Google Updates and SERP Changes - December 2014

[RedBar]

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System: The following 16 messages were cut out of thread at: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4712477.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 5:04 pm on Dec 1, 2014 (PST -8)

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I have several sites from May's Panada which received good boosts and have retained their positions but I also have a few new, unique, widget-specific sites that seem to be floundering and getting no traction whatsoever.

Since there were only two Pandas in 2013 and we've already had two this year, do we assume that it may be another few months before we see another Panda update?

[Babadook]

We are the ones who made Google what it is today, not the large corporate interests. In the beginning, they thought the internet was silly, some fad for geeky people. It wasn't. All they believed in is gone, no humility, only big dollars now. I don't fault them for that, but I do have a problem with zombies. I know some people who used dating sites everyone knows, and almost 95% of the people who looked at their profile were non-human, they don't exist. But the dating service called them legitimate interested people. The definition of traffic has changed to mean very little now. I believe that these updates are the same thing, they drive some form of zombie traffic to all sites. This has become an online world that is smoke and mirrors, a shell game, snake oil, call it what you want. That's why you don't see results, it's non-human. The updates are not done to clean up the index, don't ever think that's what it is.

[EditorialGuy]

I believe that these updates are the same thing, they drive some form of zombie traffic to all sites.

Yes, and it's surprising how often those zombies send e-mails, but things, post comments, etc. Just look at this forum. Who'd guess that practically everything posted here is written by an algorithm?

[SnowLeppard]

It does indeed look to me like more robot activity than ever. They are obviously going to keep becoming more sophisticated and harder to differentiate from real humans (The Turing Test).

[Babadook]

Being sarcastic doesn't change anything EditorialGuy. I have a successful online business, and yes I have responses too, blah, blah, but there are some things being done that are probably fraudulent.

[samwest]

In my vertical, Zombies are simply non targeted or mobile traffic. My mobile visitors never buy. I do see other activity that appears to be zombie in nature that is likely robots. With mobile now exceeding 50% of all traffic, it's no wonder sales are halved...or worse.

I hate it when mobile users don't exit pages they were viewing. GA will show a visitor on the same page for several minutes, that is not how traffic used to flow. Desktop users spend seconds on pages, not minutes or hours.

Occasionally ALL traffic exhibits this zombie behavior...all 4 visits I'm watching right now are exactly that. Been running like this since noon today.

[Peanut45]

Maybe your page is crashing their phone :)

[RedBar]

I hate it when mobile users don't exit pages they were viewing.

Ah, now I do that all the time on my phone, I view the page and then leave it there in case I want to go back to it again. Sometimes I forget I've done that and the following day that page opens up again for me.

On my Android tablets I can close the browser however on my phone the page stays there...I'm using a Lumia with Win8.1

[EssayPartner]

But Google promised to do nothing before and on holidays.

[Martin Ice Web]

But Google promised to do nothing before and on holidays.

Ha, very good joke. U made my day though. Thanx a lot.

I have one too:

But Google says it does not prefer its own services in serps.

[flatfile]

But Google promised to do nothing before and on holidays.

Ha, very good joke. U made my day though. Thanx a lot.

I have one too:

But Google says it does not prefer its own services in serps.

I'm just waiting for GoogleGuy to respond to this :).

[RedBar]

I'm just waiting for GoogleGuy to respond to this :).

Then you'll be waiting a long time!

Last recorded sighting of supposed person was July 24, 2008

[EditorialGuy]

But Google promised to do nothing before and on holidays.

Maybe you're thinking of the tweet that Matt Cutts of Google posted a year ago:

"Actually, we try to minimize major updates right before the holidays."

That isn't quite the same as "We promise to do nothing before and on holidays"--especially in the new era of continuous updates.

[flatfile]

Then you'll be waiting a long time!

Actually, it didn't take that long.

[SnowLeppard]

Actually, it didn't take that long.

That is funny.

I've heard people say something like "Employers pay only enough to stop employees quitting, Employees do only enough work so employers don't fire them."

