Google Updates and SERP Changes - August 2017

[MrSavage]

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System: The following 12 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4856114.htm [webmasterworld.com] by goodroi - 8:21 am on Aug 2, 2017 (utc -5)

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Google is, or should I say has, just become or is closely becoming an actual website. You know. The place you go to get what you need and not go somewhere else. It's almost officially the era of the Google tax. They got a piece of everything that comes through the web.

[HereWeGo123]

I also have 4k+ links from Pinterest. Not sure what to make out of it. :)

[ichthyous]

@NYCTech

I would venture to say that a reduction of links from 3,000,000 down to 2750 might have some affect. I have seen a downward tick in positioning recently, but my SERPs were going up for a long time while the Pinterest backlink count kept going down during that time. It seems that perhaps Google devalued these links long ago, or never valued them highly or we would be seeing a much bigger drop. I'm worried that if the count keeps dropping that it will have a major effect on my traffic. Has anyone else seen this happen?

[azlinda]

In my niche, culinary, The top search positions go to major food companies and well-known magazines. The little guys are pushed way down in search results. There is no way to compete with the big guys.

[koan]

azlinda, I hear you, I had a culinary site a long time ago but organic traffic completely dried up in the past years, now it's barely paying its hosting. I decided to invest my time in other niches as it was a low CPC anyway.

[masterjoe]

2 days ago I had 2x my normal conversion rate on a GOOD day. Today, traffic the same but not a single interaction from any visitors. No conversions, sign ups, sognificantly higher bounce rate.

Zombies are back, I would venture to say there was some update happening around this time as I had some serious rank improvement according to my tracking, but it is still somehow useless fruitless traffic.

[browndog]

In my niche, culinary, The top search positions go to major food companies and well-known magazines. The little guys are pushed way down in search results. There is no way to compete with the big guys.

I agree, it's always the same sites for recipes (something I search for probably daily). I wouldn't want to be in that niche.

I'm finding a lot of what you say is happening in my niche too. Mostly a media company and 'widget' manufacturers who write thin articles, but because they're known globally, they rank well despite the content.

I still rank okay, but get pushed down a lot by brands.

[EditorialGuy]

In my niche, culinary, The top search positions go to major food companies and well-known magazines. The little guys are pushed way down in search results. There is no way to compete with the big guys.

In my niche (which has many well-funded corporate publishers), mom-and-pop publishers can do quite well. As always, YMMV.

In any case, when all other things are equal, it stands to reason that popular sites are going to do better in search engines than no-name sites do, just as best-selling authors or name-brand magazines are going to get more attention than authors or magazines that you've never heard of. That's the way of the world. The good news is that, on the Web, anyone can get into the bookstore or onto the newsstand. You aren't vulnerable to the whims of a chain's buyer in New York or a local distributor. But if you want to outrank the big guys, you've got to offer something they aren't offering.

[browndog]

But if you want to outrank the big guys, you've got to offer something they aren't offering.

What, like better content, because that ain't working.

[masterjoe]

Almost another 24 hours. Traffic is up, conversions are still zero. Zero interaction, completely useless traffic. This might not be bizarre if you dont make much money from your site, but when you can make hundreds in a single day then make absolutely nothing, there is manipulation happening.

[samwest]

@MJ - again, I am seeing the exact same thing as you. I have no idea what niche you're in or your location, yet we seem to always see the very same effects which I find very curious. Yesterday after four days of zero conversions I hit the first 9 conversion day in 8 months. 5 conversions within 1 hour! Come on! That's how the site USED to convert, so again, my only assumption is that there is a throttle in place and yesterday it was in the shop undergoing maintenance. Today it's right back to zip again with page sitters and no interaction. Yesterday is was full page to page interaction, like live humans do.
During this surge, my SERPs did not move at all. It's gotta be some kind of AI manipulation. Of course not across all sites. We must have a lot in common.

[samwest]

Pretty quiet around here....
Just reporting another SERP anomaly that I have never noticed happening much, until today. In the past, SERP results would typically be static, changing only in months, or weeks time. Now it's by the second. In doing mobile searches this morning, I've seen no less than three different layouts for the same query. Ads in, ads out, images in, images out and the results for the target site varying from #2 to # 6 or worse. Now I understand why results and conversion can vary so wildly. Static results are gone. It's now a game of Russian Roulette.

[Jori]

It's machine test and learn in real time.

Someday it will hopefully understand what is the best result for the serps...

[masterjoe]

Past 24 hours I have had converting traffic. Curious if SamWest is seeing the same (yet again)?

[MrBlack]

Past 24 hours I have had converting traffic. Curious if SamWest is seeing the same (yet again)?

And it will probably last a day or two at most, and then back to non converting traffic.. It's the same for me and I bet it is the same for a multitude of small webmasters. This game is over.
With all the data Google have, they know 100% which traffic converts and which doesn't, and you can bet they send all the converting traffic to properties that they know they will get their cut. A blind man can see it. The only time we see converting traffic is probably when they are learning.

