Google Updates and SERP Changes - May 2019

[Mark_A]

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System: The following 12 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4940766.htm [webmasterworld.com] by goodroi - 12:25 pm on May 1, 2019 (utc -5)

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For my main current site, Google Organic accounts for 28% of sessions.

I swear it takes up 80% of the effort though!

[Rndm]

If businesses not dependent on organic traffic are built and they thrive

I think you hit the nail on the head here. If your only marketing and revenue stream is organic traffic you probably are doomed. I also might not consider what you have a business if this is all that you do.

[elias756]

Was anyone able to recover from March 2019 update? I've improved my website in every way possible and yet no signs of recovery yet for me.

[universenet]

elias756 how do you know what need improve in website?
Someone told you that somthing is wrong?
I am just remind in famouse words from google
"Let's go improve it"

Funny words...

[EditorialGuy]

Half the posts here state the utmost importance of new backlinks with all these updates. I am finding that getting new backlinks is not moving the needle much, if at all these days. My site still hasn't recovered from the drop last September and then again in March and I have some good links coming in. So it appears that the back link profile doesn't count as much as it used to. Has anyone seen otherwise lately?

IMO, some links are clearly worth more than others are (and I'm not just referring to their brute-force, 1998-style PageRank scores). Google has had more than 20 years to figure out which backlinks are genuine "citations" from relevant, trustworthy pages and which ones can be ignored.

[universenet]

EditorialGuy

John Mueller say next
@JohnMu
You focus too much on links, imo -- I'm glad that we use 100s of factors in our crawling, indexing, and ranking algorithms./

If you focusing on links you focusing on less of 1 % of important factors (it is more of 100 factors)
Even google said that we can not do nothing about last 12 march update because this is something on google side
We can not fix it...google said

Wide field for game

[cnvi]

For us (speaking from my work), traffic keeps eroding from Google.. We are seeing much better success advertising on industry specific forums, or on Reddit. We have stopped advertising on Google because its just too much bot/fake traffic and we can't keep throwing away money. We did have some success advertising on Bing recently.

As an end user, I use Google much less for price shopping than I did years ago. I go directly to the e-tailer I want to do business with. I only use Google at work for price comps and at home only to find out the solution or answer to a question.

For my use, Google is more like an encyclopedia but not very useful for shopping due to their obvious monetizing the first page of any search results.

If Google continues to own page one of the search result with ads and their own content, and bury good content where it can't be found, they are opening the door for new search to come - if only the venture capitalists see this as opportunity.

[Some_Bloke]

Sorry it's a bit off topic, but here's another kick in the Googles:

Google ads promote firms charging extra for services [bbc.co.uk...]

Must add that, like most posters here my sites are getting almost everything except real human interest these days.

[Selen]

I think March / April 2019 marks two important milestones for webmasters:

1. Google organic search is now directly dependent on ads. Previously, the organic results were isolated from ads, now organic results help to monetize / expose paid ads.

2. It's the end of Adsense as we know it. While in the past Adsense was a clear winner when it comes to earnings, now it is on-par with the competition. It means 50-90% reduction for an average publisher.

[universenet]

Selen yes,.. google is now less search engine and much more search advertised engine

It is funny when someone say that try improve own website..
if you want improve your website you need pay advetising to google

[EditorialGuy]

For my use, Google is more like an encyclopedia but not very useful for shopping due to their obvious monetizing the first page of any search results.

Ads have long been a form of "content" in shopping-oriented media. Examples from yesteryear include Yellow Pages phone directories and print publications such as COMPUTER SHOPPER. I was once at a meeting where the CEO of a large magazine publisher of trade and enthusiast magazines said that, according to reader surveys, people read his company's magazines at least in part "for the ads."

According to Google, "Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful." There's nothing in that about helping people sell things for free. If Google's user testing shows that searchers don't mind (or, better yet, actively respond to) ads on SERPs, then it stands to reason that, at least for commercial queries, ads are going to be front and center just as they were in the Yellow Pages of old.

[cnvi]

@editorialguy, well noted.

However the Yellow Pages had competition and they didn't tell you that you could not publish a phone number to your like minded colleague businesses in brochures, etc.

[Selen]

If in Google Search Console, under Coverage, there are, let's say, 100 Valid pages and under Mobile Usability there are only 20 Valid pages - does it mean that only 20 pages have a chance to rank in mobile searches? I see a big difference between these numbers. Shouldn't these numbers be about the same, considering all pages are mobile friendly?

[givinguponlife]

did any updates happen yesterday> had 10% drop for no reason on 3 sites

[mosxu]

@glakes

You want your ad to show to a ready to buy searcher not to some time wasters and zombies.

My guess is that all these ready to buy searchers are personalised away from us for undisclosed reasons. We all under the impression that if you bid high enough your ad will show but no.

This ready to buy traffic seems to be already sold out and we bid for whatever has not been converted which is a joke.

Because your site still shows to already visitors is tricky to say the least.

[BushyTop]

Anyone else still seeing loads of movement. April has been a really transient month for us, even with all the stuff that has been going on over the past 9 months. I'd go as far to say that this update has been the biggest we've seen in that period. Anyone else agree?

