Google Updates and SERP Changes - October 2014

[samwest]

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System: The following 8 messages were cut out of thread at: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4699490.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 10:31 am on Oct 3, 2014 (PST -8)

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Traffic still lethargic here...funny how the traffic looks human, but acts like bots. I've never seen a human sit on a privacy page for 30 minutes, and yet have bounce rates of almost 70%.
The mobile vs. desktop pie chart shows 25% desktop, 14% mobile and 51% unknown.

[samwest]

12:02 am and just like clockwork, traffic starts flowing normally, though lightly...but flowing.

Site was cut out of all daytime traffic, sitting at zero all day.

[JD_Toims]

12:02 am and just like clockwork, traffic starts flowing normally, though lightly...but flowing.

[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]

Reading both [in addition to others I don't feel like searching for right now] might be helpful in understanding why some "craziness" with Google is the way it is -- At the very least, the preceding give an idea about Google's engineers thinking and the direction Google's likely been going.

Added Note: the first link is better and explains more of how the patented ideas work.

[GreyBeard123]

There are huge fluctuations in rankings in all the niches we’re watching.

Something definitely happened during the last 12 hours...

[tigger]

agree UK serps are showing a lot of movement

[tigger]

double posting

[edited by: tigger at 7:28 am (utc) on Oct 18, 2014]

[petehall]

Huge shifts in the UK results... seems very random. Some sites ok, some dropped and some missing !

[tigger]

sorry don't know whats going on ANOTHER double posting

[Wilburforce]

I'm not yet seeing any major upheaval in my UK sector, although my site has dropped another couple of places for main key term.

[Shai]

Can confirm some large positive movements on SOME penguin affected clients. Will update as the day goes by.

[liamkk]

I can confirm strong improvements on a site which was moderately affected by Penguin and we are seeing improvements across most of the keywords.

It may also be the case that a lot of spam sites are disappearing and hence clearing way for genuine content sites.

[BlueDanube]

Definitely substantial movement in the UK SERPS confirming earlier observations. Both E-Commerce and Info Sites. Petehall's post spot on - some sites affected, others untouched.

[samwest]

Google seems to be applying a considerable effort and pressure to suppress my site. Whereas Bing is listing it freely and openly.

I'm being told by some senior Googler's in their product forum that it is because I lost 5k back links in the past year, starting in March, then again in July, well before I even started converting my site to CMS.

Coincidentally, my competitors suffered the same losses in the same time frame. Perfect for opening up real estate for Houzz and other ad network pals.

Google created the atmosphere of paranoia about backlinks so everybody nofollowed all their outbound links. Now they are laughing as sites that were naturally linked drop all their back links. IMHO, backlinks are BS and just a way to game the serps. With no consideration of content, Google is flawed beyond comprehension.

[Shai]

Everything seems to be worryingly stable after the initial recoveries noticed this morning. I would normally expect massive fluctuations throughout the day but it all seems to be set in stone right now.

[netmeg]

I'm thinking there's a Penguin rollout going on.

[samwest]

This is where Google fails terrible as a company who desires the love of it's users. It's funny how with our technology we have a better chance of catching a meteor shower down to the hour (something we typically would not be aware of at all) yet Google's animal cracker updates are a complete mystery. Give us full disclosure and we'll give you more love...until then forgetaboutit.

[Wilburforce]

I'm thinking there's a Penguin rollout going on.

@netmeg

I'm still not seeing anything here (which may be down to sector or DC). Are you seeing something specific?

[Splugged]

Nothing on my side

[SnowMan68]

Nothing on the sites I monitor :(

[netmeg]

This is where Google fails terrible as a company who desires the love of it's users.

For better or worse, most of its users do still love it. Google cares about users and advertisers. It doesn't care about webmasters or publishers. That's the essential truth, and if you can bring yourself to accept that as a given, it gets a little easier to remain dispassionate and keep focused.

I'm still not seeing anything here (which may be down to sector or DC). Are you seeing something specific?

I don't have any Penguin affected sites under my specific purview, but the vendor of a client has been suffering for more than a year, and at one point they asked me to take a look (and gave me access to their Analytics, which I still have) I check in on them from time to time just to see if there's been any recovery, and for the first time today it looks like maybe there's something big enough to notice. (And on a Saturday, too)

[samwest]

Google cares about users and advertisers. It doesn't care about webmasters or publishers.

But I am a user...AND a webmaster, so they care about me, yet don't...now that's Googlesque logic I can sink my teeth into.

I would be less passionate if it didn't involve my livelihood, which I am sad to say I (along with many of you) trusted and relied upon Google for over a decade. Stooooopid me!

I digress...

The roller coaster is back in motion this morning...after a 24 hour blackout...BANG, BANG two sales in under 3 minutes (while writing this). The site works great and is an obvious good user experience...for users, if they can find it...but Gorg doesn't seem to see it that way...that or they just enjoy playing these ON/OFF games.

[RedBar]

It seems to me that Google has reserved the first three places to Houzz for many of my widgets, followed by gardenweb, pinterest and home depot.

Awesome results G, as much use as a chocolate fireguard!

[IamnotMattCutts]

Yep - Penguin has lifted off in the UK.

[Wilburforce]

Penguin has lifted off in the UK.

If you have any evidence (or have seen anything in blogs or Google statements), please can you tell us about it: I'm not disupting anyone's claims or observations, but unsupported assertions don't help us much.

[IamnotMattCutts]

based on my psychic powers

[Wilburforce]

based on my psychic powers

What Netmeg said when I asked was more useful.

I'm concerned that we don't all get too trigger-happy, lest we all wake up tomorrow and find the Penuin has "softly and suddenly vanished away"

(For the Snark was a Boojum, you see).

[rish3]

I am seeing significant shifts in the U.S. As to whether it's Penguin...who knows?

[JoeSinkwitz]

All I can say is that the sites I'm tracking with confirmed penguin 1.0 hits are showing 0 movement, regardless of the variety of actions taken to rectify.

Clearly there's something afoot. However, my gut reaction is this is more akin to a modification and re-run of the "payday" update, possibly combined with a new wave of manual penalties. I'm very happy to be wrong and it is possible my data is incomplete, but I just don't see penguin yet.

[Kelowna]

I am seeing significant shifts in the U.S. As to whether it's Penguin...who knows?

Ya thinking the same thing, huge shifts up and down across all our sites in Canada and the USA.

Looks like backlink data has hit the spin cycle, definitely way outside the normal flux range, I would expect to hear an official announcement down the road as google likes to be fashionably late.

Time to find a beach in the Caribbean without wifi for a week to relax while Google does it's animal thing.

[mirrornl]

some obvious movements here, but not sure we can call it Penguin

[renska]

Something is definitely going on. Our site was hit and literally disappeared from search results. This only applies to Google, not Bing. What a great day!