Google Updates and SERP Changes - August 2018

[yollo03]

System: The following 2 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4909313.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 3:47 am on Aug 1, 2018 (PDT -8)

-----

HERE WE GO! Get your sit belts on:

Google Search Algorithm August 1st Update Rolling Out Now; Might Be A Big One
Aug 1, 2018
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-algorithm-update-26141.html [seroundtable.com]




[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 11:57 am (utc) on Aug 1, 2018]

[jmorgan]

My site still largely stable and unaffected while everyone is freaking out around me. Having said that, things are apparently still shaking up quite a bit so who knows where I'll be at the end of this.

[yollo03]

I briefly analyzed semrush data. Only one keyword was affected for and it was the major one that drove the most traffic and conversions. Keywords with smaller volume (at least in my niche) were unaffected or gained. It looks to me like google targeted the major keywords in numerous topics but again, the update is not over guys. I reckon this will keep going for another week.

My conclusion for now is that the quality algorithm update is targeting keywords with significant volume that is used for conversions. If you have been targeting keywords with low volume you will probably unaffected yet. Whether google decides to do the same in low-volume keywords, time will tell.

[yollo03]

Another quick update, the major shifts in my niche are currently in desktops. My ranking is still down on mobile. I dont know if this is related to the new mobile index but I have no performance issues on mobiles, everything loads fast. Either google didnt get to update the mobile rankings yet or I have a lot of work to do on mobile rankings.

UPDATE! I was just pushed down a few pages, this is just WOW. I dont recall such an update in a while.

[pritz]

How to determine the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages for B2B service provider?

[jroc66]

Hey I'm new here, glad to have found this forum. I run a health blog and I've seen a 25% decrease in my traffic the past couple of days. I checked Google Search Console and it says my average position and average clickthrough rate are the same, but the total number of impressions and therefore the total number of clicks have gone down. Is this a good sign then? Will it likely bounce back since my position hasn't appeared to change? Let me know what you guys think, I'd appreciate it.

[Milchan]

@yollo03 - i do think think this has something to do with mobile first search, at least in some way. My traffic has fallen but since yesterday it seems like im getting more traffic from tablets than usual. I noticed it yesterday and it is continuing today. I tried some comparision searches on my ipad and desktop earlier but they seemed to give the same results though

[thejimster]

I'm no moderator, but I think some users need to cut back on the frequency of their posts. Posting every couple hours as a site moves from one deep search result page to the next really seems insignificant to me. That being said...

I'm mostly seeing small fluctuations for our money keywords (basically a reshuffling of the prior top 10 results). Some authoritative sites in our niche have multiple results on the same page, sometimes up to three.

One search term we've ranked #1 for for about 2 years was replaced with Wayfair (previously #2). We are now #2.

In another client's niche I'm seeing Amazon replacing a result that's historically been #1 or #2 for as long as they've been a client. The Amazon result is the exact same product as our client's site, so we're reaching out to the Amazon store owner to take the product listing off Amazon (this distributor is not allowed to sell on Amazon). We'll see how that affects the SERPS when that Amazon listing is removed. Despite a 20% traffic decline on this client's site, time on site, pages/session, session duration have all improved dramatically. We'll see how it affects conversions over the next month.

Rankings are shuffling quite a bit today. More-so than the prior two days.

Site types: Ecommerce, Manufacturer
Conversion type: Purchases, Phone Calls, Contact Forms

Things I don't do:
- Write XXXX word articles every day.
- Link Building
- AdSense

[edited by: thejimster at 3:02 pm (utc) on Aug 3, 2018]

[penitentman]

@jroc66 you want to see clicks, impressions, and position go up. So in short no, it's not a good sign.

CTR will only go up or down if you change your site name, description, titles, meta tags in any way or competitors around you change. Sometimes google changes that on their end too no matter what you set up your metadata as. Your metadata is what entices users to click on your listing opposed to the competitors around you in the serps.

But users need to see you in the serps first. That's where impressions come in. More impressions are good. That means more users see you in the serps which indicates A. you are ranking for more kw's B. you are ranking in a higher position for kw's, or both. Since your clicks and impressions are down then you are ranking for less kw's than you used to rank for... Would be my guess for the minimal information you provided.

