Google Updates and SERP Changes - March 2016

[JS_Harris]

Continuing from:
Google Updates and SERP Changes - Feb 2015
https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4788898.htm [webmasterworld.com]



I think something major might be changing right now, my 'search analytics' data in Google's 'search console'(ie:GWT) has not updated for a full week. The last data showing on the page/keyword reports is from Feb 23rd.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 8:44 am (utc) on Mar 1, 2016]

[aristotle]

mrengine -- Thanks for clearing that up. The earlier discussions of this matter were rather chaotic, and I'm still not sure what all of the main conclusions were.

[Simon_H]

I also thought the malware/botnet theory was ruled out. We had a comprehensive third party study done on our zombie traffic and the conclusion was that 90%+ was most likely human. Of course, botnets are getting very good at simulating human traffic, but another thing that rules out botnets is that botnets would sit on top of real traffic. Now I appreciate that Google may enforce traffic quotas that may hide this, but certainly for us, the zombie phenomenon is so pronounced that I doubt this can be something that supplements real traffic, it's something that largely replaces it which means that Google is most likely causing it rather than it being third party.

However, if someone now has genuine evidence of a malware/botnet theory, we should certainly listen!

[renatovieira]

In my Google Real-Time I see some sources of traffic coming from DNS Health Report.

I believe that some users are not able to access my site. My site is hosted on USA Amazon servers.

I performed some tests and confirmed that there are problems with my server, however the site is running perfectly (from Brazil).

Things are quite confused today.

[Martin Ice Web]

Something started yesterday evening. Sudden drop in traffic. The remaining google traffic are full of homepage visitis then exit.
Last time is saw something bad like this, a new panda was released.

The announcement from google some years ago to be more open to webmasters was a big joke.
The only thing they communicate is, how to get into ads.

[EditorialGuy]

We had a pretty significant traffic increase on Sunday and Monday (a YTD record, except for one day last week when one of our pages was featured on Reddit).

In general, our biggest growth lately has been for our most popular and authoritative section, which leads me to wonder if the algorithm isn't continuing in the direction of giving more weight to subject expertise.

[blend27]

Something else is interesting today, I haven't paid attention to it before, but:

In mobile 960x467 search the SERP displays Full Title Tag contents as a link to a site, is some cases( for Amazon 146 chars ) that is taken up to 3 lines pushing the rest of it down.

If I pull the same query on 1920x882 big screen desktop I only get 13 chars, modified title by Goog.

[wgchris]

Long time no see! I read that we have a new update putting people (Myself included) through hell.

Nothing specific to report other than conversions being healthy for months and just nose dived. No conversions for nearly a week. What gives? How does a site like this convert multiples daily for months then the spigot gets shut off to converting traffic.

[Jez123]

@wgchris - Hi. Are your conversions from organic search or adwords traffic - or both?

[masterjoe]

I seem to be off the zombie train temporarily, I've had a few conversions today, although no substantial orders like I typically get. Sunday also shows a fairly large spike in traffic (30% increase) with monday going back to about 20% above normal... in the mean time, I have acquired a link from wikipedia as well as some other branding websites to help with my site authority, which has improved rankings a little bit across the board.

Let's see if this sticks.

[wgchris]

@Jez123, no conversions site-wide. This includes through AdWords. Ready to cut the cord again, totally useless. We're in "the bad bucket" again for some reason.

Meanwhile, working hard on IA, on-page etcetera since history seems to be repeating itself (Up yours G!), I guess this can be an opportunity for a refresh.

[RedBar]

I'm seeing keyword stuffed pages/sites ranking well again in my widget sector, and I mean really stuffed, 20/30/40 times per page, meta, almost any opportunity, absolutely useless pages for visitors, awesome for G SERPs!

[Robert Charlton]

I'm seeing keyword stuffed pages/sites ranking well again in my widget sector...

RedBar, this is the kind of thing that seems to happen at every update (and right now I keep expecting something big that hasn't quite happened yet, but I do think we've been on the verge of an update for a while).

Eventually, with pages like these, what I've seen but haven't always paid really close attention, is that they rise to the top so they're visible, and then Google sometimes skims them off, like crud in a pot of soup. I'm wondering here whether you might keep track of these and report back from time to time what you see happening to them... like when do these get skimmed off, if they do?... or does Google simply dial back the threshold and let them simmer around on page two or three or four?... or do they stay up top and become your biggest competitor?

In some longish tail areas I've seen certain kinds of pages stay up there for 8 months or more.

[janeus]

I would recommend to follow competitors valid methods to generate backlinks.

[Simon_H]

@Robert_Charlton @Redbar This is potentially the manifestation of the 'sinister surge' that Glenn Gabe talks about and that we've also seen. Sites in contention are thrown extra traffic before an update and the response measured. Assuming the response confirms to Google that those sites are offending, they're then killed in the upcoming update.

[renatovieira]

I see clearly that Google updates that occurred between 10-29 January drastically affected my site.

The curious thing is that my main keywords are still good rank, organic search also is remaining good, though conversions are disastrous.

