Google Updates and SERP Changes - October 2016

[Ukonline1]

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System: The following 2 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4817284.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 3:06 am on Oct 1, 2016 (PDT -8)

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Starting to get a bit concerned now. Saw very good improvement in serps on 1st September, then fell back to previous levels/slightly worse on 15th September. Seen slight improvement in one keyword and that's it. GSC shows big spike in pages crawled over last couple of days.

I'm starting to think this is how things are going to remain for me now; and after 2 1/2 years of seriously hard work! I really did expect this Penguin update to be good for us!

[Ukonline1]

Seeing similar her, since Friday rankings getting worse.

Anybody else seeing this

[Simon_H]

Looks like 'links to your site' in GSC has stopped updating. Normally this refreshes like clockwork every ~6 days for us, but now it hasn't updated for 18 days (29th September). I have a 'download latest links' file taken on 5th October and it's identical to one I've just taken.

Anyone else seeing this?

[NickMNS]

@Simon, I am not sure, I last downloaded my latest links on the 3rd, after seeing some new links. I have not seen any change since, but I am not sure if this due to it not updating or there simply not being any new links added. I did however, see referral traffic a few days ago from a new link. But again, as we know Google doesn't show everything.

[Simon_H]

@NickMNS We get loads of pinterest links every day, some Feefos, as well as others. But looks like GSC stopped reporting everything on 29th Sep.

[Martin Ice Web]

Worst weekend for years. Sales are down or only very small basket sales.
Traffic is dropping since friday. User engagement is worse. Bounce is getting high again.

This must be a new quality update.

germany

[highlander888]

Maybe Google are tweaking Penguin as its been a few weeks now - all 3 of my sites that have seen a recovery took a dip on Friday.

Sunday is closer to last week so we'll see what this week brings

[BushieTop]

Noticeable slight dip for me on Saturday, Friday we actually saw a rise.

On another note, i've actually started re-avowing links that i had previously disavowed. I'm at the stage now where i believe my tactics are 'too pure' and its actually hurting me.

Cant say I've enjoyed my job since late June.

[highlander888]

Bushie - I also re-avowed links that had been disavowed since 2014, problem is I made that change on 31st August and now its tough to work out what is responsible for my ranking changes.

Interestingly one of my sites that has not been touched since 2014 recovered by the same % as my main site which I have spent 100's and 100's of hours working on improving - responsive design and so on.

Shows maybe doing nothing and sitting wating may be just as good!

[BushieTop]

@Highlander888 i doubt that i have seen any improvement since re-avowing yet (i did this maybe two weeks ago). I find it sad that i have to do this.

[highlander888]

Try pinging the backlinks concerned seems to speed up their recrawl

[BushieTop]

@highlander888 That still works? I've not tried that for years!

[motifseo]

I've been trying to rank a website in the UK and I sent a link to my site and it moved from page 7 to page 3 (after one month) and then soon as I sent a few directory links it immediately moved to back to page 10/11. Is anyone else seeing similar patterns?

[highlander888]

Bushie - testing it on my own websites it speeds the recrawl - therefore logically it should lead to faster Penguin re-calculation

[glakes]

I've been trying to rank a website in the UK and I sent a link to my site and it moved from page 7 to page 3 (after one month) and then soon as I sent a few directory links it immediately moved to back to page 10/11. Is anyone else seeing similar patterns?

Directory links scream "self made" and most are link farms. Why anyone still tries to build links with directories anymore, especially after all the years discussing how bad they are, is beyond comprehension. The only similar pattern I see is using link building techniques that lost their value about five or more years ago. Get rid of those links anyway you can and don't create another directory link again. I even avoid the popular directories that cost $200-$300 a year because they will accept pretty much anything, though the one limitation they place on link buyers is restricting your use of anchor text.

[BushieTop]

Seen further slides this morning. A major provider in our industry has recovered and taken one of our positions. Seems we're losing out to these recoveries.

[hussainbtk]

Good update in UK for me, one of my website is getting top ranking in multiple keywords.

[Martin Ice Web]

Guys i need your feedback. Since the last weekend sales decline. We are now having a drop of -95%.
Traffic is well up. But it seems that nobody wants to buy anything.