Clicks and impressions can go up or down dramatically after an update. Avg Position usually is just 1 or 2 at a time. That does not mean a single kw cannot change 20+ positions or disappear altogether.. It can but avg position change is usually low. But can still affect your traffic. Depends on your site and how many kw's you rank for.

[EditorialGuy]

The update hasn't had any significant effect on us as yet. In comparing August 2 (yesterday) with the previous Thursday, I see a 1.07% increase in users, a 0.48% decrease in sessions, and a 3.25% increase in pageviews for our 17-year-old information site. Today looks a little less promising than yesterday, but if nothing changes, it should end up being a pretty normal day.

[penitentman]

This update is still rolling out. Into day 3 now. On day 1 traffic and conversion rate spiked. Had my best day in 3 months. Conversion rate declined day 2 and continues into day 3. Amount of traffic is the same but my keyword positions are changing. Wacky few days with the highest prolonged volatility I have seen in years.

[yollo03]

I am reporting my position so everyone here will know that this is not over, Im sure most know that but not all. What I can say is that at least my comments in this forum are being appreciated: [searchenginejournal.com...]

[NickMNS]

@EG and Pentitentman I concur, this update seems to still be rolling out. I have been largely unaffected by this update thus far. Wednesday I seemed to be up a bit, yesterday down but nothing significant. Today, it's still early, I am seeing a 20% drop as compared to same day last week.

[Selen]

Possibly the biggest flaw in the Quality Raters Guidelines is strong emphasis and reliance on "independent" reviews of the rated businesses. In some industries there are business that have created dozens of related websites AND their own "independent" review websites (that "review" their own businesses, without disclosing conflict of interest). Google ranks those "customer review" websites on top, so raters may assume the "ratings" and "reviews" are independent and legitimate (they are not).

Not to mention the fact that I've seen businesses rated A+ on the, seemingly, legitimate and "independent" customer watch website - BBB (Better Business Bureau) where over 80% of customer reviews associated with the business (and published on BBB) were Negative. When enough "membership" money is paid, an F-rating can become A+ rating overnight.

[Halaspike]

This is the best Google update that has ever happened to me. I'm now getting like 30 - 50 users at a time, traffic is so high, i just added more RAM to my hosting account so it doesn't crash. I hope this will last forever! I doubt so tho.

[whoa182]

At the risk of upsetting thejimste by posting too much ;)

My site is bouncing back from this even stronger, just as it did in previous updates. I guess I should just relax and have some confidence in my work lol.

My other site which got hit back in March and didn't recover is now showing major improvements in rankings as well.

[KaseyM]

Down a bit but I'm counting other factors for the moment.

[Robert Charlton]

I'm no moderator, but I think some users need to cut back on the frequency of their posts. Posting every couple hours as a site moves from one deep search result page to the next really seems insignificant to me....

thejimster... I am a moderator, and I thank you for posting that. Mods have sent messages to a few posters asking them to please cool it a little... in one case to cool it a lot, and in a couple of cases we've had to edit or remove posts and explain that specifics that identify sites are not allowed. The volunteer mods here would rather not have to do that.

Worth adding that this is a very long roll-out kind of update. On the thread I've set up about the likely implications of the update [webmasterworld.com...] I've posted a comment from Danny Sullivan to the effect that the rollout may well continue until the middle of next week.

There are things to be learned from watching updates... but some of it is like watching paint dry. A lot is going to be individual to your site. Some results are likely to be taken too far in a particular direction before they become visible enough to be adjusted. YMMV. Good luck.

[bwnbwn]

Been reading the post and it has been a task to understand the serps due to the new kids posting every 20 minutes their positions just funny to me. The best thing they can do is frigging chill out give this update at least a month and then come back with their smrush and let us know. Not trying to be an arse but man give it some time and don't freak out. If you lose some stuff work to get it back (everybody else is spamming) Been there still there. Work nothing is a given especially the serps.

Sales Ecommerce- I will say last month I had a 50% increase over the same time frame last year. Traffic same. What did I do? I made my product more attractive to the buyer. AdSense boys I can't say cuz your living a different world, ecommerce you might need to learn to survive.

