Google Updates and SERP Changes - December 2016

[reseller]

---

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)

---

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]

Three questions as food for the thought:

- Could Google Update of 15th December 2016 be the start of Google's war against the Zombies?

- Have you been receiving after the 15th December Update less Zombies?

- Have you noticed improvement in Geo-targetting after the 15th December Update?

[samwest]

Traffic is up and more steady, but zombie traffic is in daily flux, clear in the morning, thick mid day and at night. I've never seen so many people on my signup page and not buy...except in the morning between 7am and 9am. Rest of day is consistently tire kickers. By all appearances they are feeding us buyers a little in the am, then cutting it off for the rest of the day. Happens every day now. A carrot perhaps?

[mosxu]

@reseller
Who will fight who? Bing/Amazon have always been free of zombies. Not everybody is living in zombie land.

Geolocation is because probably zombies got smarter not less in numbers.

[Lake]

Traffic here on a mid-size informational site also went up like 50% in the last few days. Scary.

[smilie]

>> @reseller: Could Google Update of 15th December 2016 be the start of Google's war against the Zombies?

It's impossible as Google + Facebook created zombies. By extracting "converting visitors" (visitors who ordered online before or are looking at particular subject/product) , putting them into "audiences" and selling them to Remarketing and Adwords buyers at higher $, they created physically two streams of visitors: ones that do convert and ones that are unlikely (i.e. "zombies").

They'd have to start war against themselves, a task that for profit, billions-making corporations are incapable of doing.

[smilie]

We'd have to start doing our own push - such as to make using our Google Analytics data ours, create a legal wall and make them to not be able to easily use it against us. Or we should support open source analytics pacackges, and make it popular - that's the only way they understand, being hit by $.

[reseller]

@smilie

Please....you are hurting my feelings because I'm a member of Google Fan Club :)

Btw.. any changes of the country/countries of origin of your visitors which you have noticed since 15th December 2016? Do you like what you see?

[aristotle]

reseller - I noticed that you keep mentioning an update occurring on Dec 15. But you haven't said which types of sites were most affected, or which signals gained or lost influence. Without that information, you haven't shown anything.

Which reminds me that every time I look at this thread, people are talking about "big updates" in progress, or just happened, or looming, giving the impression that big important updates are occurring almost every day, but somehow I almost never notice them on my sites.

[mosxu]

@smilie

let's just assume for a second that what you are suggesting visitors have been split in two: those who converted before and those who have not, manipulating this data will break not only competition laws but also cartel regulations of any country of this world

question is how can one prove this ? even $20 a click makes no difference for us we get no visitors who have converted before

[Cocoweb]

Our SERP impressions doubled starting the 18th. Could just be me disavowing a bunch of stuff when I joined the company on the 1st.

@mosxu

It may just be the product itself that's problematic.

[edited by: Cocoweb at 9:27 pm (utc) on Dec 29, 2016]

[reseller]

@aristotle

Which reminds me that every time I look at this thread, people are talking about "big updates" in progress, or just happened, or looming, giving the impression that big important updates are occurring almost every day, but somehow I almost never notice them on my sites.

Would you be kind to elaborate more about your sites which haven't been affected by previous Google updates that have been mentioned here on this thread; number of sites, sizes, categories etc..

[aristotle]

reseller -- Do you mean "previous Google updates" that never actually happened? If an update didn't actually happen, then how could my sites have been affected by something that didn't happen?

[mosxu]

@cocoweb

why would the product be problematic ?

[Cocoweb]

If you're bidding $20 per click and it's not converting, it might either be the competition or the product itself.

[mosxu]

@cocoweb

Or it may be only zombies

Product is fine landing page highly optimized, lowest price, free shipping or shall we add a gold bar free as well ?

[reseller]

@aristotle

You keep mentioning your sites but you don't wish to tell us anything about them; number of sites whether they are e-commerce or information etc.. . Fair enough, I respect your privacy.

[aristotle]

reseller -- I've mentioned here several times in the past that all six of my sites are informational. But that has nothing to do with all the numerous "false alarms" about big updates that have appeared in this thread over the years.

[reseller]

Just wish to mention that Google doesn't always confirm algorithm changes (updates) that the SEOs & webmasters communities may notice, discuss and register.

Here you can find several algorithm changes which Google hasn't confirmed at all.

Google Algorithm Change History [moz.com...]

[EditorialGuy]

Just wish to mention that Google doesn't always confirm algorithm changes (updates) that the SEOs & webmasters communities may notice, discuss and register.

Also, not everyone will be affected similarly (if at all) by a given algorithm change. One person's "big update" may be another person's non-event.

[masterjoe]

Havent noticed anything significant over thr last few days. I seem to have lost a few #1 ranks to spammier websites and youtube videos that are computer generated rubbish. I did also have a strange wednesday, where I got 3x my usual traffic numbers.

[aristotle]

Just wish to mention that Google doesn't always confirm algorithm changes (updates) that the SEOs & webmasters communities may notice, discuss and register.

Here you can find several algorithm changes which Google hasn't confirmed at all.

Google Algorithm Change History [moz.com...]

That link just confirms what I said about most of the "big updates" in this thread being false alarms, since they're not on that list.

[reseller]

@aristotle

But that has nothing to do with all the numerous "false alarms" about big updates that have appeared in this thread over the years.

Would you be kind to mention 5 examples of what you call [numerous "false alarms" about big updates that have appeared in this thread over the years] ?

[mosxu]

all updates are personal maybe

[aristotle]

reseller - I'm not going to waste my time finding outdated false information for you.

[reseller]

@aristotle

reseller - I'm not going to waste my time finding outdated false information for you.

So you are not able to support your negative claims about this thread, and hence the kind WebmasterWorld members who have been contributing to the thread, by few examples!

[mosxu]

it all relates to the industry and the will to spend, updates with birds and animal names are no longer relevant to each and everyone of us

[NickMNS]

@reseller how is aristotle supposed to support his claims, when he hasn't really made one. Aristotle simply suggested that you are making vague claims about algo updates, and from that you went on the defensive.

How can you support your claim that an update occurred on the 15th? Mozcast report a number above 100, and you and handful of others claim to have seen a change in traffic.

This hardly constitute support for your claim. Mozcast has often been unable to detect algo updates even when they have been announced by Google and often report spikes when nothing seems to occur. So it is an imperfect measure, and Dr Pete and Moz are the first to say that. As for having a few people support your claim, this is not significant either. On any given day, the likelihood that others see patterns similar to yours is very high, in fact the probability is close to 1 (certain).

So I look forward to seeing the support for your claim about the algo update on the 15th.

[mosxu]

Reseller is absolutely right,

Because of the holiday day season the pig bigs are getting less customers and the rest of us get less remains,

Very simple, wish you all wake up to reality in 2017

[frankleeceo]

If I remember things right, reseller did mention his observation for his 50% lost of traffic on 12/15, as well as the update being affiliate heavy sites friendly (per him). Putting the pieces together, probably some affiliate heavy sites overtook his positions and gobbled his traffic. I am just guessing.

Generally a 50% loss without human / technical error is significant enough in my book.

I personally do not think that there are too many false alarms as the updates will always impact some sites more than the others. Given the amount of changes that get pushed through, or sites that get put in the A/B test bucket. Our own logs and experiences (and money) tell a much better story than any other "forecast" news can provide.

And those tools are very limited in the terms that they track. In my personal niche, I find them 100% not applicable to me since I am not fighting for those highly commercial terms.

[reseller]

Looking forward to more Google Algorithm Changes in 2017 - Happy New Year :)