Are you seeing the same? Or do I have to check my site a third time?

ecom, germany

THANX

[BushieTop]

@Martin we're seeing similar patterns. Whats strange is that we have moved back to our original positions since my last post. Our drops have been from top 3 to top 5, however, looking at the data Penguin has been largely positive. What spanked us was whatever rolled out in late June. We lost a substantial amount of our visibility there.

[Martin Ice Web]

@Bu#*$!eTop, ios not that we are seeing drops in traffic but in sales.
And we donīt get any Spam Mails anymore. I think backdraft stated this before. Everytime sales drop, Spam Emails are beeing cut off too.
This is very strange.

[mosxu]

@Martin

A quick one, are you also having problems sending emails (not receiving spam as above) from your domain? Has the domain reputation been affected in any way, clients complain to get the emails in their junk folder or not getting emails at all?

[javadth]

after google p4

my 1# dropped to 8# and now static / google traffic dropped from ~1200 to ~450

another from 4# dropped to 4# of page4 / google traffic dropped from ~650 to ~450

another from 1# of page 2 dropped to mid of page 7 and still dropping / google traffic dropped from ~680 to ~500

for this 3 sites a stopped link buildings in this 1 month

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my 2 site from page 4 and 5 dropped to page 8 and 9 and static not improve and not decrease

[renatovieira]

In my opinion, P4 never happened.

I repeat, it was a way that Google found for webmaster to stop asking about when will occur the next major update.

:-)

[Martin Ice Web]

@msxu, no problems with our mails so far.

We only have the problem with google traffic. Sales from bing users and other sources are not effected.
It is only google again.
I guess they found a way to route all buyers to others google sources.
PLA spending went through the roof .... i had to stop it.

[Martin Ice Web]

@javadth, all site dropped at the same time?
That would not count for P4. As i got it the way, that it goes through all pages one after another, that will take time.
Except our interlink between this sites?

My guess is that google psuhed another update within P4. Its the way google did it more than once in the past.

[silentneedle]

Since P4 our traffic has increased, but our conversions stay the same, looks like another wave of zombie traffic.

[robzilla]

Seeing some very prehistoric results on a fairly popular query... from page 2 onwards, lots of very old pages (10+ years, stale or broken content, even some questionably "sexy" content), and quite a few parked domains, all of which should not be ranking at all. I don't understand why they're still having trouble filtering out parked domains.

[glakes]

Good overall daily traffic (increased with P4) but still seeing zombie patterns. But the zombie patterns have shortened. I'll see increased Amazon sales for 2-3 days then my site and the cycle restarts. Unlike the previous zombie cycle, sales are still occurring daily as expected but at different marketplaces. I'm happy with it and don't need Adwords to keep everyone busy building and shipping product. Though Amazon's 15% cut hurts, it's far more predictable then Adwords could ever be.

[mosxu]

@martin

Sorry to hear that,

Same here PLAs mainly zombie traffic, Simon suggested it was mismatched traffic but looking at the searched terms it is not the case

[mboydnv]

Friday: Returning visits are the worse in 30 days, sales are the worst since Oct 5. Slow sales today too. last sun, mon, tues was great now garbage. Wish they would keep it even.

[NickMNS]

I am seeing a very strange increase in impression in SC for 10/20/16. I had a jump in the number of impressions of about 25% from one day to the next. This did not translate to an increase in traffic as it was paired with a drop in CTR and obviously clicks. I poked around some more and it seems that the jump occurred almost entirely in China, where I had a 100 multiple increase in daily impressions. The increase in China accounts for almost the entire increase on the global number. Normally China accounts for less than 1% of my daily impressions.
I rarely get any traffic from China, I had one visitor in September, and 5 thus far in October and no visitors on the 20th (according to GA).

Any ideas on what might be causing this?
Should I be pleased, maybe more traffic is on its way?
Anybody else seeing this?
Is this a SC bug?
Could it be that some Chinese site has linked to mine in large numbers (maybe negative SEO) and this is giving me a boost in China?

10/20/16 is the last day that is currently included in search analytics report, so I don't know what happens next, other than my traffic has been normal as reported by GA.