stats since 02 to normal stats (in a 4 day time period.) #2 site in my niche reads like a Yahoo Keyworded site from the early 2000s. #1 site reads like a 5th grade experiment and is 5 pages total.

(My business research.) If we want to find Quality sites we have to dig deep.Takes us twice as long to find what we need (sometimes we don't) as it did before google started doing what ever it is they do now.

IMO Junk sites at top - ton of forums most with silly comments and unanswered question.

[carlos the jackal]

In our industry it's as if Google knows who is a manufacturer and who is a retailer. It probably does really.

Retailers have been pushed to page 2/3 onwards, which doesn't make sense as when searching for our product one wouldn't really want to see manufacturers. It's the kind of thing one only searches to buy.

[ohno]

Seeing lots of image results in the SERP's now. Positions seems about the same. Traffic died last night in the early hours though & hasn't come back today.

[EditorialGuy]

Retailers have been pushed to page 2/3 onwards, which doesn't make sense as when searching for our product one wouldn't really want to see manufacturers. It's the kind of thing one only searches to buy.

On the other hand, there are plenty of product searches where the searchers are looking for information.

For product searches where user intent isn't clear, why shouldn't Google give more weight to manufacturers' pages? The information searchers will be happier if they don't have to dig through a passel of e-commerce results to find what they were looking for, and the prospective buyers can either search more precisely or click on the ads (which are hard to miss).

[carlos the jackal]

I see your point EG, however for what we sell, we are genuinely what users would expect to see when searching to buy, and to an extent when searching for info.

[Martin Ice Web]

Big drop since yesterday of about 40%. Conversions are Zero again. Google shopping ads are a dumping hole again.

[tabish]

Something is seriously going wrong with google.. looks like they are not able to control it anymore.. too much algo changes has made something terribly wrong.. we have not seen that kind of improper results and indexing in past few years..looks like their algo is out of control :)

[ohno]

Thought that for some time. Although torn between two thoughts :-
(1) The algo works just fine, THEY keep reining it in to control ads.
(2) The algo indeed is out of control, each tweak has massive impact.

All I know is it's constant up & down unless you are on the white list. SERP's seem full of Google Shopping & images pushing organic way below the fold. Then of course the "usual" sites appear. So you have an ad from "company X/Y", images from "company X/Y"(& random sites) & finally organic where "company X/Y" appear again! If you are ecom I'm sure you can work out company X & Y!

Since May May I can not recall, in any year previous, such volatile SERP's.

[tabish]

@ohno

I too thought the same way.. but as NO news from google, and no tweets by Mattcutts is making me a little bit suspicious. So much deep crawling, DNS error in WMT.. and no explanations from Google's end for that. There was actually no DNS issues in our server as well as other's.

There is something wrong going on and it looks like it's too much for google to handle. A slight changes in algo always made Matt to tweet or to post in blog (only 1% search queries are affected).. while now i see everything upside down and no update from their end?

[Martin Ice Web]

guys, search for "bing" gives you only 89.000.000 results back. Yesterday morning it was 330.000.000!
So maybe they filter more then yesterday or it is datacenter with only 1/3 of data.

[ohno]

340,000,000 for me. Something happened again last night, tumblewead today :( Just had a single hit from Budapest! great, is the UK switched off?!

[turbocharged]

Something is seriously going wrong with google.. looks like they are not able to control it anymore.. too much algo changes has made something terribly wrong.. we have not seen that kind of improper results and indexing in past few years..looks like their algo is out of control :)

If we operate under the assumption that Google's algorithm is unbiased and applies the same rules to all results, it would be fair to say that Google's algorithm is out of control. But I don't think this is the case.

When I see drops, I look to see who gained first page visibility. Four Amazon listings in a row (they picked up 1 spot with all 4 in a row and 1 paid ad = 5), followed by eBay a Facebook page and a big box retailer that does not stock the product in their store (this is new). YouTube videos are in the mix as well. The manufacturer of the product is on page 3 of Google's search results. :) Most of the first page listings belong to members of Google's lobbying group the "Internet Association."

The first small business retailer appears on page 2 for this search result. Also a coupon site has a listing on page 2 for an apparent expired discount code from 2012. How do I know the code is expired? It says "dead" in the title. :)

The holidays are approaching and it's quite clear that Google wants all the gifts under their tree. Small businesses, who are being culled by Google, had best find a better way to provide for their families if they rely on ecommerce. Adwords is an option for these small businesses, as Google wants that to be their only option, but few can afford to compete with warehouse giants that have few employees and little overhead.

[ohno]

Most of the first page listings belong to members of Google's lobbying group the "Internet Association".

Hahaha, come on, that's because they offer quality unique products & content! (/sarcasm).

Google won't get another penny from me, I simply no longer trust them. Period.

I think if you don't have a name & repeat customers you are in serious trouble. I'm glad you at least see the SERP's I do!(ironcally one page 1 result for a term I monitor is also dead, the description even says DISCONTINUED!). Another result, organic 1 on page 1 gives a 404 Amazon page! LOL @ Google, push them to the top for every term yet they are too big to enable you to update your index in time!

[Jez123]

I see the ads have changed from yellow back to how they were. Testing, I wonder?

[tabish]

I am still seeing yellow background in india

[Martin Ice Web]

They are gone in germany, the yellow ads. What a pitty, i thought goole would have done something good but propably it was to clear for them.

[ohno]

I guess revenue was down! Like ads on tv many ignore them....

[Awarn]

Appears Adwords isn't normal either so that usually means another shuffle.

[Martin Ice Web]

Does anyone see traffic changes?

Since wednesday we see about 25% less traffic, many keys have gone and bounce rate went up from less then 10% to over 90%!
It feels like they rolled back the oktober penguin changes.

[ohno]

Bounce at over 90% suggests something is not quite right there! Hope it turns around for you but there is no way it can be your fault! I guess we are back to Google sending searches for apples to sites that deal with oranages. Joy.

[Jez123]

I wonder if you guys are on the cusp of Penguin or Panda (or something). I'm not seeing what you see. Traffic is steady and good as are conversions. My site got released from Penguin in October and has gained slowly but surely since the initial jump up.