Google Updates and SERP Changes - February 2015

[samwest]

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System: The following message was cut out of thread at: http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4726139.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 10:15 am on Feb 2, 2015 (PST -8)

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wow - a conversational graveyard in here....anyway, just noting that weekly traffic has now inverted itself, whereas Saturday & Sunday used to be the busiest days of the week, with Thursday/Friday being the slowest. Now either the traffic pattern has somehow inverted or weekends have just been deflated to the point of the slow days now appearing as the busiest. This pattern started 3 weeks ago and is sticking.

[Wilburforce]

So what's happened overnight

Well, this morning in my (UK niche service) sector it looks like the SERPS have reverted to something like their state before 4 February.

Traffic quantity so far today doesn't look too badly affected, but my server log is showing some strange and irrelevant referral terms.

Delays in updating WMT - which is still on 7 February - often seem to occur when Something Is Happening, so that might explain it.

[WebEnthusiast]

So what's happened overnight

In Germany at morning we get different results every time we have refreshed page (on same keyword).

[RedBar]

Oh, the tap's been turned back on a bit, not at full flow but certainly more than earlier this morning.

[Nutterum]

B2B niche service here. Everything seems quiet on the SERPS, however WMT is still not updating, and there is less but better traffic (24% increase in conversions from previous period) . Something is moving but can`t tell what yet.

[giggle]

Wilburforce: same here, no update since 7th. Kind of relieved that it's not only me.

[Mentat]

1. WMT last updated on 7th...
2. I've just received this e-mail:

Google systems have tested 51,800 pages from your site and found that 71% of them have critical mobile usability errors. The errors on these 29,500 pages severely affect how mobile users are able to experience your website. These pages will not be seen as mobile-friendly by Google Search, and will therefore be displayed and ranked appropriately for smartphone users.

Good thing that I'm working on my mobile version; should be ready by the end of the week.

I really hate the fact that they advise me to optimize Adsense code/servers :)

My working mobile version has a 100% green score.

[Robert Charlton]

I've started a dedicated thread on the update, bringing together outside analysis and several reports. There's a growing consenses that the update related to ecommerce and to branded search terms. Mobile doesn't seem to be an issue in this particular update, which isn't to say that there haven't been separate mobile adjustments. Observations from members here would be helpful....

Google's "e-commerce update" of early February, 2015
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4736500.htm [webmasterworld.com]

[toma1973]

I have noticed on my site a severe drop in organic searches.

From Monday (9th of February) organic searches dropped to 1.300 a day, from an average of 3.500.4.000 a day. It is quite bad.

I have a news site, with original and updated content. I haven't changed anything in it.

Normally, my site appeared the first in news results on the top organic searches, or one of the first in the organic searches. Now it is not anymore in the news, and in the organic is in the last results, in the last pages. I don't have any clue of what happened. I own this site from 2002 and I never had any problems with all previous google algorithm updates...

[silentneedle]

We've also monitored a little drop since monday.

Anyone else seen a huge crawl spike last friday?

[samwest]

I am noticing a pattern that is a real catch 22 for the site. Every weekend traffic goes up a little but it's mainly mobile. Mobile users as we all know don't convert nearly as well as desktop, so conversions suffer. On Monday, traffic drops a bit but desktop users return and conversions improve. Wednesday has been, for the past 4 weeks, the best day of the week, so, the comment I made that opened this month is holding tight.

Prior to 12/12/2014, we were getting almost no crawl, but after that date, especially after 12/22/2014, crawl rate has been pretty strong and continues weach week. This new crawl rate coincides closely with the pattern I am seeing.

[Sand]

Since Friday, my organic search is down about 25%. However, as I've dug in, I feel like it's seasonal. I can't find any real ranking drops.

Maybe it's just the combination of Valentine's Day + President's Day weekend + impending snow storm?

Anyone else seeing a similar pattern in search traffic?

[webcentric]

Just saw a decent jump in indexed pages in WMT. Been stuck for weeks. Upswing in traffic coming with it. Nothing dramatic but notable.

[syedyasir]

@Sand

Traffic dropped around 20% since Friday. There is a decrease in my site's ranking too.

[dethfire]

Yeah this weekend was unusually low traffic

[Nutterum]

WMT still stuck here, though showing information from 08 Feb. Nothing out of the ordinary. Slightly better traffic week to week and year to year for the period overall. However more relevant traffic this time around - 30% more conversions.

[syedyasir]

Since the beginning of this month, conversions are 90% down.

[Mentat]

Since last week my Indian traffic is very low, not that I'm complaining...

[Nutterum]

@Mentat

+1 - made me laugh out loud.

[RedBar]

My Indian traffic is very consistent and with AdSense one of my higher earning sites, mind you my two main factories are in India and we do produce a lot of our widgets there:-)

[Nutterum]

WMT started to update the info at a faster pace now. I have information for almost the entire past week. Do you see anything strange/different? Usually slow WMT are always hand in hand with some algo update big or small so I am curious if this is the case this time around.

[Mentat]

Until now 2015 was incredible quiet...

4 months without the dreaded Panda? I luv this.

[Itanium]

I'm really eagerly awaiting a Panda-update (FIX!). Since the last one (4.1), it seems keyword stuffing is okay again and article length doesn't really matter, as long as it's somewhat unique. This is quite annoying, since my main site is often outranked by competitors with no indepth-content at all - even though I have (natural) high PR links pointing to individual pages and they don't (they often have more links overall). It's really quite frustrating tbh.

[dethfire]

Yeah I've worked very hard to clear my site of Panda problems and I am eager for an update.

[samwest]

Observed a crazy conversion bump yesterday at 12pm CST - 5 conversions within the hour, then nothing all day. The algo must have taken a short break. Ridiculous.

[chalkywhite]

Woke up to almost double traffic, im almost at my daily visits of 3k unique s already and its 10 am here in the uk, something is happening here, anyone else?

[elAndrew]

Nothing over here, maybe your site is related with today's doodle or some breaking new. Did your rankings change?

[adresanet]

comparative to yesterday my traffic is up with about +25%

[Itanium]

no changes in traffic here.

I had huge crawling spikes the last couple of days though. Let's hope something is rolling out....

[samwest]

Something major appears to have rolled out just after yesterday's short, hour long surge of excellent converting traffic. Today it's back to 1 or zero on the site.

[Sand]

Last weekend, I made a post stating that my traffic was down 25%. It seems to have just been the Valentine's Day / President's Day / snow storm combo, because traffic returned to normal yesterday (Tuesday), and I never could find any ranking changes.