Google Updates and SERP Changes - August 2019

[samwest]

---

System: The following 12 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4951811.htm [webmasterworld.com] by goodroi - 10:33 am on Aug 1, 2019 (utc -5)

---

Can someone please write in few words, what we have learned from this latest update and what are the thigns that are now important?

1. Don't rely on Google for your income and 2. "They moved your cheese". What's important? quality time with friends and family.

[Kshamaster]

What does google want to do with updates?. Add spam to index or remove. A big question that rises on the anniversary of medic update.

[cabsco]

A firm that started in a garage now controlling the fate of mankind, policing the internet, and telling everyone what to do, what is right and what is wrong. After E.A.T what will come next, P.E.A.T? If you think things are going to be better magically without a "force push back" you are wrong.

And if you think the big G magical wind that are plaguing some niche right now will not force its way into other niche that are considered safe at the moment, you are also wrong.

We can talk all day while they make more money all day. The fact that I can't placed an ad above the fold on my own website and they can on their search results is plain enough to tell everyone there are prejudice in the system.

I log a complaint on GWF a while ago, and the first thing the senior or whatever they are called pointed out is the link ad I placed above-the-fold on my mobile site. Of course, GWF is there to dig the dirt out of our site to keep our mouth shut. They dig deep into the site while the main complaint I logged was ignored. If you go to GWF (which is where Google claimed webmasters can only find help) that you lose 80% of your traffic, you'll be bamboozled with irrelevant suggestions while they surgically dig deep into the site to bring out the #*$!s that have nothing to do with the issue.

I've learned to ignore all the so-called G rules and let my conscience guide me. The only thing that matters now are my visitors, that's my only priority. Nothing else matters If I can satisfy my audience and make my site useful in all aspects. If a company that made a policy cannot even follow its own policy, that says something. At this point, everything Google no longer matters to me.

Presently, my traffic is 75% down since the June Core update, no sign of recovery. I've removed Google Analytics and learned not to view Adsense anymore (earned $2.39 in July, thinking about removing Adsense all together). I won't stop tending to my site and adding fresh contents, because I know a change will come someday.

[seomotionz]

@BushyTop The direct traffic that I was talking about yesterday is totally gone. If it was a weekend then it would have been understandable but except its not.

[MayankParmar]

[seroundtable.com...]

New update?

[MayankParmar]

Positions that recovered in July have dropped again today :(

[RareBit]

My homepage disappeared from the SERPs on my main KW yesterday (also dropped for a few others) - but its back again today and traffic is all good

[seomotionz]

@MayankParmar Why would you link to seroundtable? Barry doesn't know what has actually happened. And not to mention its just our's posts he quoted and republished it.

[RedBar]

@MP

New update?

Don't know, haven't cared about G updates in years, 7 I think at least.

@pa

I'm having trouble navigating to page 18 of this thread. It keeps jumping back to page 1. Anyone else?

Yes, it did that to me once yesterday, very strange, it's not done it again.

[ichthyous]

I am seeing the beginnings of an uptick in organic traffic....up 19% over last week and even GSC is showing a big increase in clickthroughs. I will wait and see if it lasts. I did recently add content to my home page to try and recapture some of the loss in traffic to my landing pages. This doesn't come close to recovering all the traffic I have lost since last year.

For those of you experiencing big spikes in direct traffic... Check your logs. Is it all coming from one city like Chicago, Portland, etc? It could be Amazon, relativity, etc that are hitting your site over and over. I finally had to block some of these IP addresses as it's hyperactive crawlers.

[glakes]

Abnormally low traffic from Google this morning. Feels like an update is upon us...

[equidistant]

@cabsco

The fact that I can't placed an ad above the fold on my own website and they can on their search results is plain enough to tell everyone there are prejudice in the system.

And don't forget, only the "elites" are allowed to use static sidebar ads - the ads that stick to the sidebar as the user scrolls down.

[MayankParmar]

A good blog post from Google: [webmasters.googleblog.com...]

"Broad core updates tend to happen every few months. Content that was impacted by one might not recover - assuming improvements have been made - until the next broad core update is released".

[riccarbi]

And don't forget, only the "elites" are allowed to use static sidebar ads - the ads that stick to the sidebar as the user scrolls down

Interesting comment. It would be even more interesting to verify if Google, which dominates the web search as we all know, penalizes SOME websites in its SERP or in Chrome for breaking AD density limits or user experience standards while it DOES NOT penalize other "elite" websites (or websites it owns) which break those rules in the same way. Thus, linking together. perhaps improperly, its dominance in the web search market and in digital advertising

[cabsco]

@equidistant

They wouldn't want to touch the mainstream media sites with mammoth followers, that'll be a quick route to downfall for them. Not to mention that those sites are large funnels to their revenue. If there is one thing I've noticed about G, it is that they don't swallow what they cannot digest. Medium and small scale sites like us are not a big treat to them.

[puckparches]

I had my website for over 5 years, over 1000 pages rank #1, then today all of sudden all my pages disappeared from Google index. I have checked GA, search console and all check OK. No messages or anything. What's going on?

