Google Updates and SERP Changes - September 2019

[BushyTop]

- Split out of...
Google Updates and SERP Changes - August 2019
https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4957935.htm [webmasterworld.com]
by robert_charlton - 1:31 am on Sep 2, 2019



I've seen a comparable drop to the first of June. Like alot of people on here (I'm becoming increasingly frustrated) I feel like alot of the drops are down to the size of our brand and not the state of our SEO. Conversations internally in the business mean that i am going to have to lean away from some of the principles that i have leaned on and tweaked for maybe 10 years. I'm going to redesign the site.

We have a high proportion of non indexable pages. Whilst these obviously dont rank, I'm starting to wonder whether the high numbers of these pages proportionally across the site are maybe having an impact on our indexable pages. I know that might sound crazy. In my head, I dont understand how that would be an issue, but maybe Google thinks i'm trying to hide something?

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 1:00 am (utc) on Dec 2, 2019]
[edit reason] cleanup after splitting & combining threads [/edit]

[Robert Charlton]

Mod's note: We have split the August off-topic discussion into another thread....

Google, big tech, disruption, and the international marketplace
https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4962448.htm [webmasterworld.com]

Please, going forward, let's keep this month's Updates and SERPs thread about Updates and SERPs... It takes your volunteer mods a huge amount of time and effort to split threads with intertwined subjects, and it's simply not feasible for us to continue with that kind of service.

Start a new thread when introducing a new topic, or use Reported (hidden in the pull-down next to the Msg#) if the thread is already going off course. That helps us get on top of things before the posts get too intertwined. We'd really appreciate all the help we can get. Thanks.

[lux7]

Hmmm that's funny you ask that.

I'm in the same position, adding several password protection to several posts and marking them as "no index".

And this last update once again, just like the 2 last major ones, seems to have penalized me in spite of overall good quality content.

[aristotle]

We have a high proportion of non indexable pages. Whilst these obviously dont rank, I'm starting to wonder whether the high numbers of these pages proportionally across the site are maybe having an impact on our indexable pages.

I can remember that subject being discussed here in the past. I've always thought that if a page's content is viewable by visitors, then google's algorithm might take it into account even if the page has a noindex tag.

It's a fairly common practice to noindex low-quality content, and some people assume that this prevents the algorithm from including it in its analysis of the site's quality, but I have doubts about this.

[Treud]

I was reviewing some of my blog posts, old ones.
And while submitting them to review I have found 1 out 10 not indexed. And the original post quite old, and no no-index tag.
I didn’t find any other yet. Maybe a bug or a thin page for Google ?

[Robert Charlton]

Re noindexing low quality content, if this is a discussion that lots of folks are finding interesting, then let's start a discussion outside in a new thread.

aristotle is right that the subject has been discussed several times in the past. Google had been mentioning, peaking I think in 2017-2018, that they're treating noindex differently than they used to, and if "noindex,follow" pages stay on a site too long, Google will stop followng them.

I thought the question would be good for this thread, because the Updates thread should be where we compare notes. For this SERPs thread, our emphasis should be... are members who have a high proportion of low quaiity pages no-indexed seeing their sites drop? If so, there's probably reason to start a thread on the topic. In a way, BushyTop's thread might have been a good starter for such a more specific discussion.

I'm not posting references for now, because I feel that the next step would in fact for someone with the current problem to post it in the forum, apart from Updates.

[RedBar]

Have other specialist widget sites experienced very low traffic levels over the weekend and yesterday's Labour Day holiday?

Rankings appear to be normal for me.

[NickMNS]

My site is not a specialist widget site but I have seen weaker than normal traffic over the long weekend. It is a little early to determine whether this drop was because of labor day or something else.

In addition to the weekend drop, my slow bleed accelerated over the month of August. Finally during the last few days of the month I thought I had reached a bottom, but then the weekend happened. Who knows? My biggest issue is that I have no idea what to do to reverse trend.

