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]

[hasek747]

I'm a webmaster. Could you advise how I can get $1 a day for free?

By free money, I was referring to free converting traffic. Obviously you need to put work into the website.

maybe it will also make ED to un-like your post

What?

Are you insinuating that webmasters do not have the right to be compensated for the fruits of their labor

Webmasters have absolutely no "right" to being sent traffic for free in my opinion. If someone opens a brick-and-mortar business in a desolate part of a desert, they have absolutely no right to free traffic, and yes - the guys who pay 6-7 figures a month for a premium location in Las Vegas are going to get tons of traffic, while he won't - even if his business is 10x more useful. This is the natural way of things - want traffic? Splurge. The internet is an exception to that norm, but no one made any promises. Google approached our small (but obviously super-useful!) boutiques in the Mojave and said "Guys, we're going to be shuttling clients to your stores on a daily basis from the Strip. For free! Want it or not?" .. well, sure. Yay! After a while however they stop doing that (maybe they decide to send the traffic to a different boutique, or to their own boutique, I don't really care), and rather than try to figure out how to keep business running, what do some webmasters say? "GOOGLE, get your free shuttles back here rrrright now!" <slams foot in sand>. It boggles my mind that anyone would publicly complain about it. Being absolutely pissed and angry - completely understandable. But complaining with a righteous attitude, and making demands? Holy moly.

The only thing webmasters have a right to is getting what they pay for in AdWords, but that would be a conversation for another thread.

Libraries perform a similar function, yet I don't know any that have free meals at all hours and free massages for all.

That's because libraries focus only on one tiny "niche" in the information "market" - books. They are the equivalent of a tiny online niche website directory. They don't generate enough interest to afford free massages. Not to mention they are not even for-profit organizations...

P.S. no, I'm not "defending Google". Would say the same if it was Bing, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Altavista or some shady random dude who e-mailed webmasters and said "Pssst...PSSST! want some free converting traffic?".

[Robert Charlton]

Mod's note: hasek747. Thanks for that post. I think this is a good place to call a halt to the question of the webmaster's "bargain" with Google, at least in the Update threads, and to suggest posting additional discussion on the subject in the Google Business Issues forum... [webmasterworld.com...]

I'm locking this thread and moving to the May 2016 thread, which I'll introduce with a reminder that we need to keep these Updates threads on topic.

Thanks.

New thread for May continues at:
Google Updates and SERP Changes - May 2016
https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4802991.htm [webmasterworld.com]