[System]

Mods Note: Your unpaid & overworked volunteer mods would like to remind everyone to please stay on topic - which is Google Updates & SERP changes.

If you want to talk about Google's guidance for content creation, link building or whatever SEO aspect you're thinking about, please start a new thread and don't try to hijack this one. This thread is only for sharing insights & observations directly related to Google updates & SERP changes.

Off-topic posts will be split off to their own thread or deleted depending on how cranky your volunteer mods feel with you ignoring the rules :)

Thank you.

[edited by: goodroi at 6:36 pm (utc) on Aug 1, 2019]

[mosxu]

Yeah singularity works like that driving the traffic to a few not shared for the purposes of fair competition and serve the customer

[glakes]

I had my website for over 5 years, over 1000 pages rank #1, then today all of sudden all my pages disappeared from Google index. I have checked GA, search console and all check OK. No messages or anything. What's going on?

An algo update is going on. Be patient, don't make any drastic changes to your website and let the dust settle. You may just find that your ranking has not changed much or at all.

While my traffic remains low, page views are up substantially (around 50% increase). We received some good conversions this afternoon from Google with high cart values. Disclaimer: This is a normal occurrence during major Google updates and never seems to stick.

[whoa182]

A good blog post from Google: [webmasters.googleblog.com...]

"Broad core updates tend to happen every few months. Content that was impacted by one might not recover - assuming improvements have been made - until the next broad core update is released".

JM said in a hangout that they were going to get a blog post up like this... It makes me wonder if another core update is imminent as well.

Things are moving a bit right now but they said they'd confirm future core updates before going live. So I guess it's just a regular update.

Another one of my pages dropped to page 2 today... In place of it is a Facebook post/link and just above that is a page with *one paragraph!* and the page links to another site/post that's in 1st place (this one deserves 1st position).

But yikes.. Beaten by a FB post with no content and just a link and also a page with one paragraph. I'm not shocked anymore :D

[samwest]

Just a horrible week, no conversions since Tuesday, and when those came in, they were oddly 5 minutes apart. That weird pattern re-emerged just before going totally silent this week. Any traffic that does show up is either return customers of Zombie. Yeah, it was beautiful weather all week, but that's when people used to always buy. The operative phrase is "used to". Now pizza money has turned into bubble gum money....yet Google is making billions, go figure. My niche is filled with "free this" and "free that" and all consisting of useless ad filled aggregation posts. What a mess again.

[Treud]

@seomotionz my direct traffic I have since 4 days is 0sec 100% bounce rate. Bots ... From Chicago.

[NickMNS]

@Treud

my direct traffic I have since 4 days is 0sec 100% bounce rate.

That is Bingbot. At least it was for me. You can filter it easily by checking the "filter known bots" checkbox in the GA. In Admin go to "View Settings" then check under the heading "Bot Filtering"
then check box marked "Exclude all hits from known bots and spiders". But be prepared to see your traffic numbers dip as a result of checking this box. It has no real effect on users, it is simply that there are a lot of bots.

[Milchan]

ive been taking a break this week so not been montioring traffic etc much but conversions have fallen today and a quick check then saw very strange , spikey traffic patterns so looks like something happening. I will check in a few days though, not going to stress myself worrying about this stuff I cant control anyway.

[equidistant]

@cabsco

If there is one thing I've noticed about G, it is that they don't swallow what they cannot digest. Medium and small scale sites like us are not a big treat to them.

Very true.

@riccarbi

It would be even more interesting to verify if Google, which dominates the web search as we all know, penalizes SOME websites in its SERP or in Chrome for breaking AD density limits or user experience standards while it DOES NOT penalize other "elite" websites which break those rules in the same way.

This is very much the case. In an attempt to wipe out spam, they penalize perfectly legit websites while letting go of the actual spammers. But I won't say they do it on purpose, it's just that their algo is not sophisticated enough. I have seen so many legit site owners simply give up cause their site never got any traffic irrespective of the amazing content they put in. They became part of the "DEEP Web" simply because Google decided to penalize them for no fault of theirs.

When a site gets penalized, it does not even rank in the 2nd or 3rd page even though these pages are filled with completely unrelated results. If the penalized page answers the user's query, what's wrong in displaying it at-least in the 2nd page? But no, they are adamant about giving no views to the page even though they are not 100% sure if the penalized page is legit or not.

Also, do check out this interesting thread: [webmasterworld.com ]

[seomotionz]

@Treud As I said earlier my direct traffic was not that much automated nor it had so much bounce rate.

@glakes How can someone be patient? Once the dust settles, another quake and shall another menace occurs.

[ichthyous]

Bots ... From Chicago

Probably relativity.com. I had to block the IP address and add that to my filter in GA. My direct traffic dropped 50% once I did. Also 'unknown.unknown' traffic from Chicago, which I think is related. I haven't been able to effectively track down the IP for unknown.unkown.

[Treud]

@NickMNS
Already blocking bots
@ichthyous
Ok i ll check, thanks

[MayankParmar]

A scrapper outranked my backlinked article for the keyword and title itself :/

[Dreez]

Hello, semrush's serp volatility is really high (software site)... Anyone else observed this?