Google Updates and SERP Changes - April 2016

[masterjoe]

Continuing from:
Google Updates and SERP Changes - March 2016
https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4793805.htm [webmasterworld.com]


Still suffering from zombie traffic. Not a single conversion since Good Friday. The "pocketliner" update is really aggravating me, not to mention they still haven't released Penguin. I should also mention that conversions have been dropping off slowly since my site started being blasted with exact match anchor texts and I submitted disavows. Maybe it has something to do with it, but I will wait to hear back from webmasters with clean websites.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 8:15 am (utc) on May 1, 2016]

[ecommerceprofit]

Will someone with zombie problem please get involved with the naysayer fight over at seoroundtable? Top gun moment going on right now...get into the fight maverick!

[edited by: ecommerceprofit at 3:14 pm (utc) on Apr 13, 2016]

[Jez123]

@ecomm - he is an idiot. I have had a run in with him too

[ecommerceprofit]

LOL - kind of fun actually to argue with naysayers

[wgchris]

No conversions in days again, spigot has been turned back off.

[SEOcomfort]

I guess the naysayers do not realize that zombie traffic isn't in reference to people (we all know Google can't control what a person does on a site) but zombie traffic is a result of Google misaligning searcher intent with search queries (which Google has control over) which results in low-quality traffic if not done correctly.

[masterjoe]

Did anyone suddenly get a string of conversions since the around the time the topic got featured on SER?

[jambam]

Was searching for css webdesign stuff and got results for Hilary Clinton because the word design was on her website. Says a lot!

I think what google is doing by manipulating the results and peoples minds has far great consequences than a few ugg boots spammer will ever have.

[motionz]

Total worthless traffic on my end now. The only conversions I am making right now is from the traffic's coming from sources other then Google.

[alisanoor]

I just checked all my rankings,But it all dropped,I could not to find it?
What is wrong with it?
there is no message in my webmaster console!
My brand name & URL still be the first one

[edited by: Andy_Langton at 10:53 am (utc) on Apr 14, 2016]
[edit reason] Moved from another location [/edit]

[rustybrick]

Actually, I tried to drive the conversation here, not on my site (ser).

[samwest]

I see Regina Dugan has left Google to work with Building 8 R&D on Facebook. Mission accomplished. Now that Google is controlled, Facebook is next. Not placing any blame, but most of this craziness started around the time she started with Google. Tin foil hat stuff to be sure.

[renatovieira]

@alisanoor - This is happening to many webmasters in various countries, as I could see here in the forum.

My main keywords are almost first. I had a big gain. However my traffic is falling since late January.

What is happening is inexplicable.

RankBrain or penguin? Or both? Or none of them ...

[samwest]

I've noticed that Google images now contains less pirated images from our site and more images directly from our site. Still a few forgeries out there, but its a move in the right direction. It hasn't help traffic at all though. Traffic spigot is clearly off right now.

[masterjoe]

Zombie traffic again as usual. I had a decent day yesterday, which I suppose is now my assigned non-zombie traffic day I suppose. Well I am going to move up a few spots for some very major keywords in a few weeks so hopefully once the traffic goes up it will offset this garbage google keeps funneling down to my sites.

[mrengine]

Actually, I tried to drive the conversation here, not on my site (ser).

Barry, I just wanted to thank you for being a part of the continuing zombie conversation. Maybe someone at Google will take notice and look into it in finer detail. Zombies are a costly and persistent problem for many of us.

[motionz]

I am seeing today that the Zombie traffic is gone but there is a terrible amount of fall in traffic. Has anyone noticed it yet?

[Martin Ice Web]

Actually we see 100% zombi traffic for the last 3 days from google. organics and PSA is worse right now.

germany

Since a week google search is very slow. sometimes it needs 1-2 seconds for showing the results.

[samwest]

I've noticed the drop in traffic, but in my niche, it's likely seasonal as the upper Midwest USA breaks out of cold temps and into warm weather, driving everyone outdoors. I'm noticing almost non existent desktop traffic. I'd say we're at about 80% mobile and tablet now...and we all know about mobile and tablet users...mostly non converting...especially mobile.

[Nutterum]

I noticed a drop in traffic to heavy JS websites. Some more than others, but one in particular got hammered to non-existence. In my mind there was some algo change going live that messed up the ranking and indexing of such sites, especially those with JS links in them. Anyone else seeing this?

[renatovieira]

rankranger is pretty hot today!

[NickMNS]

As is Mozcast 85. If you check the Features page it shows a major drop in Adwords top and bottom appearing in the serps, seemingly replaced by knowledge panels and site-links.

[SEOcomfort]

Today, my site is seeing normal (slightly higher traffic) but conversions have dropped from about 4% to .86%

No changes were made to my landing pages or site from yesterday to today. No rankings changes. No keyword changes. Absolutely no changes were made anywhere on my site.

Something is definitely cooking up.

Ecommerce USA

[masterjoe]

Let's hope that these crap conversion stats are a result of some testing and things go back to normal soon. These were happening significantly around the end of last year, and once talk of Penguin heated up again (recently), zombies are back at it. It could very well be the case... especially with the large traffic spike some of us saw 2 days ago. If things stay the way they are, I don't think webmasters will have a choice but to do whatever they can to manipulate Google. This is a problem that will pay compound interest if they keep it up.

[NickMNS]

Why do you say something definitely changed? How much variability in conversion rate do you normally see day to day? Also for Ecommerce in the USA it seems a little early in the day to draw such conclusions, you are effectively only 3hrs into your day (assuming an 8am EST start).

[SEOcomfort]

@NickMNS my conversion rate stays pretty consistent day to day. My conversion rates are normally 3.75%-4.25% day to day. As far as being the morning time in the USA, I agree that our mornings are slower than the afternoon, but this is abnormally slow and we still have a lot of customers on the east coast (we are located on the east coast as well). Especially in comparison that our traffic for a Friday is slightly above average. Logically, if our traffic had dropped as well it would make more sense. By this time of the day, I normally see about 25-30 conversions, right now I am at 5.

It might be a little early to draw a conclusion but based on my sites average daily patterns, this is definitely poor.

[NickMNS]

@Seocomfort, at +/- 0.75% variability that does seem a little unusual, I'm curious to see if that will return to normal levels by the end of the day (most likely at the low end of normal).

[SEOcomfort]

@NickMNS Yea I am hoping things will turn around this afternoon. Usually slow mornings for us mean a faster afternoon. But we have never been this slow. With all the fluctuation monitors (mozcast, accuranker, etc...) going crazy I imagine something is up, but at the same time you have to take what those tools show with a grain of salt sometimes. So we will see what the result of today is and go from there. Nothing else I can really do at this point.

[mrengine]

I will second the slow morning observation. Page views are low, sales from Google have been halved. Most of our orders are received before 12PM, and I'm thinking today is going to be the worst performing day from Google this year.

[wgchris]

Heavy conversions up until 4/7. One on 4/9 and nothing since. NOTHING.

[aok88]

One problem with comparing conversions is the vast differences in variables, such as the industry you're in, what you're selling, how good your site/page is set up to convert, how good compared to competition, high-ticket items vs. low-ticket items, what country you sell in, your buyers' demographics, etc., etc.

I also experience zombie traffic and good and bad converting days, and that is when we have changed nothing. But there are a lot of variables.