Google Updates and SERP Changes - April 2018

[kewlchat]

System: The following message was cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4889357.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 5:32 pm on Apr 1, 2018 (PDT -8)


Seems after 3 years traffics picked up some, should we dare to dream?

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 1:39 am (utc) on Apr 2, 2018]
[edit reason] Moved and reformatted message to new month [/edit]

[Cralamarre]

I think page speed is also relevant to your niche. In my case, I have an education-based site full of training articles that are loaded with images, and some also include videos. I optimize the images as best I can but they're still images. As a result, the pages load rather slow, but the same is true for my competitors. Everyone in my niche has the same problem. So if I get hit for having slow-loading pages, so will everyone else. Because of that, I don't worry about it. The images (and videos) are necessary for what I do, and I have not seen any evidence that I've been hit with a penalty for page speed.

[glakes]

I don't worry about speed either. I went down that road about six months ago, greatly improved our site speed and saw no improvement at all. Granted, some sites are terribly slow and could benefit I'm sure. But just like the vast majority of what little info comes out of the plex, it leaves the majority of webmasters chasing their tails. Just do what's best for your visitors/business because Google will always do what is best for their bottom line/shareholders...

[BushyTop]

What do you deem as fast?

[Travis]

It sounds that lot of you believe that, "if my site is fast, then it will rank above everybody else, without any other reason". Speed is only one factor among hundreds.

[BushyTop]

@travis I'd argue its one that is becoming more significant though. Following the updates this year, we've seen an increase in AMP coverage and a leaning towards highly relative link profiles. When I started to see these patterns (as well as examining the link profiles) i started to examine the page response times and TTFB of all those that had seen significant growth. you couldn't dispute the data. faster sites ranked better.

[Jhurwith]

You all know speed helps UX, conversion and other factors besides ranking, right?

[Cralamarre]

@Jhurwith, If your site was the only site in your niche with slow-loading pages, then I'd agree you have a problem. But if your competitor sites are all loading just as slow as yours because that's just the nature of the game, then you shouldn't worry about it. A page full of images is never going to load as fast as a page that's only text, and if removing the images makes your page less useful to your visitors, then you're not helping anyone.

I tried lazy loading the images, but people started emailing me complaining that the images were not loading, so I pulled the plug on that. These days, I just don't worry about it.

[Jhurwith]

Thanks @cralamarre. We don't really worry about, but ever quarter, I get 2-3 speed stories into sprints. We've seen great decreased in page load time. I can't prove it helped rankings, but it certainly can't hurt.

[glakes]

In regards to speed, I'm of the belief that if your server response time is bad then that needs corrected. Otherwise, speed then becomes largely dependent on the user's bandwidth. Shared hosting is notorious for have very slow server response times, especially those budget plans. But there are good hosts out there that don't oversell shared hosting and the availability/cost of CDN services make it easy and inexpensive to correct.

[skynet84]

new drop started april 12-13
lose 30% traffic

[sk7411]

Pretty pitiful to see that spam sites with scraped content and thousands of unnatural backlinks are sitting proudly on pos 1 . They have really rewarded the under rewarded spam sites with this update honestly.

[mosxu]

Speed is half of your site conversion rate especially for 3G test my site with google if you score more than 3 seconds it may affect the quality of traffic received?

I am just thinking what speed is expected from us if Gary Illyes says quality traffic goes to quality sites and speed can be played up by any bot go figure what sort of traffic some will end up with...

[EditorialGuy]

Our average rankings continue to climb.Traffic has been down a bit for the week, probably because of external factors such as spring holidays. (Not every dip in traffic is caused by Google.)

[samwest]

My 90 day trend is nearly flat with a mere 2.1% increase in users, yet conversions are way up...by about 30%. go figure. I think it's due to a niche related commercial that is running on TV, so yes, an external force may be at play for me. Seems that 2% bump is 100% buyers. Gotta love free advertising. Even a blind squirrel finds an occasional nut. :D

[dethfire]

Honestly I think a ton of SEO is unnecessary and only beneficial on the margin or if you really screw something up. So many times I'll work hours and hours to improve something that is considered guideline SEO for a site and see absolutely nothing for it. Quality content and quality links is all that matters. Traditional marketing is back in play.

[dethfire]

Too many times I watch garbage competitor sites who have dozens of visible violations, plaster ads and haven't updated their site since 2010 continue to thrive.

[Travis]

You know, the more you visit and stay at these "garbage" sites, the more Google will think they are good, and be comforted that the SERP is accurate.

[Samsam1978]

How do you beat someone with many sites (same URL path) different ips, and adsense, but same server location

Content is not worded that well and many mistakes. I have tried writing an equivalent article that reads really well - does not seem to have worked :-( advice appreciated as it is not good all round.

[Travis]

How do you beat someone with many sites (same URL path) different ips, and adsense, but same server location

Find something "illegal" that the owner is doing, and report him to the host/registar/adsense.

[Samsam1978]

Thanks Travis, it really grates me when I spend 8 hours writing and researching a great article that is older and 6 of his sites rank above me (cry) how do I find something illegal?

[MayankParmar]

@Samsam1978 So the owner has 6 sites covering same topic, he is hacking the SERP? A lot of people are doing that. You can really do nothing. As Travis said, to take down his sites, you need find something very illegal, and it's highly unlikely.

[edited by: MayankParmar at 11:56 am (utc) on Apr 15, 2018]

[Samsam1978]

Thanks for your help.

[mosxu]

False Alarm:

Last 3 days huge number of zombies, same fast website but the weekend would have been slow for the dogs so they moved the cheese again

It looks like for the formula to hold all is required is about three smiling dogs

[glakes]

Last 3 days huge number of zombies, same fast website but the weekend would have been slow for the dogs so they moved the cheese again

Yes, the cheese definitely moved and in a big way. I'm sounding the Amazon bias alarm. Today we had 400% more orders on Amazon than our website. The SERP crowding of Amazon in Google is at an all-time high and where the sales are coming in clearly shows it. But hey, if Google thinks sending their users to a marketplace where they will pay more for the same product(s) then more power to em...

[Cralamarre]

I'm not sure I understand the dogs and cheese analogy. Mice and cheese, sure. But dogs and cheese? From my experience, no good ever comes from feeding cheese to dogs.

[mosxu]

@glakes

AI cannot play with Amazon traffic, but they think the way to take on Amazon is by bringing high street stores in the serps. High street stores are a lot more expensive and like to sell expensive. I do not see the desire to have an ecom site and be cheap like Amazon.

[BushyTop]

Over the weekend we experienced massive spikes in Google bot activity.

[keyplyr]

@BushyTop [webmasterworld.com...]

[samwest]

@Cralamarre - the cheese part refers to the recommended restroom reading book; "Who Moved My Cheese" by Dr Spencer Johnson. It's a best selling cutesy business fable that every "stuck" webmaster should read. NPI ;)

[Cralamarre]

Thanks @samwest, now I know. :)