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]

@cyril noticing some small improvements. Nothing noteworthy though. Where are you based?

[Cyril TechWebsites]

noticing some small improvements. Nothing noteworthy though. Where are you based?

Both are tech niche websites ("how to" manuals and Amazon affiliate). I'm based in Ukraine but does it matter?:) Seeing about 8-10% increase in traffic.

[BushyTop]

@cyril, it matters because G's activity in each territory is different. You're in a different territory to me, so it makes sense that you're not seeing the same.

[MayankParmar]

Not seeing any changes.

[semrush.com...]

[Cyril TechWebsites]

it matters because G's activity in each territory is different. You're in a different territory to me, so it makes sense that you're not seeing the same.

As I see - no one saying they see changes. Another thing is that I've made a lot of changes last 2 weeks, so maybe this "the answer" from big G for my websites. But I still doubt on the update - the Mozcast actually shows an update.

About territory: I can't agree with that because all of my websites are on the US hosting and made for the US auditory. How can I see some other difference in such case? Please, give some details.

[BushyTop]

@cyril you're ranking in a different market, different territory. The data centres are different.

[oliviah]

Generally what is S-P-A-M ?

[seomotionz]

@MayankParmar How was your traffic today? I saw a steady rise in traffic. I hope it stays.

[Dimitri]

Generally what is S-P-A-M ?

SPiced hAM, Student Peer Abstinence Movement , etc... see: [acronyms.thefreedictionary.com...]

[cabsco]

Didn't see any changes today too.

[ichthyous]

No changes but Google in general is dropping traffic again and there are almost zero inquiries. Laissez les bon temps roulez!

[StupidIntelligent]

Same same. Nothing here.

[EditorialGuy]

Generally what is S-P-A-M ?

I believe that Brett Tabke, founder of Webmaster World, coined the phrase "Sites Positioned Above Mine."

[Milchan]

im still experiencing the same 'lowered' levels I have been getting since last Thursday, very few inquiries and conversions still.
Today Ive thrown an additional spanner in the works by enabling 3D secure authentication today also due to the upcoming PSD2 requirements in Europe so I am monitoring that to see if it effects checkouts but its hard to monitor when no people are checking out!

[jmorgan]

My traffic is noticeably up. Could be seasonal (finally a week without a major holiday somewhere in the world), or could be related to the larger Google fonts.

Expecting it to drop again soon with the upcoming England bank holiday.

[edited by: jmorgan at 9:50 pm (utc) on Aug 19, 2019]

[Milchan]

without delving into the realm of conspiracy theories etc I just saw a comment somewhere that was put forward as 'proof' of google manipulating results for their own agenda. Now Ive no idea if they are or aren't and don't want to start discussing that here but the test they put forward does provide strange, interesting results which I think do show that results google provide are very much controlled to be exactly what they want them to be. Ive no idea why they would want this result to occur though .
Try this - go to google images and search for : asian couple , black couple, latino couple, white couple - do it each time as an individual search (in images) and it there is one set of results that is completely out of line with the others. This can only occur if the algo has been manually set to produce that result

[Shepherd]

Try this - go to google images and search for : asian couple , black couple, latino couple, white couple

That's interesting...

[Dimitri]

results google provide are very much controlled to be exactly what they want them to be

Isn't it the purpose of search engines?

there is one set of results that is completely out of line with the others

I get accurate results for all of them...

[Milchan]

Isn't it the purpose of search engines?

no , it is supposed to provide the results that the user is looking for not what google wants the results to be - a big difference

If you didnt get something strange for one set of results then you might be doing it wrong - make sure 1. your using google , 2. your using the images search and 3. you could maybe try in private browsing mode in case it effects things (that is how I didnt it and the only way I use google really)

[Milchan]

Try this - go to google images and search for : asian couple , black couple, latino couple, white couple


That's interesting...

Im thinking it might be something to do with a change they made in response to some people accusing googles image search as being 'racist' as the vast majority of images returned for searches like 'man', 'women' , 'arm' , 'nose' etc were of white people / body parts. So maybe they have tried to tweak something to address that and clearly the AI has got it wrong as a result. I dont think there would be any intention to product those results (I cant think why there would be) but it is another example of googles algo and the constant tweaking and changing not working as it probably should. I wonder how many of these anomalies there are that we cant see so graphically like this one.

[3lephant]

And, I see people concentrating on only home page. You should know that if you build links on other pages of your website, your whole website is affected...... because you have structured your website to use other internal link including home page, category, tags, related posts etc... so this can be the safest way if you are randomly building links on inner pages of your website.

[whoa182]

I don't think Kurzweil is directly involved in the search algorithm but I thought what he said was interested... and it contradicts what is actually happening right now in Search.

[youtu.be...]

part of it:

"We don't want to be filtering out ideas, we want to be a neutral exploration of them."

[seomotionz]

Forget Google today I saw a sudden surge in traffic from Baidu!

[samwest]

Major anomaly yesterday with sales on the hour until 1pm. Best day overall all year' but actually only allowed 1/2 a good day by the almighty gorg.

[samwest]

@whoa' imagine if Ray developed his own search engine! Do it!

[southernguy]

Major anomaly yesterday with sales on the hour until 1pm

@samwest I have had a couple of those days over the last few months I just attribute it to a malfunction in the Google filter. :-)

[browndog]

I've had a very big boost in traffic over the last 12 hours, it would be great if it sticks.

[jmorgan]

Appears to be a traffic boost for all publishers across the board despite (apparently) lack of changes in the SERPs.

So I would deduce that it's related to seasonal changes (kids going back to school?), or it could be that Google finally recognizes the error of its ways when it was pointed out that more than 50% of their searches result in non-clicks to external websites and made some changes to rectify this.

[jmorgan]

So going back to my post above, Google's original (albeit tongue-in-cheek) motto was "don't be evil". Is hogging more than 50% of searches for your own internal "walled garden" not "being evil" so to speak?

I mean, you're denying the small publishers some much-needed traffic by hogging them to yourselves. Is that not "evil"? Also, is discouraging the development of quality content, by showing publishers that it is harder than ever to get traffic through search, not "evil"?

Would Google actually be willing to come out and declare that their now-defunct "don't be evil" motto is now outdated and that they are actively seeking to screw small publishers by keeping all traffic on Google properties? The by-product being that small publishers will no longer see the incentive to create quality content?

Is this the future that Google sees for search i.e. that the majority of search queries results in users finding the answer to their query on Google that produces content that has been scraped from a website without actually clicking through to that website itself?

[RyanShaw]

We have dropped ranking as well on few keywords..