Google Updates and SERP Changes - November 2019

[engine]

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System: The following 8 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4966830.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 4:01 pm on Nov 1, 2019 (PDT -8)

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Not what i'd seen, it wasn't even that.
I'd class myself as an experienced searcher, and, sometimes, when I look at Google's serps it's trying to pre-empt my intent. More often than not, it's presenting either highly-optimised sites, or, in this case, it was all wrong. Something's broke.

It works that way these days.

I don't ever use "best" as that is spammed out.

[samwest]

@seom... right. This has gotten to the point that if you make "widgets", you're better off just talking about widgets and then slapping ads all over your widget site. The current Google model and resulting user behavior seems totally repellent to these "users" actually buying your widgets.

The loss of images in image search is a perfect way for Google to prevent users from finding compelling, relevant and useful content, and that just flies in the face of a great user experience and making the best content available to users. If they allowed that content to be displayed, it would knock out their ad funnels and diversion to only the content they find most profitable. This is at least how it operates in my vertical. YMMV.

[RedBar]

Google has forgotten its a search engine

It's not been one of those for years, it's a dedicated advertising platform and not a very good one if all the poor ROIs are true.

[seomotionz]

@samwest @RedBar The thing is I am watching this for quite a some time but haven't spared words for it. Google is a company we all know and understand it too. But things specially this month, has gotten too far. Last night I was searching about a Managed VPS service for one of my client. You know according to their requirement and budget. But every time I made search the front page of Google SERP's showed only ads. When I looked into the second page it was also filled with ads and in the bottom of the page there were some organic results. But they were all about 'how to set up a VPS' or common linux server set up. Now, you guys can figure why I am talking like this.

[samwest]

@seom... I know exactly what you mean. As a consultant, I have a very hard time trying to use Google to find anything fresh or different. The same results keep popping up for substantially different queries, yet other times on Google, just the singular vs. plural of a term is enough to get much different results, but usually only the ad filled variety and not the authority or quality I would expect...and yet can find using other less ad ridden SE's.
Things have got to change for the better, and for me, that would be an entirely new search platform altogether. Enough of the 'Google is so great' hype. Let's face it, they've destroyed themselves for the almighty dollar.

[seomotionz]

@samwest couldn't agree more with you. Instead of policing with the AI's. Google should appoint humans or atleast some people from the major niches such as the medical, finance, web develop & internet, who can tell what is what to Google. Seeing the SERPs for the past few days, it has started to look that their is no human working for Google. They have gone total Skynet.

[mosxu]

Starting a life with Adwords is bringing in long run more conversions.

Starting with SEO is not wise because AI will want you to pay back for everything

[whoa182]

Whatever the update was about in recent days is interesting lol

A website, powered by AI, with a list of 10 products, *zero* original content (just information extracted from Amazon), ranking number 1 & 2 (I was ranking there before but I dropped in the last few days.)

My article is 2500 words long; an in-depth review.

This site is literally just a list of 10 "best widget supplements." All affiliate links, no original content on-page. Not an exaggeration either, it has zero original content.

How on earth is this ranking number 1? Results looked good a few days ago but something happened in the past 2 days.

[samwest]

@whoa182 - yes, I am seeing a LOT of those type sites in my keyword searches. Horrible aggregations of "OP" sites. Maybe Google is preferring those type pages since one ad filled page can lead to dozens more ad filled pages. Also, those "flip" style articles that lead you in with some click bait title the force you through 30 pages of drivel never leading to answer the original title are totally annoying, yet the web is rife with this garbage and it seems to now be rewarded with the top positions. Such idiocy makes my head hurt.

[jmorgan]

Google is throwing so much ads now. That I starting to think that Google has forgotten its a search engine and not a PTC like platform.

Well, people keep using it, so as long as that's the case, they can afford to do whatever they want.

The thing is, they've drifted away from being a real "search engine" and more like a Q&A platform. You type in a question they give you an answer, and more than 50% of the time users are happy with that answer. In the off chance that they don't answer your question, well maybe one of these ads or websites may help.

And, as a Q&A platform, you have to admit they do a much better job than the other search engines with their integration with all of their other services like maps, weather, finance, business listings, reviews, sports results, wikipedia, scraped content, etc. So, unfortunately, people are still going to use them above all the other "search engines".

In summary, Google is more of a Q&A service than a search engine now. And because they do a better job at Q&A than anyone else, that in itself consolidates their monopoly as a "search engine", even if a good chunk of their results are just ads.

Take note, DuckDuckGo (or any other SE), if you're reading this. Time for a paradigm shift?

[touslesgens]

Looks like whatever it is it is hurting a lot of people who try to post quality content.

Does anyone have any idea whether or not this might be reversed? Is there any hope for those of us who are losing traffic?

[browndog]

Whoa182, same here. I was no 1 for a topic, and am outranked by a food company (this isn’t a food related topic). Mine listed 10 details with photos, descriptions and information. They listed three, with one line about each.

