Google Updates and SERP Changes - January 2020

[seomotionz]

The following 11 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4974557.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 10:10 am on Jan 2, 2020 - (PDT -8)

20 years of data show that updates have created MUCH more than a "twitch" in traffic.

Its not a twitch if it costs you a significant amount of money.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 6:20 pm (utc) on Jan 2, 2020]
[edit reason] cleanup after split to new thread [/edit]

[glakes]

I'm not buying this FID being the root cause. We test fast for that on all of google's endorsed tools and we've been hit!

Normally in GA I can view periodic page speed updates throughout the day. Yesterday was reported as abnormally high 6.12 and today abnormally fast 0.00. LOL

I'm not sure the FID issue is responsible for my site's issues, though I have taken immediate actions to speed things up so GSC can retest, which is in progress. Not surprisingly, Chrome is the slowest browser. Is Chrome extremely slow because it is sending so much user data back to Google that it can't perform its most basic functions without a degradation in speed?

[RedBar]

@seomotionz

Apparently its in the app, widget and mobile related niches.

Yes, it's in Polish but mostly mobile / smartphone sector.

What's happened there?

I'm nothing to do with those widgets, I always assume someone's been selling mailing lists when this sort of thing occurs!

[Robino]

Chrome is the slowest browser. Is Chrome extremely slow because it is sending so much user data back to Google that it can't perform its most basic functions without a degradation in speed?

Chrome mobile is VERY slow. So keep that in mind too.

[glakes]

Chrome mobile is VERY slow. So keep that in mind too.

Apparently so! It's going to be hard pleasing Google's need for speed when they are the ones with a very laggy browser. :(

[fearlessrick]

Thanks to everybody here for insights. I am probably the low man on the totem here, as a run a couple of very small (by enterprise standards) web sites, but I've been horrified this month and have been monitoring things since around the 10th.

I'm basing my observations almost entirely on Adsense revenue. Hopefully, somebody can glean some info. Worst day of the month was the 11th, followed by best day of the month on the 12th. I have started looking at 3-day spreads and am in the process of having my best day of the month (better than the 12th) and best 3-day spread of the month, so I am thinking this update has nearly run its course.

My results on the 12th almost surely are an anomaly, due to my postings and tweets from that day (NFL football related). But today's results have been up significantly and now, four of the best six days of the month have been over the past six days. Today's numbers have been jumping around, as my figures were good at 11:00, but the numbers were taken back - below 11:00 am levels - around 1:00. Now they are up, though I don't know if Google will leave them alone. In other words, let's just say at 11 am I showed $20 in revenue. At 1 pm, I showed $12. Now it's $35. So, google has credited, taken some back, then added more than before. Not unusual. I've seen it happen in the past, but I still don't like it.

I never monitor my sites as much as I have the past 10 days, and hope not to have to ever again, but, with G running the show, I'm certain I will be driven crazy many more times.

Bottom line, I think the update is nearing an end. Maybe. Stay tuned...

[TeresaD]

In Ireland we mainly use Chrome as Safari is so glitchy on mobile, I will never win a speed race!

[Kendo]

Algo updates are algo updates and it's extremely rare for them to be reversed / wound back

The repercussion of any change will not be seen immediately, so I am assuming that they do chop and change... a lot. Otherwise why would we see our keywords jumping from 30 to 100 and back again the following weeks. Also, losing 1300 backlinks only to get 600 back in 2 weeks.

[seomotionz]

@RedBar I hearing a lot of chatter that their rankings were changing very rapidly.

[hopepro]

Confirmed about ranking fluctuation like a roller coaster since yesterday and today

[RareBit]

Just to update, all dropped positions from yesterday have moved back to 1st this morning!

[fearlessrick]

Nothing new here.

[edited by: fearlessrick at 11:19 am (utc) on Jan 22, 2020]

[BushyTop]

everyone thinking another Update pending? Or at least a major tweak to the official update?

[RareBit]

one thing I have noticed is there is definitely less diversity on the results - as in I now show 3 URLs for some queries (home page 1st / category page 2nd / about us 3rd) - I have never seen our about us page ranking for any query

[Cyril TechWebsites]

Seeing fluctuations again. Starting from today. Not the positive ones, must say...