IMO it is a waste of time trying to get back to past glories. I have a website that used to generate £15k profit every month from organic traffic. I have followed trends and constantly improved it yet it now makes £500 if I am lucky.
But fortunately for us skilled webmasters there are now a lot more ways to make a good living without the need of traffic from Google. You just need to figure it out.......

[30K_a_month]

Still suffering since FEB update. No changes.... still drop each month of around 1-3%. Big players and companies google have shares in rise. google is not a good place

[masterjoe]

You are right - as expected, since I made my post I have not had a single conversion or interaction on my site after a small period of actual decent traffic. Google and its brazen thievery is beyond me at this point.

[Mark_A]

I don't have enough traffic to be sure about what I see but we do seem to have periods of decent human traffic which does interact and other times of traffic that does not. And I am paying for about 1/3 of that traffic.

[glitterball]

Noticing a lot more "Things to do in..." Google Travel Guide excerpts in the search results.

Surely this breaks the exact same rules that earned Google a €2.4 Billion euro fine?

[samwest]

After being gone for a few days, Pinterest in back in the spotlight taking up two consecutive positions pushing me below the fold. That small move makes a big difference. During it's short absence, conversions were up. Back to long zero runs.

[glakes]

Surely this breaks the exact same rules that earned Google a €2.4 Billion euro fine?

I always wondered in these cases if Google displays personalized/cloaked results to politicians and regulators while everyone else sees something different. In the end the fines are just part of doing business.

My USA based site's traffic is stable and conversions are spotty. But with many kids going back to school, and some recently started, conversions in mid to late August are expected to be a bit dicey as parents focus their spending on school supplies.

[glitterball]

I always wondered in these cases if Google displays personalized/cloaked results to politicians and regulators while everyone else sees something different. In the end the fines are just part of doing business.

A few years ago, I would have dismissed that notion, but after the revelations about Uber, I guess it's possible.

Maybe I should start taking screenshots to send to the European Commission?

[masterjoe]

Same here SW. Conversions are back down to straight zeros. Not ones or 2's every day. Not a single interaction for the last 2 days. Traffic numbers are up, conversions down... useless tyre kicker traffic.

[browndog]

I've noticed Quora all over the place the last 24 hours. Pinterest coming a close second.

[mhansen]

We're in an informational market, lead gen, primarily US traffic. Several well established, +7 year old websites that are continually updated with very detailed market-relevant info. We don't have any affiliate links, banners etc... everything is stored then run through a decision tree ourselves, with php and API.

For the last many weeks, we've watched our search position remain fairly static and aside from the single place shift now and then, nothing much has changed on high volume targets. We have several #1 answer box listings for Q&A, etc. We did lose a good bit of longtail phrases over the last 2 months, but the primary terms are delivering as strong as ever. Overall traffic is only off by 8-10%, YOY, which is also within the margin of other YOY data, based on market conditions.

Conversions from Google traffic on the other hand are way down since around mid July. Not just on one site, but across several in the same market. I've also got visibility to several others in the lead-gen market, and they are down significantly as well. Overall, we're down 65-70% on conversions since mid July... traffic only off 10% at most.

Like others have mentioned, it seems that conversions come through in very short spurts, then nothing for the next 4-5 hours. Rinse and repeat.

I do notice MANY more ads as well as MANY more answer boxes in our market. Fair use is starting to sound old when G is taking the well-written and researched info and answering everything within the confines of itself or its advertisers. It seems the visitors escaping without clicking an ad, are those who couldn't find the right info the first time, and got confused with the myriad of Q/A boxes.

[expmrb]

Has anyone viewing any sudden SERP changes in old keywords?

[Mark_A]

There seems to be something going on or appearing to be going on to make some webmasters unhappy with Google search. However from a search users perspective 80% of Google search users profess themselves happy with Google's search results.

[glitterball]

There seems to be something going on or appearing to be going on to make some webmasters unhappy with Google search. However from a search users perspective 80% of Google search users profess themselves happy with Google's search results.

Where is that 80% figure from?

[Mark_A]

I did a poll on an internet forum.

[Shaddows]

Conversions from Google traffic on the other hand are way down since around mid July.

We've seen a ~20% drop-off in Google conversion rate since late July.

We're a UK ecom, and it could just be school holidays, but we are down on the YoY trend. Non-G traffic is on trend.

[glakes]

However from a search users perspective 80% of Google search users profess themselves happy with Google's search results.

Replace the word happy with oblivious, and I think that would explain things a little better. The average user has no idea how search results are constructed or the degree of manipulation going on. Webmasters have more data to work with, which gives them a much clearer picture.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index measures user satisfaction across search engines, social media, etc. All search engines slipped in satisfaction, except for AOL. Ads, stale/old search results are largely to blame for the drop while social media continues to gain ground in being viewed as a news source. ACSI allows downloads of the report, but requires registration first. The link is [theacsi.org...] for anyone that is interested.