[mosxu]

@selen

Great point, but also you have equally negativity created about a company so a certain rater can make an unfair decision.

Problem is that we never know what really happens all these invisible judges do not take appeals.

[MayankParmar]

Semrush got updated again and rank has dropped, for all keywords.

[tryingtogrowsite]

I've lost 30% traffic in the last couple of days. I installed Google XML sitemap a few months ago and I thought there might some duplicate content issues within my site related to that. My indexed pages have halved over the last few weeks and the links (from other sites) have gone down by about 60%.

Maybe these Google updates have caused the drop in traffic. Should I reinstall the sitemap? I read somewhere the sitemap may be unnecessary. Google should be able to find all content anyway provided the site has a decent structure and age behind it (mine is a good few years old).

PS: I haven't done anything besides adding occasional pieces of content. So can I expect the traffic to come back?

[arunpalsingh]

I have too lost a great deal of traffic and this is in spite of maintaining the good content policy. I am waiting for the recovery after the dust settles. Because what Google is ranking above me is ton loads of shallow articles.

Sitting tight for a while.

[skynet84]

guys im done... I working like a donkey for 6 years i lost 95% of traffic on my health blog with the best great content, users leave over 200 comments x article, so google decide to kick me out from one day to another. What do I say to my wife? And to my children? the big companies that have taken a cue from my articles laugh at it..

Awesome work google keep going, you are a devil.

[Dimitri]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune skynet84. But wasn't it a gambling from your part too ?
I mean, okay, you have a health related blog, how are you related to health questions? Didn't you choose a niche, in which you are not involved at all, just because this was the kind of niche with high paying advertisers? Do you have some kind of background and are legitimate in this domain? Health and financial related sites are popping by millions each month, so the market is totally crowded. Apparently, you based your business exclusively on the idea that Google will deliver you free traffic forever. At some point it can work, at some point it no longer works. So we all know that developing sites involves a part of gambling, so you can't base your whole life and the one of your family on a such thin assumption that it's going to be stable and profitable forever.

[arunpalsingh]

The tremors are over. SEMrush reports normal activity.
@skynet84+! Yes, it does not make sense at all. The same thing has happened across the sites. It should not continue like this. Google cannot promote shallow content over in-depth original content. Its detrimental to its credibility.

Now the volatility is stopped, let us see if genuine sites recover or not.

Fingers crossed.

[Dimitri]

Google cannot promote shallow content over in-depth original content. Its detrimental to its credibility.

Do you really believe that it will change anything? Will people start to massively switch to other search engines? Most of people, especially the Y2K generation doesn't even know there are other search engines, they might not even know what a search engine is. They type their query in the address bar, and believe this is how it works. They believe the Internet is Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instargram, Snapchat.

[arunpalsingh]

A correction please. Only US database is silent. Everywhere else it is still volatile. So it is not over yet.

[arunpalsingh]

Do you really believe that it will change anything? Will people start to massively switch to other search engines?

I did not mean that. But if a search engine cannot afford to show less informed articles above better ones. and if it continues like that, it is not that reliable anymore and reliability has made Google number 1.

It is just my thought.

Because this update has decimated those very sites which followed good practice.

The time will tell if the good sites recover.

[Dimitri]

it is not that reliable anymore and reliability has made Google number 1.

i am not sure that the quality of Google's results has ever mattered to the general public. I was there, when Google appeared, and to me, but I can be wrong, it became popular because it was simple, it was the small guy, and it was the search engine which quickly get the bigger index, which blasted definitively web directories. The bigger the better.
Adding to that, that the name was funny, colorful, and the communication around the brand was also well done. Google also appeared at a key moment, where there was a rejection of Microsoft, and its billions and supremacy (even if Microsoft was not in search engine, or even internet business). Also, Altavista shot itself in the foot.

(I point that I am in a bad mood period)

[arunpalsingh]

@Dmitri,

I have a health website and I am duly qualified for E-A and there is enough T reflected by user interaction. The articles are informative, in-depth [not as in-depth as the scholar articles but enough]. I follow good SEO including fresh content regularly.

I tried to find fault with my site again and again but nothing explains the loss of 50-60% visitors. And nothing explains why the sites which have lesser information are suddenly placed above my site. had it been some other competitor with good content, it would have been a different issue. Some random page being promoted to top from unknown depths of SERPs. That too with minimal content.