I think what happens in these last weeks is a result of these updates that occurred in January, I believe.

My analysis is based on the site's graphic (Algoroo).

Am I wrong or is having right now a big update?

[wgchris]

"my main keywords are still good rank, organic search also is remaining good, though conversions are disastrous."

Ditto, in fact, rank has improved for me. Still sitting at zero conversions for about a week.

[Jez123]

I bet when people discuss "Zombie Apocalypse" they weren't imagining this!

[wgchris]

Oh come on @Jez123, we should be "separating fact from fiction & emotion" as some all-knowing peers of ours have stated. ;)

[almo136]

I am just trying to understand the zombie traffic issue. Do people believe that if this Zombie traffic wasn't coming to their site their conversions would improve?

Or do people believe it doesn't have much of an effect other than messing up their analytics/reporting?

If it is believed it affects conversions how would this happen if rankings are consistent as Google can't stop people clicking your link in the SERPs or from converting once they get to your site.

From what I understand people think that Google will send a maximum amount of traffic to your site a day so if it is taken up by zombies it will prevent real people from visiting? For this to work surely Google would have to switch the search engine off at some point as they can't have a limit on every site otherwise they would have to dictate how many searches are carried out daily?

Sorry if this has all been explained. I have been trying to understand how this is effecting people but I am still confused!

[mrengine]

The curious thing is that my main keywords are still good rank, organic search also is remaining good, though conversions are disastrous.

in fact, rank has improved for me. Still sitting at zero conversions for about a week.

It sounds like the zombies are spreading. I'm coping with the same challenges, and I can assure you that the same lack of conversions is also in Adwords - making it extremely difficult to justify continued spending as the return on investment continues to decline. Nothing in the serp trackers justifies the conversion swings nor am I seeing changes in my search positions. I would like to see a Google conversion tracker tool that collects data from multiple points for us to evaluate. Such a tool would be useful in gauging why/how/when Google is altering traffic quality.

[Simon_H]

@almo136 It's Google sending low quality traffic to sites, i.e. most likely real users who potentially can't find what they were actually looking for and hence don't convert.

Yes, there are also potentially traffic quotas involved. No, Google doesn't need to switch off the search engine! They just add or remove sites from certain serps in order to maintain the quota.

[wgchris]

Nothing has been explained, @almo136. There is a lot of assumptions being made based on the little information gathered. I just get fired up when someone tells me that what is happening, isn't really happening.

"limit on every site otherwise they would have to dictate how many searches are carried out daily?"

Unfortunately, I personally believe you are getting warmer with this statement, just backwards. Just can't really pin down why and how. As others have stated, we are really close to a 2016 Quarter 1 close. Some think this is just an update happening, but then why does it affect AdWords? I believe to say that there is not any intentional or unintentional manipulation of traffic would be wrong.

[almo136]

Thanks for explaining.

"@almo136 It's Google sending low quality traffic to sites, i.e. most likely real users who potentially can't find what they were actually looking for and hence don't convert. "

So this would be caused by Google not showing relevant results to searchers?

"Yes, there are also potentially traffic quotas involved. No, Google doesn't need to switch off the search engine! They just add or remove sites from certain serps in order to maintain the quota."

Ok, but would this not result in rankings fluctuating in a bit of a pattern? In particular rankings being good until a threshold has been hit and the rankings would drop off the map for the rest of the day (set period)? Do people notice that this is happening as I know some people say their rankings appear to be the same/better?

[Simon_H]

@almo136 Yes, Google is potentially mismatching searches. No, observed rankings would not necessarily fluctuate because Google is potentially playing with the longer tail and obscure queries (which typically form a high percentage of traffic), not the obvious keywords. Also, there may be a geo element to this, where the rankings you see are different to that seen by someone at a different location.

[wgchris]

Geo is certainly at play, checking pagerank via proxy (proxy located in NY,NY) I'm seeing slight differences in national keyword sets.

[Simon_H]

It's interesting how so many algo discussions end up talking about zombie traffic. We certainly find that daily traffic volume has minimal correlation with conversions any more, so I guess that things are going to be measured more and more by quality of traffic that Google is sending rather than session count.

[Shepherd]

Feels like the geo-dial has been cranked up, seeing LOTS of localized results in serps today.

[RedBar]

@mrengine

and I can assure you that the same lack of conversions is also in Adwords

Do I take that to mean that you are still spending on AdWords however there are few/no conversions compared to say a year ago even though the traffic levels are similar?

[billyfresh]

Hi,

We run two websites and have seen a massive increase in Zombie traffic over the past couple of months and it seems to be getting worse.

We use a free chat tool called tawk at the websites and we can clearly see zombie traffic with it.
Before real visitors would spend time on site with the intention to buy but now they bounce in and out.

Our keyword positions have not changed and out traffic pattern has not changed but conversions are dead.

We also use adwords on one website and its not coverting, used to be great but this is also dead.

Not sure what is happening.

[wgchris]

THanks for the post, @billyfresh. Always good to hear you are not alone.