Google Updates and SERP Changes - November 2014

[Anon]

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System: The following 8 messages were cut out of thread at: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4706161.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 9:17 am on Nov 1, 2014 (PST -8)

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"Anyway, something happened in the past 24 hours and things have gotten MUCH worse. Spotty traffic, long zero runs, non converting, page sitters...GA seems to freeze too, anyone else noticing that? "

I have noticed further drops the past 24 hours also. Really hope these new changed are only temp.

[Savanadry]

I too noticed an marked uptick today. Previously panda'd (2011, 2.3) site which has gradually recovered just got another boost. Has been stable since oct 17th-20th. Still not back to previous levels but getting close now.

[samwest]

Page views are all over the place...50k one day, 15k the next. Search queries trending up ever so slightly. I figure it's seasonal.

One very oddball behavior...I can go 12 hours without a sale, but then reboot then server and within 5 minutes a sale comes through...repeatable three time within the last 48 hours. It's as weird as the spam mail volume noticed by others...but it seems to be valid.

The only explanation would be that some bot or script is attaching itself to the server and redirecting traffic? Is that even possible or likely? It would have to be very sophisticated.

Maybe some BGP exploit? [bit.ly...]

[RedBar]

I mentioned a couple of days ago that an example.eu seemed to have been hit. So far this month it has only had one October average day, for the 9 days so far it is running at 50% and yesterday, Sunday, at 10%.

This is a totally white hat corporate brochure site with hundreds of unique widget images and technical descriptions.

Is there anyone else with a .eu experiencing anything similar?

[RedBar]

Further to my previous message, so far today Monday 10th, my US traffic is negligibile as in it hasn't reached 8% of an average day.

Something's brewing, I have no idea what but I haven't see metrics like this ever, I think!

[Wilburforce]

so far today Monday 10th, my US traffic is negligibile

I'm not sure what is up (I can't see anything in the SERPs that would account for it), but both Impressions and Traffic for my UK site dropped noticeably on 25 October.

I'm not down to 8% (which happened with Penguin 1), more like 80%, but now into the third week I can discount e.g. UK school holidays as a factor. It looks like whatever it was has stuck.

If it was Penguin then:

1. Why do the SERPs look stable? (Yes, I have tried proxies, other computers, etc.);

2. My actions to clean up spammy links (in particular, disavowing a lot of junk) have been at least partially successful;

3. I seem to have missed something which, in comparison to the other stuff, is relatively minor.

[Hollywood]

I'm seeing a small increase in pageviews, quality and totals, but my story is A LONG ONE.

See an iimprovement as of Monday afternoon and definitely into 1am, which is odd, but very good!

●Hollywood

[Jez123]

I am seeing some major shifting going on

[Jez123]

Think I just broke google:

Server Error
We're sorry but it appears that there has been an internal server error while processing your request. Our engineers have been notified and are working to resolve the issue.
Please try again later.

[petehall]

I am seeing HUGE shifts across all verticals. Never seen anything like this before... I do hope G is broken.

Edit: UK SERPs.

[edited by: petehall at 10:28 am (utc) on Nov 11, 2014]

[petehall]

It's flicked back already... I hope it's a permanent thing! Wow, I have never seen anything like that in a decade of monitoring results.

[Jez123]

I am now seeing that whatever happened has reverted

[traffik daddy]

WTH was that? I saw that too, it didn't last very long. UK results.

[petehall]

@Jez123 I'm blaming you... you broke Google! :)

@traffik daddy I have no idea but I nearly had a heart attack.

Please stop doing this to me Google... one update at a time from now on? Pretty please?

[Jez123]

Yup, massive. All gone now, seemingly. Very mixed bag for me if it's a glimpse into the future. Some up, some down. Hard to know if it was better or worse. Obviously all the same major spammers were sitting pretty. As ever.

[Jez123]

@Jez123 I'm blaming you... you broke Google! :)

Shushhh!

[Jez123]

It's weird. I have barely had a visitor since this started this morning. Where do they all go?

[petehall]

I sincerely hope it wasn't a glimpse into the future as it was bad. I'm pretty sure something went wrong as there were foreign sites in the mix as well.

[Awarn]

Google needs to stop messing around. This is getting absurd. Obviously they don't know how to fix the mess.

[Martin Ice Web]

I guess it just got over to Germany....

[petehall]

@Martin the effect was only visible in the UK for 10 mins. It then reverted back to the previous state.

So I'm hoping you won't see anything like this in Germany, or anywhere for that matter.

[samwest]

I am seeing a rollback to older data sets this morning. It's easy to spot since I just changed my permalink structure a few weeks ago and all I'm seeing this morning are the old titles.

[rish3]

I am seeing a rollback to older data sets this morning.

Seeing that as well. "cache: site.tld" has reverted to late October dates, was more current dates yesterday.

I don't recall this extended (weeks now) level of waffling back and forth with an algorithm or data update before. It does seem like something may be broken.

[kameron]

lost a Sh@# load of rankings for about an hour but luckily came back. Thought I got thrown back in Penguin jail after just being freed last month.

[RedBar]

I'm pretty sure something went wrong as there were foreign sites in the mix as well.

Unfortunately I have been seeing this for quite some time in my sector, it's an utter shambles for many queries in their UK serps.

[xelaetaks]

Whatever happened the past two days was helping my site and now it is back in Penguin land screwed over by Google at the moment.

[xelaetaks]

Edit- double post

[petehall]

Unfortunately I have been seeing this for quite some time in my sector, it's an utter shambles for many queries in their UK serps.

I still see some which have been there for a while, but this was like nothing I have ever witnessed before... total chaos!

[Bewenched]

Same here xelaetaks, We saw the sunshine for a brief two days then back to the pit.

[samwest]

amazing, after all these year Google still can't (won't) match images with the proper owner site, yet Bing nails it 100% for my site. On Gorg, every one of my images linked back to either a virus page or and explosion of popup - no back out ad pages.

Wasn't there just a big PR article about how they so diligently fight piracy...or intend to, someday, maybe?

[borishar]

xelaetaks .. same here