Its not making sense at all. Except for the thought that may be, may be, the G has erred. You can call it denial. Let us see.

Take care.

[Halaspike]

@Dimitri the reply you gave to @skynet84 wasn't cool & was just filled with negativity. People like you who take their "bad mood" to others need to stay away from forums like this, we don't need that type of energy here sir.

[Dimitri]

Okay understood, farewell

[christian 2017]

This update is crazy. And not because my site has also lost 40% of the traffic. As it happens with skynet84, my website also deals with health issues, the articles are extensive and of quality. Now they have gone over sites full of publicity, and with low quality items that are seen to have been created to make money.

I am also desperate. My life depends on this. I have a wife, a daughter and a baby on the way.

Now only websites with money can be positioned, can buy links and gain authority? Because except for those who have uploaded and published junk, the only ones that have remained stable are strong Web pages that have a lot of funding behind them.

I think this update is wrong, and it would be good for Google to consider the results.

[Cralamarre]

My traffic on Wednesday was up 5% week over week, 10% on Thursday and 15% on Friday. Today is continuing the upward trend. A very welcome surprise in the middle of a typically slow summer.

[givinguponlife]

The update is not yet over it seems.

My SERPs do not make sense at all, some sites out rank me that are unrelated and basically have term "long term kw" for content as a sold link in their footer to the external site. What kind of google content guidelines are these?

I have spent at least 4-5 hours per article (sometimes 2-3 days) for a year while all competitors do in 30 mins or less, throwing copy pasted images and few lines of text. I do research, using my own generated gifs explaining the process for example on how that technique works, etc. and I get nothing. From 10 sales / day to 2 in 3 days. I will not be able to afford rent soon.

Last 3 updates all benefited the site and pushed those cheap clones out, now it's reversed. So it's like google cant make up their mind on what is right and what is wrong. Now it's more related to paid links than ever.

[Milchan]

for those that have been negatively effected so far (includes me but today ive seen some improvements) there is still hope and it looks like we just need to be patient with this still (hard i know).
Google has confirmed that the update is still rolling out and that it make take until some time into the next week to be fully rolled out.

[searchengineland.com ]

[MayankParmar]

Semrush relaxed so I guess the rollout is somewhat over.

[mosxu]

Update started well for me but the last 3 days full of zombies

I need to to live the day to see these zombies go

[bwnbwn]

Just looked at some of my keywords that the website hasn't shown for several years due to a very bad move by another person. Took it back over after the disaster did all the 301's from his build to the one I originally had done and just tried to do a better job in a very tight nitch. Back on 1st page under the big guns Amazon, ebay but on the 1st page. :)

[jmorgan]

@arunpalsingh Is your health website in English and catered for the English-speaking market?

Just asking, because while your English is proficient, native English speakers can almost always detect when an article has been written by a non-native English speaker, unless the author has had a broad and extensive exposure to the English-speaking world (e.g. living abroad). There are some subtle nuances that stand out, even if just on a subconscious level.

This could perhaps have an effect on the overall quality rating for your website.

[Monty11]

Sorry if this has already been discussed I didn't have time to read the entire thread (too busy doing damage control!)
I noticed that ALL of my sites that got hit depended heavily on 301 redirects for the majority of their back-links. Anyone else seeing this?

Some of the 301 sites were dropped expired domains I bought and redirected to main domain for the link juice - but a couple were legit - where I just was able to procure a better domain so I changed the URL.

Thoughts?

[skynet84]

Guys. I'm really sick today about this update, i want to mention something. @Dimitri i work on health platform for more then 6 years and yes im legit because im nutritionist.

Guys i can't find word to describe this disaster, working on the article 2-3 days take look at screenshot: [dropbox.com...]
95% traffic lost, i was hit by september 2017 update, december 2017 update, recover a little bit on march and now -95%.
I can say i lost my job today. I can not afford anymore hosting, all my 6 year job will go to the trash, with the unique content. No one will never find more information like mine, the web will be poorer from next month, and people will never know again that you existed. I do not know what to do and where to start again. My family tells me that I am incapable.