[AviJames]

In May latest Google Update Pixel phone android security patches.

[samwest]

Perhaps I've missed something here, is this "MayDay" update a bug or a fix? Are we seeing a re-indexing and whatever happened to seamless updates? The MayDay update in 2010 was the high watermark for all my sites. Since then it's been an annual exercise in diminishing returns.
Hummingbird combined with RankBrain turned what was once natural traffic into these weird on/off zombie patterns.

For years we've all tried to reverse engineer the black box, but Google it seems is always many steps ahead of the webmaster community.
I still have to wonder if this is a temporary glitch or a continuation of the last nine dwindling years of losses.

From where I sit, the web imploded on May 1st 2019. Still ranking #1 for key terms, yet zip traffic. Nine years ago I thought the end was near, but now the end is truly here. Good luck everyone. Looks like I'm headed back to the real world. It was a great 20 year run.

[universenet]

If in Google Search Console, under Coverage, there are, let's say, 100 Valid pages and under Mobile Usability there are only 20 Valid pages - does it mean that only 20 pages have a chance to rank in mobile searches? I see a big difference between these numbers. Shouldn't these numbers be about the same, considering all pages are mobile friendly?

Selen... there is no much logic in that way.. so do not try understand in this way..numbers are related to some group of pages...not to all your mobile pages..for me that numbers are not clear too.

[No5needinput]

@Selen Good question, I was wondering the same yesterday as my GSC listed "valid" mobile pages are around 50% of my total listed site pages in GSC - Yet all my pages are mobile friendly in other Google tests.

[SEO programmer]

Anyone else experiencing traffic drop while rankings improving? Been happening to my site since beginning of April. Yesterday saw a bigger drop.

[glakes]

@mosxu

Despite being the high bidder with great relevancy Adwords simply does not produce a reasonable ROI. Though much of this may be outside of Google's control at this point since most people ready to buy don't bother with a search engine. My sales on Amazon are strong and have been growing every year while conversions from Google have dropped. If few buyers are going to Google, then it's going to be costly and rare finding them in Adwords.

@BushyTop

All is calm at the moment with no flux that I see. Google traffic is at a trickle and not very productive in terms of buying our products. For me anyway, this latest update (or bug) from Google was indeed the biggest I've seen in years - it cut our traffic in half.

@samwest

Perhaps I've missed something here, is this "MayDay" update a bug or a fix?

This is the same question/concern I have. It's possible the many known bugs in Google recently are also responsible for the MayDay event if search is dependent on the same failed data sets. It would be nice if Google confirmed the MayDay event one way or another so the community knows what it is dealing with - either an update or bug.

[hurwith2]

People focusing too much on links.

[StupidIntelligent]

Ranking top 3 for over thousand plus keywords for very competitive commercial terms, yet traffic is no where. It seems as if people have stopped searching Google. It doesn't make any sense.

[universenet]

Ranking top 3 for over thousand plus keywords for very competitive commercial terms, yet traffic is no where. It seems as if people have stopped searching Google. It doesn't make any sense.

StupidIntelligent .. maybe you really see local ranking... but for every location and language google has own ranking
and who know what more... is not easy control it... every person see diferent results... even inside same day from same location diferent
This is whay we getting totaly diferent results inside same language but from diferent location
But of course can be some more factor too what we do not know yet...try to log out from chrome.. and using not like personal search... remove cookies,, maybe you see personal results what google give you but this can be JUST maybe .. who know what is real reason

[edited by: universenet at 3:57 pm (utc) on May 7, 2019]

[EditorialGuy]

Anyone else experiencing traffic drop while rankings improving? Been happening to my site since beginning of April. Yesterday saw a bigger drop.

Depending on your topic, seasonal demand (or lack of demand) could be a reason. If fewer people are searching, you may get less Google traffic even with improved rankings.

[Some_Bloke]

Has anyone's site ever got backlinks from google(.)com? One of mine seems to have acquired 4 links overnight (as recorded in search console). Looks weird to me but they do seem to lead back to a genuine google search page.

[universenet]

I have so many links that never even checking it...I am not sure even who linking to my websites and never have idea looking on it
People doing it if they want.. link to something interesting
If you see some extrem big website like example expedia or hotels.com... they don't have almost any outbound link...how many inbound they have..so I think they really do not know and they never checking it

Imagine next.. you saw very bad website on net and you say to friends in forum .."hey look in this terrible website url..." but if you make post url of that terrible website so mean you helping to that website to be less terrible?
This is way how we can understand that links no need be very important and can be sometimes even no worth time..
google using analytics for recognize good/bad website

[Some_Bloke]

What I'm asking is how does anyone link directly from Google's web site, if not Google.

[universenet]

What I'm asking is how does anyone link directly from Google's web site, if not Google.

Is possible... is some like generic link... is not easy understand it
Google can show to you that you have link example from google.de or google.ca

[mosxu]

“Ranking top 3 for over thousand plus keywords for very competitive commercial terms, yet traffic is no where. It seems as if people have stopped searching Google. It doesn't make any sense.”

Ha ha ha that is what you see! All down to personalisation not local or seasonal.