Google Updates and SERP Changes - December 2016

[reseller]

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System: The following 11 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4824428.htm [webmasterworld.com] by goodroi - 1:19 pm on Dec 2, 2016 (utc -5)

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Maybe we wish to keep focus on the important observations posted on this thread:

1 - On/Off conversions pattern.
2 - On/Of ranking of main keywords.
3 - High ranking of main keywords on Google SERPs doesn't necessary mean more organic traffic.
4 - Organic traffic could be productive or non-productive.
5 - Judging of present and past posts on this thread, It seems not all website are affected by above 4 points.

I think that Google bright engineers know exactly what they are doing with Google algorithms, and I can imagine Googlers are aware of above 5 points reported on this thread.

As such, I suggest we start looking at those sites affected by some/all the first 4 points mentioned above, and discuss for example what those websites have in common and what could be the reason behind that those sites are affected?

Thanks and God bless.

[reseller]

@glakes

Thanks for feedback.

[MrOnTheRopes]

@NickMNS

I wasn't aware of that but just checked it out in GA. Thanks for the great tip :)

[stgeorge]

Following on to my earlier post I'd like to ask this question again if I may:

Has anyone seen their site dropping in the rankings for only the primary home page keyword and a small number of its semantic variations?

It has just happened to a fourth site of ours.

Everything else holds up except the site's main keyword targeted on the home page, which drops around 50 to 100 places.

[code007x]

yes stgeorge. I also see the same. home page ranking is all gone and pushed to somewhere 80. I was ranking no#6 average for the keyword.

when i analysed 80 of 100 urls had ranked only inner pages. but unfortunately my home page is landing page. I have lost 70% of traffic and business. My few competitors who have done press release for their inner pages rank well and iam bumped down to last pages of serp.

[masterjoe]

Traffic quality for the past week has been okay, as in it actually converts. Last day or so, conversions have dropped off a cliff. Whatever "quality" update this is seems like a pure money grab. Did a search earlier for a few items on my mobile to check prices and compare the store price. First result was Amazon every time and then something irrelevant... so 2 results on a page through mobile. Then the next results were what you would actually expect.

[stgeorge]

@code007x

If you are open to me looking at your site it would be great.

If so, please PM me.

If I find any similarities I will post them as general observations here.

We have already found another website owner with this same problem so the more data we have to work with the better our chances of getting to the bottom of this.

[samwest]

Same observation here MJ. Traffic when silent on the 15th. Getting similar reports across varied sites we manage and from other webmasters both here (USA) and abroad (UK). This morning started out in "drip mode", meaning one visitor at a time, which has been going on for days, then suddenly there is some sign of life and one buyer. That ends a two day drought...and likely starts another. Days between just keep getting longer and erratic traffic trend is evolving to zero. In most cases, you couldn't give away gold bars to the drip traffic that does make it through. Usually one & done visits. Z's persist. Another site redesign and 301 project on the drawing board.

[Mentat]

In some regions the school holiday started, but I believe that yesterday it was a new twist in the algo, a small reversal.

[samwest]

Odd that I can't get a single conversion on daytime traffic, yet on my trickle of traffic last night two occur, one at 1:47am and one at 2:58am...once the sun comes up, it's back to Z's. They must have been switching data sets again. We still observe those anomalies when data sets switch, just like back in the dance days.

[sayeen]

Any idea when the dust will settle for this latest Google Dance? My rankings have dropped.I am of the view that Google is pushing the big brands up. I hoping this is only temporary. Fingers crossed.

[reseller]

What happened on 15th December 2016 could be a Google update (not just a dance) :)

[samwest]

@sayeen- get used to it. From my own observations, ever since about 2010 (initiated in earnest) M&P sites have constantly dropped in rank. I have heard little to no accounts of them recovering, only slowly being pushed further down. It's a natural effect of the bigger sites spreading into every topic, no matter how thin...they rank. This is not a temporary glitch, just more of the same.

[masterjoe]

Conversions are still non-existent altogether. Could be the lead up time to xmas but this has never happened before.

[BushieTop]

Not been on a while, so i thought i'd drop in to give you my patterns. So we have seen some good growth on long tail but the generic still is still getting dominated by spam. Refreshingly though, some of our smaller competitors are getting looks at the bottom of page one, but when you look at their profiles, in nearly all cases, they have build a sh%t load of links in a short space of time.

