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]

SERP tools are showing some hostility. As one leader of a nation noted in the past, "prepare to eat roots!"

[mosxu]

2020 more zombies than usual and not much traffic strange enough but Bing has got a lot more traffic and no change in rankings both search engines.

[skaterpunk]

@Junior5233. This forum is a great source of information. Just scan the thread sections and titles, and see which topics may be of interest and help to you.

[seomotionz]

2020 more zombies than usual and not much traffic strange enough but Bing has got a lot more traffic and no change in rankings both search engines.

Agreed. Feel free to spend some money on behalf of bandwidth.

[jediviper]

Domain Authority doesn't drop from a day to another just like this.
There must be something really wrong anyway for such a big drop and probably has to do with loss of many important links, where Google is not involved anyway.

[shyamsunderseo]

yes, my google ranking also down.

[Skorpion47]

When Google used it`s Page Rank, there was a different story. It was their own metrics... Any other metrics can`t be fully true... just to have a rough idea about rankings.

[jmorgan]

I am newcomer for SEO, can anyone suggest me some website from where I can learn about SEO?

Just build a good website that people will like, preferably one that stands out from the crowd in some way. Everything else will follow.

[SweetPotato]

Just build a website that people will like, eventually it will rank and get noticed your content will be copied on tens other sites (probably PBN's), that will outrank you. because Google can't tell the difference any more. Then they'll create spam links to you very quick, so you will sink into oblivion. You would have wasted a ton of time, energy and money to build something for nothing. You will cry a bit every night.

My advice is don't learn SEO, don't make any website. Do something that a dumb unregulated company can't screw with.

[jmorgan]

Don't be so negative.

Imagine if companies like Apple or Samsung say, "Why bother making new products if people are just going to copy us?"

Yes, your work will be copied if it's even halfway good. It sucks, it really does but that's just the way the internet works. My philosophy is to always stay one step ahead.

Someone who copied the iPhone 5 would probably not be able to do much with it after the iPhone 6 was released.

[seomotionz]

@Junior5233 Instead of learning SEO and building a site. Create a Youtube channel (as you like)and make videos. Its so much better and easy these days.

[Athedian]

Did anyone notice any ranking changes today? Dropped like 100,000 ranks from Ahref stat when I checked it this morning after a 30,000+ increase in rank yesterday. Happy New Year.

[jmorgan]

Semrush suggest changes in ranking, but I haven't really noticed anything personally.

[MayankParmar]

The Discover traffic drop is due to the big media companies suddenly showing interest in the topics I cover. Google is favouring them despite they use clickbait titles and their article is based on my article.

[Cyril TechWebsites]

Yeap. I can see some changes today. But don't worry, guys, I'm OK with this update - nothing has changed for me: this cruel beast continues killing both my websites day after day, so nothing new for me... The website that used to grow for last 5 years, my authors are pretty known IT specialists which work costs me a lot of money - they used to produce the most exciting content around the niche and it WAS good for Google for 5 years.... but right now I see that this content is bull...t (at least Google decided so these days and killed 60% and 25% of my traffic on each of my websites)...

[RedBar]

Imagine if companies like Apple or Samsung say, "Why bother making new products if people are just going to copy us?"

Ever noticed how many lawyers they have working for them suing each other's backsides?

Yes, your work will be copied if it's even halfway good. It sucks, it really does but that's just the way the internet works.

That is not they way The Internet is supposed to work.

In general terms, since there is always an example that doesn't, ONLY by Google's rules and algos!

I have yet to find any of my sites copied/scraped, after 25 years, on any other search engine.

The problem is not The Internet, the problem IS Google.

[strummer19]

This update is another disappointment for us (news website). -60% in 4 months

[RedBar]

This update is another disappointment for us (news website). -60% in 4 months

Do you write original articles or are you an aggregator?

[seomotionz]

The problem is not The Internet, the problem IS Google.

@RedBar Indeed. A simple program just to track the date where a piece of content is published first, can make huge difference.

I am not saying that it will clear out all of the copied (and/or re-written somehow)content but atleast some of them will be removed or demoted in the SERP's. So, the original poster could get some benefit.

And I also think that if Google can appoint some personnel to assess the content's actual quality (who will be able to independently judge without considering any links or authority). Then Google can do far better.