[arunpalsingh]

@arunpalsingh Is your health website in English and catered for the English-speaking market?

Just asking, because while your English is proficient, native English speakers can almost always detect when an article has been written by a non-native English speaker, unless the author has had a broad and extensive exposure to the English-speaking world (e.g. living abroad). There are some subtle nuances that stand out, even if just on a subconscious level.

This could perhaps have an effect on the overall quality rating for your website.

While I understand I am not sure if the nativeness of a language is such a major factor that a user considers while looking for knowledge in science or if search engines even factor that. Even if it is a factor, it must be too small, for both.

That said, I have noticed another thing. Even for the keywords that my website still ranks 1 in SERPs the amount of traffic is too small. Could not make anything of that.

[whoa182]

@skynet84 Are your competitor's sites like Dr Axe, Livestrong, Healthline?

People with huge resources are pumping out a lot of articles targeting big keywords, small long tail keywords... They're literally gobbling everything (or so it seems). Their resources and teams are huge, and they have all the credentials with a huge number of backlinks.

The health and nutrition niche is getting tougher all the time. I'm going to start moving towards branding and developing a following. My initial strategy was to build an income for myself and then focus on branding and personalizing the site more, doing YT etc.

My traffic was pretty low yesterday. I thought I saw signs of recovery, but it was very temporary. The update is not over though, things are still moving about. Content disappearing and reappearing in SERPs for me.

Here's the drop I experienced. [imgur.com...]

Traffic is looking a little better this morning... Some keywords are moving back up, but I have articles I put literally hours into (4-5 hours) with 3000+ words and it's moved down in the SERPs to the bottom of the first page. Yet the content ranked above is generic and in no way answers the specific question the user is looking for. Whenever I write an article, I always keep in mind user intent.

It's absurd to see an article by a major site with just 300-500 words rank above you and you have far better content. For example, I don't even know why "livestrong" is ever on the first page. I could write those articles in 10 minutes!

My hope is that because they are long tails keywords, it shouldn't be too hard to get back up there.

My content rose to the top before, so as Google does its testing, maybe they will again. That's my hope anyway.

As others have said, wait a few days until the update is fully rolled out and things settle.

I was literally thinking about quitting my job and focusing full time on this. I think I'm gonna hold onto my day job a bit longer!

[edited by: whoa182 at 7:42 am (utc) on Aug 5, 2018]

[whoa182]

@arunpalsingh

I'm noticing the same. I've retained number 1 ranking for quite a lot of articles (the main keyword phrase), but I'm guessing that I've lost a lot of the long tail traffic, synonyms, plural or singular rankings.

[stever]

I think @EditorialGuy and myself are in a similar kind of niche and with similar kind of sites.(long-term informational sites with individual expertise and USP, worldwide visitors) and, like him, I haven't really noticed any big changes to visitors, CTR or income or upheavals in the SERPs with this search update.

(Nonetheless, for those who have been affected and those who are unaffected, diversifying from Google as a sole traffic source is something that is ever more pressing if you have not yet started.)

[arunpalsingh]

It is a surprising behavior. For certain keywords, Google is placing Elsevier journal article page above the other sites. And when a user goes to that article, it is just an abstract page asking to purchase the article.

So much for user convenience.

For a keyword, Google ranks the equipment distributor as number one. All the info sites lie below, humbled.

[yollo03]

It looks like google is shifting its stance on in-depth articles. From this looks for me and posts by other users it looks like google wants short articles with as much quality content as possible, This is my impression but I dont think the update has ended yet. Once its over for sure then I can start doing something.

After some recovery I got knocked down again to page god-knows what. Google is working on the mobile first index, I saw some wacky stuff on mobile search and voice search on Saturday which were gone in a few hours. I am going to start paying more attention to bing now.

[jmorgan]

@skynet84 Again, I have to ask. Is your blog in English and are you the person writing the articles?

I don't mean to be harsh, but if you used the same standard of grammar in your blog posts as you do on this forum, it certainly wouldn't inspire a great deal of confidence in your visitors, particularly if it is giving out health advice.

[yollo03]

Google said a few months ago that grammar and spelling won't affect your rank. If they revised it in the latest algo update or not no one will figure out.