[TeresaD]

I am niche widget small one person business, I had the quietest week I ever had last week it was so bad I tested the cart on every device including using someone else's wifi and IP. Sales were 87% down compared to the same week in 2018 but hits were almost double last years.

Your site's total pageviews were up 15% last month to 19,703. Pages per session were down less than a percent to 2.6, but lower than your average of 4.7 for the year.

Sessions were up 16% from the previous month to 7,560, which is almost double your 12-month 3,924-session average.

Organic search drove the rise in traffic, growing 23% to 5,546 sessions. Sessions were up 16% from the previous month to 7,560, which is almost double your 12-month 3,924-session average.

The question for my site is why is the organic traffic not converting this year for my "established season products that I have the biggest range online in my country"

Anyone searching for that specific product has an intent to buy, in August it is an urgent intent to buy as the season finishes in September and they need ready stock next day delivery.

It makes no sense at all

[glakes]

It makes no sense at all

Google is sending more converting traffic to Amazon, Google Express and all the big players/payers. It makes perfect sense in my industry...

[StupidIntelligent]

Could it be the global recession everyone is talking about?

[hurwith2]

Traffic almost always down during holiday weekends, if you are US based.

[cabsco]

Huge crawling on my site today, far more than usual. Does anyone experience this? There may be something on the way from big G.

[ChokenBako]

I can confirm the big spike in crawling on my site today. Last spike this large was at Mid-July.

[Solipsism]

Generaly, when you have a big spike bigger than others like x2 our x3 on your crawl, you will get hit :/

[ChokenBako]

If it is in good way i have no problem with it ^^

[glakes]

I can confirm the big spike in crawling on my site today.

I'm observing the same. Also, the only traffic Google is sending is Gbot which is unusual as well. Normally Google sends some low quality non-converting traffic to fill the void, and they are not doing that either. It's just dead except for Gbot.

[Mark_A]

For the period April - Sep 2019, G Organic sessions, I am 22% down on last year.

The decline occurred mainly in July and August, a 2019 period in which there were not so many changes to the site.

Our results in 2018 were good for those months, while this year they were mediocre. Sadly I can't remember why they were good in 2018.

[cabsco]

I can't keep wondering why Google keep doing all of these things with little to no transparency. It's like they are experimenting with peoples life, because most people their survival depends on it.

[StupidIntelligent]

Problem occurs when people genuinely start trusting Google for providing them a living. It's not permanent.

[jediviper]

Crawling-wise, from an average of 400-500 pages/day, I went up to 30-37k during the period 24-29/8. After 30/8, down to 800 pages..

And also quite good new rankings came up, but I am not sure if they are related.

[cabsco]

@StupidIntelligent this is not about trust, it is about their un-rivalry dominance.

[SnowMan68]

Where do you find the crawling in the new search console? I know where it was on the old version, but can't locate on the newest. Thanks!

[NickMNS]

Where do you find the crawling in the new search console?

Go back to the old version.

[MayankParmar]

still patiently waiting for that update lol

[SnowMan68]

@NickMNS

I was looking for the link from the new console. It disappeared. Did a search on google for it and found a way back in. Thanks

[samwest]

Anyone else noticing very odd GA behavior today? Watching real time just freezes for long periods of time, plus total zombies today. No conversions. maybe they need to make up for that "big" fine on Youtube. Pocket change.

[Martin Ice Web]

@Mayank

still patiently waiting for that update lol

yesterday at around noon we got hammered down by 70%!
Sales are Zero.
Nothing has been changed. WMT says 12 erros for mobile because of to little font. If we we do a perform a check with google it says all is good!

Before that we saw a constant rise from aorund 5% week over week.

[Nmehta]

Massive update as I guess, Traffic down by 30-35 percent in India

[Kshamaster]

definitely there are some movements going on from the past couple of days. Patience always pays off in a good way. We might see something soon.