Then again we are talking about the internet here. There are millions of pages added every hour. That's a near impossible task. But then again, things can be made automated these days which can be updated & upgraded accordingly.

Just my thoughts!

[strummer19]

Do you write original articles or are you an aggregator?

Original articles

[RedBar]

There are millions of pages added every hour.

Taking news and sport out of this question, is there actually a massive increase of pages every day or, for many sites, is it occasional updates and improvements?

Personally my company page counts have reduced from 100,000+ to 10,000+ over the last 10 years, my company websites have reduced from 100+ down to 10+ and bear in mind I've been doing this since 1993.

Everyone I know in my global industry has either reduced their presence or, quite simply, not bothered with updating their sites since, for them, they make absolutely no difference to their marketing efforts these days because of the "negative" Google effect and its constant manipulation and meddling. Of the top 10 biggest Indian companies in my widget industry only 2 are updated on a quarterly basis, the other 8 haven't been touched in 8-10 years!

I'm not ranting, it's a simple matter of fact that for the majority of company websites that, whilst it's nice to have a good quality brochure site, they're mostly absolutely useless in driving any kind of applicable business.

Plus the real cost of a good SEO for the vast majority of local businesses is not justifiable IMHO.

[RedBar]

Original articles

How many per day / week / month?

Which language(s)?

Which country(ies) focus?

I'm thinking of your possible competition here and as to why you have lost G love!

[mosxu]

All zombies today

[glakes]

Original articles

Original articles mean nothing to Google as they are going to plaster ads around anything they display. An example...

Months after we launched some new products, Google was still displaying the offshore Chinese junk (organic and ads) for search terms that were nowhere near relevant to our products. Nobody in the world makes the products I'm talking about, yet we could not gain any traction in Google while Bing has been sending us sales nearly from the start. In Google there is layer upon layer of algo, AI, etc. that does not appear to work well together. Google has dummied down the search results to the point that I find Google useless. Someone inside Google needs to give their algo and AI an enema to flush all the crap out...

All zombies today

It's definitely very quiet today unless one listens very carefully to hear the distant sound of feet kicking tires (ie. tire kickers/one page wonders).

[RedBar]

Original articles mean nothing to Google as they are going to plaster ads around anything they display.

I agree however isn't it bizarre that one can have an exclusive artcle or product yet Google seemingly can't see it however as soon as a scraper comes along, there ya goes!

I reckon about 10% of my pages and images do not rank for their terms, they're indexed yet not ranked in Google whereas all other SEs have them usually at #1.

IF these were highly competive terms I could maybe understand it yet they are usually for not so popular products which ought to be very easy to rank.

[glakes]

I agree however isn't it bizarre that one can have an exclusive artcle or product yet Google seemingly can't see it however as soon as a scraper comes along, there ya goes!

Some will say the reason why the scraper ranks above the original is because our page or site is penalized by Google. Using that theory, if one leaves their home door open then a person robbing it can't be charged with a crime because the owner is being penalized for not locking their door. People come up with some asinine reasons why Google ranks scraped images/pages, and none of them fly in my book.

The bottom line is Google could determine which image/page is the original, with a good degree of accuracy, if they wanted to. But that takes computing power, and they don't want to take computing power away from shape shifting SERP results that maximize their profits.

[southernguy]

Some will say the reason why the scraper ranks above the original is because our page or site is penalized by Google

Yes I have had few on this board mention this as well, but it's not the case, I have taken a couple of sites that completely lost rankings, purchased a newly expired domain, thrown the same content on it and within a few weeks, it's ranking. Google is fairly easy to game right now. If you have the time to churn and burn sites it's a good time to do it because sadly that's whats ranking.

[NickMNS]

Something is glitching in GA real-time right now. My user count is steadily increasing, and never decreasing. While the actual active pages reported appear normal. Too bad it would be nice to have that much real-time traffic.

[SweetPotato]

GA is weird all day today.
I don't trust it at all.
For example it says 60 users and 5 minutes later 225. Both being way to low and too high respectively.

[NickMNS]

It just corrected! 200 drop in less than a second. LOL. Well it was fun while it lasted (the delusion of bad data that is).