[seomotionz]

one thing I have noticed is there is definitely less diversity on the results - as in I now show 3 URLs for some queries (home page 1st / category page 2nd / about us 3rd) - I have never seen our about us page ranking for any query

@RareBit For a kw of our own site is ranking in atleast four different positions. Although the main page is ranking in the first page but all the other pages are scattered from 2nd to 7th or 8th pages.

So, this over yet not over though. The mobile niche sites which I was talking about yesterday are in some kind of a struggle with Google for duplicate content or low quality. This update was all about quality after all.

[RareBit]

I should also say, I am not complaining as were dominating the results page on a few KWs - just an observation as I noticed a few ppl had non transactional pages/old pages suddenly getting traffic

[mcnotony]

what is widget you keep talking about? can you post a link to a resource? thanks

[glakes]

Any other product sellers finding Google is completely dead? I'm seeing record breaking traffic highs while at the same time record breaking low (nearly none) conversions. Bing is sending 4X the conversions as Google with 1/20th of the traffic. This is insane...

[RedBar]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld mcnotony

[en.wikipedia.org...]

[NickMNS]

@Redbar LOL, wikipedia for widget.

That is exactly the problem, you are in the wrong business. You should be selling gadgets, it's a lot more lucrative.
[en.wikipedia.org...]

[TeresaD]

I was celebrating yesterday, google shopping conversions x 6 , organic conversions x 3 back to business working then today nothing, nada it is like a ghost town.

Maybe Bert is sort of figuring it out? but does Bert realise this is our income he is experimenting with, I need income to pay for my sons medical degree, I need income to pay bills, I need income for food.

Bert needs to stop fooling around with our sites and get it right, I am willing Bert on, I know you can do it, we have all seen the positives and the negatives so I am #TeamBert

Maybe we can get #TeamBert trending and cheer him on enough that he sorts it out!

[frankleeceo]

I am noticing some sites occupying featured snippet, but their organic ranking had been destroyed (serp position 7+ on second page). Not sure if its a bug.

[Shepherd]

Just saw that myself Frankleeceo, wikipedia (number 1 organic spot for the last 100 years), in the FS but organic listing dropped to page 2.

[Razorllama]

Seems like Google just rolled this out. Webpages that have a featured snippet will not have another position on page 1.
This is huge, in a negative way for featured snippet holders. I'm not sure what the hell is Google thinking.

[frankleeceo]

It appears that featured snippet holders will automatically pushed to #1 position on page 2.

[hopepro]

Confirmed featured snippet push to #1 on page 2 . From screening the keyword on my positions, there are about 10 keywords right now.


Traffic Also drop from yesterday and also today

[HereWeGo123]

It seems as if you can remain untouched for years, maybe some minor turbulence here and there. But once you get hit, you kind of get into that Google Update eco-system where you're on a constant roller coaster during every update. You'll see some marginal gains and then get hit again. As if everything was nice and quiet before, but your turn was coming up in order for google to “deal” with you. And once you get into their Update eco-system, you go for a ride.... a long one. I'm not blaming Google or even trying to rant, as I'm sure there are some issues with our site that we're working on day in and day out in addressing.

My question for you guys here. Has anybody experienced good recovery as a result of nuking and removing a lot of old deadweight, poor, thin content that just didn't make sense to keep? Our problem is, while a lot of our content, as we believe is good, and expert-written, the majority of the other URLs indexed contain super old and outdated content, which may be dragging down the rest of the site.

[mosxu]

@TeresaD

Just don’t raise the bids, in your industry the cpc is so low that AI cannot even compute it :)

Sadly most of webmasters start raising bids when converting traffic disappears.

[mondoinweb]

survey 😀 do sites that have had this problem have affiliate links?

[Cyril TechWebsites]

@HereWeGo 123:

The old content works in the way you described. It tanks your website overall. Do not prun it, just update it. You will see a great boost if the updating content will be done correctly. Old URLs are trusted, it's much better to update it, not delete - it's an opportunity to recover pretty fast.