Google Updates and SERP Changes - September 2019

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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]

[glakes]

Amazing stretch of zero sales.

We've had no sales from Google since this update began. Adwords spend has risen through the roof and nothing from that either. Seems as though all visitors with buyer intent are being redirected since our traffic volume is about the same.

[skaterpunk]

A small shift in geo search results based on a new law that has passed in Europe - [reuters.com...]

[Solipsism]

Big drop since the Septembre Core update ? Are you noticing something ?

[skaterpunk]

For the September Core update, there is more posting on this thread. [webmasterworld.com...]

[samwest]

@glakes....join the club. A brief one day normal pattern is now over. Back to zero traffic while no apparent change in serp position. Filters are back in effect. Ba$%@&*$

[mosxu]

@glakes

Same here update impacted conversions which should not be the case. Especially what ads got to do with updates?

The problem is the continuous disappearance of buyers searching with google and that impacts negatively ad rank formula. The formula I think needs at least 3 committed players to pay the high bid so for that reason all personalised buyer traffic goes to them 3 first.

But this game will not last forever, Amazon will make them starve

[KaseyM]

Entertainment news site which has seen big traffic growths thus far in 2019 except this update. We were flattened by an update that came out around the same time in 2017, hopefully this doesn't go the same way again.

Around 10-20% down as are the majority of my competitors in favor for big tabloid newspapers.

[samwest]

On the day that the alleged filters turned off, my amazon affiliate clicks increased by 100x . Next day right back to throttled. If it wasn't for Gorg picking our pockets, we'd all be rich.

[zeus]

I just saw a increase on SEM for one of my sites, I have not changed anything since June. From 2% to 10.5% visibility trend.

[ichthyous]

@zeus I am also seeing a big surge in visibility in SEMrush, and some competitors fell off a cliff. Keep in mind though that SEMrush visibility no longer correlates very closely with increased traffic. I am seeing an uptick in traffic and inquiries but that can also be attributed to the end of the summer holidays, which happens every year. The actual number of inquiries isn't anywhere near what it was before the early June update. That screwed me royally and has only minimally been recovered. It no longer pays to sit looking at SEMrush, GA, and WMT...Google is manipulating the results to such an extent that no real pattern exists anymore, and SEMrush is not able to keep up or do anything about it really.

[zeus]

ichthyous - nah I just saw the change on SEM, I do not see more traffic now.

[samwest]

I dare someone to tell me there isn't a quota system Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed nothing, Thur, Fri Sat enough to exactly match the totals of each of the past three weeks. Seriously Google?

[mosxu]

@samwest

“People like us are getting programmed”

You have heard this one before so if you don’t get programmed and don’t believe that the traffic on your site is mainly human then you have a problem.

Moving the cheese should be a normal process!

[glakes]

The problem is the continuous disappearance of buyers searching with google and that impacts negatively ad rank formula.

But this game will not last forever, Amazon will make them starve

It's amazing domestic small businesses can even survive in this highly corrupt digital economy. Google has their algo, which gives huge boosts to big brands and Amazon has their algo that awards better product ranking/visibility based in part on product reviews. The problem is Amazon does not give buyers of seller shipped goods links to leave product reviews, which basically rips out one important data point from awarding better product ranking and all the Amazon's Choice labels for domestic businesses. This is how Amazon elevates products they ship from an Amazon warehouse, which tends to make Amazon far more money then when a seller shipped item sells since there are no pick & pack fees collected by Amazon.

Since I last posted, traffic has rebounded plus some. Conversions on the 27th and 28th have greatly improved. I did not dive into the data yet to see the origin of increased traffic and conversions. I feel there may be another shoe or two to drop, and I don't want to get my hopes up. As is the case with many past Google updates, and what others observe, I seem to get a day or two of good conversions then it's back to crap.

[shashankpandey]

I have major dropped in SERP by this September core update. My keyword dropped from 5 to 40. My traffic get down approx -75% since last update.

[glakes]

Very heavy crawling going on right now, which is similar in scope to what occurs 24-48 hours before an update....

[samwest]

Trying to survive under googles thumb feels like a school kid getting their lunch stolen, a black eye and an atomic wedgie every day of the week. To many webmasters here, Google has become the quintessential internet business bully. My recovery was very short lived.

For me, it’s not about position, I have page one positions everywhere. It’s about AI filters, which I now firmly believe exist. When those were predicted to shut off last week, the rebound was incredible. Now on Monday morning the site sits at zero traffic again...totally flat lined. Sickening.

[Milchan]

I dare someone to tell me there isn't a quota system Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed nothing, Thur, Fri Sat enough to exactly match the totals of each of the past three weeks. Seriously Google?

I agree. What ever we want to refer to it as - quotas, throttling, filters , it doesn't matter what the label is and we have no way of knowing what the mechanisms are that they are using, fact is they are somehow limiting traffic to sites in some way and the only reason I can think of is because they want to drive more people to use paid ads. The business strategy is basic to hold us hostage and try to get us to pay our own ransoms or rot away into obscurity. It is disgusting and I hope backfires on them big time both with legal repercussions and the revolt of the general public.

[borfee]

Artificial Intelligence is one of the subtopics where Google Serps are generally utilizing for their updates. This is the reason that why Google Updates, are one of the best. But the makers of Google Updates are quite vibed with the various tos and fros of Artificial Intelligence. Most guys working in this domain of the search engine giant have Artificial Intelligence Certification.

[Milchan]

Artificial Intelligence is one of the subtopics where Google Serps are generally utilizing for their updates. This is the reason that why Google Updates, are one of the best. But the makers of Google Updates are quite vibed with the various tos and fros of Artificial Intelligence. Most guys working in this domain of the search engine giant have Artificial Intelligence Certification.

no idea what your talking about sorry

[Solipsism]

Hi everyone,
I'm a bit confused since this Core Update. If I look at my position with Semrush, this is catastrophic but with Botify its good. Well, third-party tools haven't same Data Base so why not.
BUT, when i looked to my GSC, my traffic decreased a lot but when i looked to Analytics, it increased a lot.
It's incredible, both data comes from Google and they are totally different. For an other example, i have 50 000 clics for my blog on GSC and 25 000 on GA.
I don't know which tools i can trust. I think data on GSC are really screwed...

Have you ever seen such differences between both Google's tools ?

[samwest]

no idea what your talking about sorry

lmao! - me neither...sounds like it was penned by a Google AI bot. ;)

[shashankpandey]

GSC Data is not screwing rather after some changes in GSC now display the data since last checked on the right corner on top so you can use filter it to check all data and Analytic display the live data. ok

[System]

The following 5 messages were cut out to new thread by goodroi. New thread at: google/4966830.htm [webmasterworld.com]
5:42 pm on Oct 2, 2019 (utc -5)