Google Updates and SERP Changes - November 2017

[Jez123]

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System: The following 2 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4870905.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 3:13 am on Nov 1, 2017 (PDT -8)

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I am seeing amazing conversion rates since Saturday night / Sunday morning. Traffic remains fairly normal but conversions are through the roof! I have never seen anything like it yesterday. Is this coincidental or has something changed? Is anyone else seeing anything like it?

UK ecomm.

[JesterMagic]

BTW - the viral rash on another site just a few weeks ago has gone from 50k visits per day to about 500/day today. Got a ton of back links, but guess what...they don't help.

@samwest Give the backlinks time and for Google to process things. If they are from somewhat decent sources you should see a benefit of a steady uptick in visitors in the coming months.

[BushyTop]

@jez123 we saw a fairly miserable weekend, but an absolutely horrific day today.... conversions have been terrible. We've also seen a slight dip in rankings WOW. UK, ecom.

[engine]

For those of us doing research, it really is going to be worthwhile if you include some other data in your reports:-

Traffic from desktop or mobile (as per mobile first index).

Breaking down how the traffic converts.

Any geolocation information which might be helpful.

Any other data that you think might be helpful, such as how it compares to a year ago.

[samwest]

@Jester - yes, they are from site like Forbes, Fortune, Fox News, and a ton of other news outlets. The traffic quickly decayed because the "shiny object" moved off the page. Not sure what those residual links will do and how long the articles will stay on their sites and what benefit if any they will have in the long run. There's definitely a difference between "hard" backlinks that remain on a static page vs. the mushy backlinks that move down the list of trending blog topics. I'm sure they are all "nofollowed" too.

On a different note, today is cyber Monday and contrary to historical trends, my test site is seeing nothing but a tiny trickle of foreign traffic...Albania, Romania, Timbuktu, etc. The vortex of traffic must be centered on one site today (and most days).....guess which one.


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[MayankParmar]

The traffic from desktop is same, it didn't drop! I assume the Google search app now shows the sites that loads quickly? 95% of sites on the search app are now AMP pages. My site isn't that fast (4s-5s) and since I don't use AMP, I'm kicked out?!

[lee_sufc]

As per some earlier messages, I'm seeing a lot of movement again for a few keywords in particular. One minute I'm delighted (improved position from 11 to 5), then I'm devastated (middle of page 2), my heart sinks (page 3), and then back to page 1 again! It seems to change hourly.

On other keywords, I'm rotating between 5, 12 and 20 (after about 1 year of these being around position 11). I can't tell if something is changing to look forward to if it's a bad sign.

Another really odd thing is that one keyword has been showing on 3 pages in position 5, then middle of page 2, then bottom of page 1?

No idea what is going on!?!

[RedBar]

No idea what is going on!?!

If it's any consolation, neither has Google:-)

Meanwhile they continue to bankrupt businesses all over the world!

[Samsam1978]

Someone who stole my content who has nicked my website content but does not link to me but states my website in the first paragraph - appears in number 1. I am sat at number 2: It is getting ridiculous now.

[lee_sufc]

Samsam1978 - Frustrating, isn't it? I have this in my niche. A site the looks like it was designed in the 90s with meta keywords copied from content on my site and on-page content stolen from a mix of about 5 sites, zero links, zero reputation, outranks "decent sites" (and has done for a long time!). I sometimes wonder why I both researching and writing length articles, designing, user-friendly sites, etc when people like this cheat the system easily. Makes no sense.

[thedonald123]

Whenever a site has outranked me for my own content it has been when I've been penalized by panda or other quality algorithms. As soon as I get out of penalty they stop outranking me.

If spam is outranking you it's a symptom of the "demotion". Same with rich snippets. When I lose them it means I've been demoted. Do a site: search if you have rich snippets that show up in a site: search but don't show on a regular search it's a symptom of the penalty.

[Samsam1978]

@thedonald123 thanks how do I search rich snippets? to test?

[seoskunk]

Well for once i have some good news , up on visitors and ranking on multiple keywords on a four month old site. Still not enough but its a start, maybe something to build on.

[thedonald123]

@Samsam1978 you'd have to have rich snippets such as ratings, reviews ect already setup on your website. You can actually view rich snippets that are displayed in the SERPS in GSC now.

[MayankParmar]

Lost hope from blogging, it's been 15 days and I'm out from the Google search news app, with traffic down by 45% :(

[MayankParmar]

Is the ad placement or site design responsible for drop in traffic? The current design is:

Big Logo
Article title
320x250 ad
image
336x280 ad
one para
responsive link ad

and the rest article article starts.

[jambam]

Seeing a lot of more US shopping sites rank in uk... very unhelpful!

[Mark_A]

(B2B Technical not E-Commerce) Organic google is a little down this last week. Not sure why, but perhaps the run up to Christmas holidays is getting under way. Business wise Christmas is pretty dead for us.

[SEO programmer]

Seeing my traffic completely dead this morning. Any possibilities on what might be causing the super slow morning? My drop is looking about 60% down from what it normally is for a Thursday morning. No significant drops in rankings. No penalties or manual actions (current or previously).

[Atomic]

@MayankParmar

Yes, that layout is very good for you, maybe not your user. I would call the add unit right after the image one too many before your copy begins.

I had a layout like that years ago but discovered that, for me, less is more. I found that in many cases fewer ad units = more money. It seems counterintuitive but if you give it enough time and make sure the one ad in it above the fold is positioned right, you will make more.

YMMV.

[System]

The following 4 messages were cut out to new thread by robert_charlton. New thread at: google/4879278.htm [webmasterworld.com]
10:29 pm on Dec 1, 2017 (PDT -8)