May Be I Just Figured Out The Actual Reason of Zombie Traffic

[sqimul]

Hello,
This is my first post here but I'm following threads over couple of years. But Now I think I need to share something with all the webmasters. Don’t take me wrong, May be I just figured out the actual reason of Zombie Traffic from Google Search.
My Name is Shimul and I’m from Bangladesh, working as an SEO for personal & small brands.
Moments ago, while I was looking for Some <widgets> and was unhappy with the regular e-commerce store I used to shop with. So I went to Google, searched for “Buy <widgets>” and you know what, I was shocked by the results.

I was browsing with google.com, than tried my country’s google domain which is google.com.bd. But same results came up.
I found all results on the SERP was for Indian sites. Like some major brands I already know (I saw t 20 world cup on an Indian TV channel and was tired with TV ads about websites, The Indians doing some great offline marketing with TV ads, even Google also has an ad in Indian TV channels) are from India and they only deliver/sell products inside India.
So my point is, think I’m a regular user with some basic knowledge about The internet, I will search for anything in google, Like I searched for <widgets> and will click on anyone from the first SERP. Then I can browser around that site, and finally discovered that “it is a wrong website for my search” or I can leave that site just after visiting only one page.

I think Google has some serious issue going on while detecting the actual location of so many users like me. Like I’m from Bangladesh but they showing me search results for Indian websites, what if an Indian searcher visiting my site?
This will create problems like
1. High bounce rate.
2. Peoples add products to cart but no sells.
3. I’m already in a wrong place, now you want me to click on your ads?

I’m not starting a fight, My own services are non-commercial and still doing good. But I think and I believe “this not might be the actual reason, but this might be a strong reason for the Zombie traffic so many websites facing now days. Let me know what you think.

[edited by: goodroi at 5:52 pm (utc) on Apr 4, 2016]
[edit reason] Please no specific keywords, widgetized [/edit]

[aristotle]

Everyone should forget about "zombie traffic". The idea that google identifies people who behave like zombies and sends them to certain websites doesn't make sense.

This is just ordinary mis-matched traffic. You should ignore it.

What you should actually be wondering about is what is google doing with people who know what they want and are ready to buy. These are the potential buyers. Think about them and forget about zombies. There's no connection between them.

[Shaddows]

aristotle, as per previous:

What is the mechanism by which a given cohort of traffic STOPS being sent to a site (the buyers)?
What is the mechanism by which a given cohort of traffic STARTS being sent to the site (the mis-matches / zombies)

Which leads to the interesting analytical question:

WHY are these cohorts the same size (traffic numbers do not change)?

And of course the money questions:

What causes this cohort rerouting?
How can I avoid the trigger?
Where specifically did my paying traffic go (what is the alternative SERP for keyword search)?
Where did my (zombie/mis-match) traffic come from (what SERP am I now being returned for)?
Are the zombies inherently non-monetisable, or are they merely unserved by my site?

Most zombie victims (some vocal dissenters excepted) do not think there is a deliberate choice by Google to upset two cohorts of traffic. You can use "mis-match" as a term if you like, but it's a bit non-specific. I mean, you get low levels of mis-matching at all times, and it is INCIDENTAL TO (i.e. does not affect) your normal traffic.

Zombies are specifically mis-matched traffic that replaces matched traffic in precise quantity, time and duration.

[AussieWebmaster]

Interesting thread - the mis-matched interpretation is a good one and the impact on both organic and paid - if Google is having difficulty sorting results for ambiguous search queiries then both the organic and paid results will get clicks as that searcher tries to make sense of the results

impact on paid - where did the buyers go - will definitely happen if it uses daily budget or since Google rotates ads if you got the bad searches you are less likely to get a buy from them while others get the better traffic etc

organically your CTR, bounce rate and any other possible algorithm weights could be impacted and cause a drop in rankings for the pages

[mrengine]

Regardless of the terminology used (mismatched traffic, zombies, bots), the condition results in a substantial loss in organic search sales and a rather large increase in Adwords CPA. Neither of these events are something that any business owner can just ignore.

[wgchris]

Welp, it seems my site (geo-specific, brick and mortor business that sells services) website has finally choked to death. Late April, Google belched a bunch of conversions and now the site has completely flatlined. AdWords is a wash (and possibly criminal?), traffic overall is nearly dead (Except the 10-15% coming from Yahoo/Bing). Actually have had lots of increases in G SERPs recently, amazing how they have no correlation with conversions or EVEN TRAFFIC FOR THAT MATTER! Traffic is bot/zombie/mismatch when traffic actually occurrs.

I've converted hundreds of high end clients for this business. Last correspondance was a reply to an angry email, me telling them that my hands are tied and that if they are not happy with the ROI, I understand and they can move on.

I agree that G is thinking short term, killing diversity. Regardless of their intent, they may have killed this business and sent this owner into retirement.

But hey! Google's got bills to pay.