Now it seems Google pay Adsense publishers just enough to stop them pulling their ads, Google gives Adwords clients just enough converting traffic to keep throwing their money into advertising.

The internet super-highway is now the internet high-street. You used to be able to set up your shop and buyers would see it and flock in. Now you set it up and someone with a lot of muscle says, "Hang on, we control this street and you have to pay us money to be here."

[EditorialGuy]

The internet super-highway is now the internet high-street. You used to be able to set up your shop and buyers would see it and flock in. Now you set it up and someone with a lot of muscle says, "Hang on, we control this street and you have to pay us money to be here."

Or (more likely) the shoppers are driving past the no-name shops to the mall department stores, big-box stores, and independent specialized destination stores whose names they know and trust.

After 20 years of development, it shouldn't be surprising that Web commerce is more like "real world" commerce than it was in the early and mid-1990s.

[SnowLeppard]

Or possibly all the traffic is being driven to the big names and they will come to depend on it, then the throttling will begin for them too and they will be forced to pay big time.

[seoskunk]

After 20 years of development, it shouldn't be surprising that Web commerce is more like "real world" commerce than it was in the early and mid-1990s.

Yeah sadly thats a fact. These days brands dominate and small independents in the main struggle. Its increasingly more difficult to establish yourself as an internet brand, I would agree the days of buying a few run of site links from top a pr websites, and bang your there have well and truely gone. Time for small independents to lick their wounds and think of new strategy for a new year I think.

[Babadook]

What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world, built to keep us under control, in order to change a human being into this.

[EditorialGuy]

I would agree the days of buying a few run of site links from top a pr websites, and bang your there have well and truely gone.

Well, I for one don't feel nostalgic about the days when sites like Weather Underground and Fox News had running SEO links for diet pills, online gambling, or whatever. Sometimes change isn't all bad!

[seoskunk]

Well, I for one don't feel nostalgic about the days when sites like Weather Underground and Fox News had running SEO links for diet pills, online gambling, or whatever. Sometimes change isn't all bad!

Well if Fox News had ads correctly targeted it would contain such ads as "Do you need a iq test" and "are you brainwashed" :)

[superclown2]

It looks very much like a rollback here in my UK niches today.

[elAndrew]

To me looks like a soft panda update

[samwest]

Where's a good place to auction off my site? 15 years nearly 1M in income...site now relegated to the serp backwaters. Great fixer upper.

[rish3]

Where's a good place to auction off my site?

I assume you're not 100% serious about that just yet, but in case you are...

I would avoid places like Flippa. It's difficult to find buyers there that will value a site beyond some multiple of current monthly earnings. A private broker is much more likely to find the right kind of buyer that's willing to pay more (but not a lot more), given the site's past performance. That said, many sellers are too emotional to let go for a price that's less than what the site was once worth. That, unfortunately, doesn't work...the risk/reward ratio just isn't there.

I know a decent broker. PM for their contact info if serious.

[EditorialGuy]

We had a huge jump in traffic on many of our top landing pages yesterday (these are "evergreen" pages that have done well in Google for years, nothing trendy or in the news).

By late morning GMT, a number of those pages were up by 3,000+ to 7,000+ percent over the same day a year ago. Then, after a couple of hours, the traffic dropped back to normal levels.

Testing? A reporting glitch? Who knows?

[samwest]

I just ran across this on WebmasterWorld and it explains two trouble sites...the one I was going to sell too! Both are running revslider! READ IMMEDIATELY if you are running Wordpress =====> [webmasterworld.com...]

[RedBar]

Precisely why I removed all my WP installations, far too many issues for my liking.

[RedBar]

What a mess my SERPs are...I've just done a search for a three keyword term for a popular UK niche widget in G.uk and the first UK result is in 20th place, wtf is going on?

Bing gives 5 good UK results in the first 10, useless G, absolutely useless.

[simonmc]

Seeing a big drop in traffic today. Almost like the tap has been turned off.

[Panthro]

I'm seeing some big changes today/past couple days. Haven't been watching too closely these past few days so I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but lots of changes for Local and geotargeted queries.