[frankleeceo]

Maybe a few days late, one of my site was hit on the 8th with roughly 20% less traffic.

[No5needinput]

Was just researching via Google a product for "how to darken widget" ALL the results returned were links to "How to LIGHTEN widget" - Google has lost the plot entirely.

However, Google (adsense) search on my site returns laser focused results for my topic pages...

[RedBar]

Here's one for you.

I have a very specialised trade widget site, it's a single original product, and at the moment it's traffic is almost 45% direct yet with a huge volume of Apple / IOS users especially on mobile from many different countries.

They're not bots, am I missing a search referral somewhere or maybe people searching with clean devices?

I do know that the way I have my mobiles set-up that my visits to my sites when roaming are not recorded except through my actual logs.

[RedBar]

However, Google (adsense) search on my site returns laser focused results for my topic pages...

Oh ... that's a surprise, our search algorithm cannot / does not really understand your query HOWEVER our advertising algorithm understands it perfectly sir ... here are your options, feel free to click on any of these and earn us money ... meanwhile, if you really want to waste your time trawling through the garbage we've listed for you, carry on, it's your time you are wasting trying to find what we have hidden out of sight.

Alternatively, you could use a real search engine without all G's garbage!

[seomotionz]

Take note, DuckDuckGo (or any other SE), if you're reading this. Time for a paradigm shift?

@jmorgan you are right. Google is behaving like a Q&A and its not new. But a few months back atleast they were giving an answer to our queries, maybe not so much of a correct answer but an answer. Now, not even close. Its like if I search for a TV then Google is almost hell bent in showing me results about computer monitors. And not just through ads but through organic results too. Why? The answer is simple because computer monitor companies are paying for ads.

[NickMNS]

I'm up over 25% compared to same day last week. This time it is looking like real traffic, not the referral spam I was seeing late last week.

[Marty Rogers]

A few of our clients took dips, and some have climbed - not really sure what to make of this update yet.

[Yagnesh Aegis]

Suddenly lost the ranking. Huge changes in SERP, I am not sure what happen but something going today ...

[topaz]

Traffic down again for the last two days. -40%
Comments section on barry's november update post has turned into a #*$!show.

[rossy0309]

that hit me hard..
30% down on almost all my website. primary keyword is down, only long tail sentences are the same

[southernguy]

I have a couple of sites that have dropped even further, a couple of my sites have increased in traffic, some by 30%. IMOHO an increase in traffic means nothing, conversions from Google are nonexistent at least in my niche.

I have not seen any improvement in Google search for a long time, not because I'm not ranking but because it is just utter non-relevant results.

Regardless of what you search for using long tail or specific targeted keywords, it's all the same nonsense.

I quit using anything Google since August 2018 I only use it when I need some humor. Every once in a while just for kicks I will do a search to see what kind of new garbage it spews out.

Ultimately Google has fulfilled its goal, first by tanking YouTube monetization and now organic search.

[samwest]

Right now it's not about quantity, it's about quality...that is, user behavior. Our SERPs are relatively stable, but user behavior is all over the board. It can be clearly seen as patterned drops and occasionally short rises, but mostly drops. The recent BERT changes and the expected seasonal shift has traffic up a bit, but product conversions are way down, yet adsense clicks are up over 200%. It's quite dramatic. Amazon affiliate clicks are also down to nothing, which makes little sense....or perhaps it makes perfect sense....Adsense. Watch for year end GOOG profits to soar >20%...again. BERT seems to have laser focus on sites with heavy Adsense placement.

[EditorialGuy]

BERT seems to have laser focus on sites with heavy Adsense placement.

If true, that's probably an example of "correlation, not causation," since BERT is about using natural-language processing to improve results for complex (e.g., conversational) queries instead of relying on keywords alone. It has nothing to do with AdSense placements.

Of course, it's entirely possible that some of the same people who crank out tons of keyword- and keyphrase-targeted pages are the same people who go crazy with AdSense ads. In such cases, BERT might affect how their pages rank for complex or conversational queries, giving the false impression that AdSense placements are responsible for the ranking changes.

[samwest]

The only way to go crazy with ad sense ads is to turn on "Auto Ads" and then Google themselves goes crazy with ads...and then loves those sites, but yeah, it's one big coinkidink.

[browndog]

I just turned auto ads on yesterday and turned them off today, they were horrible.

[seomotionz]

A little bit of traffic is back. I don't know whether its going stay or not. But its a partial win for today.

These days when you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow even this small win can cheer you up.

[Tech4]

My case:
November 9: -30%
November 13: +10%

[engine]

For those of you wondering...

Google Search Liaison said..

Some have asked if we had an update to Google Search last week. We did, actually several updates, just as we have several updates in any given week on a regular basis. In this thread, a reminder of when and why we give specific guidance about particular updates....

[mobile.twitter.com...]

It's Google constantly testing, and site publishers don't know where they stand.
Come on google, settle it all down.

[samwest]

How does Google measure the success of each update? Is it accurate, quality search results or increased revenue? Right...dumb question.