I'm beginning to suspect that rankbrain learning is providing greater emphasis on these smaller domains because they have seen such a rapid growth over the past few months and that the quality that the bigger domains established pre-rankbrain is somehow less credible than it was?!

[ichthyous]

A huge drop between the 15th and the 18th for my smallish (2,500 page) site...approximately 40% down over three days. I am also seeing google favor very large sites in my niche over the smaller independent sites. I've learned not to panic with these sudden drops as they are becoming the norm, although if you add them up they are making a big impact on business.

[reseller]

@ichthyous

A huge drop between the 15th and the 18th for my smallish (2,500 page) site...approximately 40% down over three days.

I think that since the 15th December 2016 there have been an overall search algorithm update, a "Santa Claus Update" :), followed by the usual tweaking which use to follow algorithm updates.

[ggpaul]

Hi,

Thought I'd chime in. My site has dropped significantly as well. My main keywords are somewhat staying strong, but a lot of my long tail keywords dropped. My visibility was at 13% and has dropped down to 8% within a couple days (using SEMrush).

Scratching my head..

[mosxu]

hit hard by zombies but rankings are higher

[masterjoe]

Same here. Adwords is also still managing to drain the same amount of money without producing any profitable traffic.

[robzilla]

Traffic is slow today, but that seems to be in line with the week before Christmas last year.

Not seeing any major changes in ranking myself, but MozCast does report heavy weather around December 14-15, with relatively large changes in the metrics of domain diversity (less diversity) and partial-match domains (fewer of those).

[EditorialGuy]

We've seen a modest uptick in the last few days, in terms of both traffic and affiliate revenue. That's been happening for several years now: We reach a low point in early to mid-December, then begin recovering just before Christmas (as opposed to right after New Year's, which used to be the norm).

[reseller]

Just wish to recall a relevant article of Search Engine Roundtable.

December 15th Google Search Algorithm Update Signals
[seroundtable.com...]

[mosxu]

@reseller

Desired confusion, have webmasters believe that these amazing quality updates named after birds and animals somehow put webmaster on their back foot and prove they are not competent enough to compete in google.

Too far from the truth, webmasters have started to smell the coffee already

[ichthyous]

My traffic fell off a cliff today, it just continues to get worse and worse since the 15th. I also noticed that there was a huge spike in the number pf pages indexed on the 17th, and today all of the sudden 628 pages reported as 404 errors on my site, a lot of the URLs long gone and never really bringing in much traffic (they were automated tag pages.)...it seems Google is reaching once again deep into it's historical crawl data, as it did in September.

[Halaspike]

Since the 15th my traffic just keeps dropping day by day. I have no idea what the hell is going on.

[reseller]

@mosxu

I think the latest Google update of 15th December could be considered as THE FATHER OF ALL GOOGLE UPDATES, which is in progress at present. For the first time in Google history we witness a Google overall algorithm update which covers all the animals and birds signals at the same time. SEOs and webmasters are forced to reconsider their understanding of dynamics on Google SERPs.

Allow me to give an example. High ranking of main keywords on Google SERPs doesn't necessary mean boost in conversions or boost in productive organic traffic.

I guess thousands or millions of webmasters would find their websites affected by The Father Of All Google Updates.

As I mentioned before several times on this thread; webmasters should start thinking of ways to bring their negatively affected websites back in business. For example by moving those negatively affected websites to new domains with or without 301 redirect.....and more.

Thanks for listening and God bless :)

[renatovieira]

@Halaspike

Main keywords improving. Traffic falling. Something very strange has been happening since 15/dec.

Was Google Bluffing? Has P4 started now?

Tourism, USA

[linkbuildr]

@renatovieira Same here Tourism Canada/USA

[Awarn]

I can't say traffic has changed much. I see periods of good conversions then I might wait an hour with nothing then good conversions again. I basically abandoned Adwords as it only broke even at best. I kind of focused on my main customer base and gave up on Google. Sooner or later the people will come because if they want the product I may be the only place to get it. Just a matter of time. Google can put others on top. They still end up buying from me after a while.

[samwest]

stop and go traffic all day...1 hour of early a.m. conversions followed by 24 hours of nothing, occasional late night sales on a trickle of traffic, patterns make no sense and don't follow the daily traffic volume at all. Seems when traffic volume is highest, conversions stop cold.