Google Updates and SERP Changes - August 2019

[samwest]

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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)

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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.

[BushyTop]

@sem4u **monkeyface**

[Danibliss]

Lots of keywords have dropped from No1 position for me. I get around 200k+ Pageviews daily but today so far, its very low and I'm hoping I cross 150k at least. I'm sensing a possible major algorithm update before the week runs out.

[Sissi]

Google mentioned a ‚final cut‘ for the end of the month.

[ChokenBako]

@ Bushy Top:

No lifts on my side and I was hit very hard with the June Update.

@ Sissi:

Where did you read the "Final Cut" Statement?

[StupidIntelligent]

No lifts here. I need a good surgeon.

[Jori]

I wasn't hit by the June update.

[samwest]

Looks like the garbage is rising in the SERPs again. Seeing actual SERP drops which is rare in my vertical.
Spin and aggregation from content farms is winning again. Mere size equals authority to Google.
1000 wannabe's do not equal the value of 1 expert.

[swright]

I'm seeing 5-10% drops week over week in the US in the past couple of days, including today. I also saw similar drops last week. I can't really figure out what's going on as my biggest volume keywords are pretty much ranked the same. What's even more weird is that I can't see any drops in Google Search Console for the same days - for example, for a period where there is a 10% drop in GA, there is a corresponding 1% drop in GSC. I don't know which data to trust anymore.

[HereWeGo123]

I definitely also think that Google is either testing, brewing, and/or even rolling something out. Perhaps, Bill Lampert was right. One indicator, amongst many other things, shows that a particular reputable site would rank no. 1 for one of the most competitive KWs for YEARS. Today, they're not there.

[StupidIntelligent]

@HereWeGo123 - yea but they must still be in top 10 though.

[JesterMagic]

This coming Monday September 2 is Labor Day which is a national holiday in the United States and Canada. Usually marks the end of summer which may count for some of the traffic flux we will see over the next few days.

[Paperchaser]

Big increase in traffic after a week or so of going down hill, The person who predicted a update between 29th and 30th August was right so far!

[TeresaD]

I am noticing a big difference in google.com and google.mycountry. My country converts the .com are browsing but the majority of my hits are .com so traffic is up but conversions are way down. It should not make a difference as I have unique season widgets at this time of year so any traffic should convert as I am the only site that has them in my country for same day shipping which my customers need (because they left it to the last minute so the mothers of the teenagers are frantically searching)

[whoa182]

I'm getting traffic to a lot of the pages which dropped massively in June. It's not much, but it does feel like Google is testing something.

[Milchan]

im not noticing any difference - still low traffic and conversions. Im consistently down about 25% since august 15th . I had the lowest level of traffic ever one day last week. Im kind of coming to terms with the fact it is pointless trying to improve the business as Im helpless to effect it and google is just going to make it fade away.

[glakes]

Judging by crawl patterns, odd traffic, etc., I'd say we are in the early stages of a major update. My guess is in 1-2 days the you know what will hit the fan. Just in time for a long weekend, which Google historically has used to push major updates.

[seomotionz]

Seeing some fluctuations mostly upwards. Yesterday was good lets see how it goes today.

[BushyTop]

After 3 weeks of gradual growth, in the last 24 hours I have taken another hammering. I cant make sense of it. There is no pattern whatsoever.

[sk7411]

Bill Lambert is real ! There are obvious signs of some knobs rearrangements .

Current state of google algorithm is not to allow any single player to settle for too long.

[glakes]

Bill Lambert is real !

Yes, SERP trackers confirm the update. This is the second algo update prediction from Bill Lambert I've seen that was spot on. There may be more that I did not see. But thanks to forum members StupidIntelligent for posting the info, and BushyTop (the post that caught my eye), we all can witness the truth in Bill Lambert's prediction.

Let's not forget what else Bill Lambert said - try to keep people on our websites. Time on page/site may now be a ranking factor or more important.

Good luck to all (except for Amazon who does not need help)!

[Milchan]

Bill Lambert is real ! There are obvious signs of some knobs rearrangements .

Yes , I would agree that is a suitable term for the people at google that do this rearranging

Ive noticed a change today with traffic levels lower and some changes in the serps. I wouldnt take the current state of the serps to be an indication of where they will be after the update finishes rolling out though. I have seen similar patterns whilst other updates have rolled out such as for one keyword that I am number 1 I drop down a few spaces to be replaced by a site that was no where to be seen before that looks like it was designed in 1970, isnt even in english (the language im searching in) and contains Lorum Ipsum in the footer. I know this will be temporary but ive no idea how google at any stage can think that is a good result to display.

If dwell time is a factor now then I would expect a boost from it as in general I have quite good time spent on my site when people are actually allowed to find me.

[Solipsism]

Bill Lambert is the new Nostradamus

[Milchan]

Sundar Pichai is the new Genghis Khan

[BushyTop]

I take it that no one else is experiencing loses then :(

[MayankParmar]

Not seeing any movements yet :(

[Milchan]

I take it that no one else is experiencing loses then :(

not really got anything left to lose now to be honest

[jediviper]

Crazy improvements in ranking in Australia for one of my sites.
Kws ranking in 2nd-3rd page, now suddenly are in position 7-10 of first page.
One example of a very popular kw that was always laying at the 5th page, now I found it at the 2nd page.

Never had any drops or penalties before, so maybe it's generic improve for the industry.

[MayankParmar]

Anyone seeing improvements on June update hit sites?

If there is a new core update, it should have been pre-announced by Google as they promised.

[RareBit]

@jediviper - i would wait for the update to settle before getting too excited, I used to see this all the time whilst an update was in progress.

I am not seeing any movement in my sector (UK interior & manufacturing) I gained in the June update so was expecting a drop at some point but it has not happened yet. (I do have some better BL's now so maybe that's keeping me ahead)

[cabsco]

@MayankParmar My site was hit in June, didn't see any sign of an update. If it is a core update, I expect Google to announce it. And looking at the thread so far, it seem only those who were not hit in June are experiencing the ups and downs.