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]

[seomotionz]

Ohh Please! They are talking about content! Haven't they seen by themselves their SERP's lately?:P

[HereWeGo123]

Two hours After the update went live, we began dropping for dozens of keywords one after the other. The effects from our end/datacenters were visible quite fast. We are also losing rich snippets stars for every phrase, after years of having them being visible in the SERPs. We are religiously dropping for everything across the board, including for fresh and expert written content. But I guess if a site has issues that would drag it down, it’s a site wide effect during an update. We’re definitely experiencing that right now. I guess we didn’t do enough work to improve our site and user experience. If I’m being honest and objective with respect to our site, in theory, I can see why it’s dropping. Unpleasant but it’s the reality. Need to work harder.

[BushyTop]

Massive changes for some of our most stable keywords this morning. I hope this doesnt stick.

[sk7411]

We are bleeding now , the initial trends were good and super impressive though .

This is sad .

[BoredMeteor]

Another keyword drop. Yay.

Last two years have been one hit after another. Well, a slight boost at the end of 2018, but...it's all frustrating. Yeah, let's add some more "Also Asked" and a couple more featured snippets at the top of pages while we're at it. I don't know what Google wants, anymore.

[RedBar]

My target markets are global therefore my traffic tends to be so, however this month has seen a marked increase in Chinese PVs from 5.8% in October to December to 16.2% so far this month.

It all looks pretty genuine since it's mostly coming from the main producing areas for my widgets plus genuine enquiries have increased too since they are buyers of raw products for their home and export markets. China is the #1 producer in my industry followed by India, Brazil and Turkey therefore I do expect these visitors, it's not an increase in garbage traffic in my case.

[glakes]

A few days ago (1/11/2020) I posted:

Users: +9.8%
Revenue: -40.6%
Conversion Rate: -38.2%

Three days later (Today - 1/14/2020):

Users: +35.1%
Revenue: -46.8%
Conversion Rate: -41.7%

While a dramatic rise in Google traffic should be cause for celebration, converting traffic from them has been entirely wiped out.

[RedBar]

converting traffic from them has been entirely wiped out.

Whilst the USA averages 37% of our PVs, the USA is easily our lowest converting market simply because of quality v price expectations. As a company we do not actively participate in the US market these days since it is far too much effort for far too little return, we leave it to direct sales reps and very long-established customers to do as they deem best.

[BushyTop]

I'm getting errors on GA AGAIN. Jesus, these updates just get worse and worse! I know that GA isn't (or shouldn't) be tied to a search update, but they clearly are, given that people on here experienced the same thing in September. Probably an update to show more zombie traffic that's erroring and showing too much - designed to trick webmasters into thinking that everything is okay.

Off the back of this update, I'm seeing links win. Domains with Root domain authority rank for everything., No one is a specialist anymore. Just the big boys that are the jack of all trades that rank.

It's a complete #*$! show again. There's no cohesion in keywords, so AI is a complete joke. You can search 'Buy a new home' or 'buy a new house' and return completely different results. Absolute Joke

[RareBit]

As per usual, don't jump to any conclusions yet! - the update is still rolling out so fully expect rankings to be all over the place/snippets going missing/ect

Edit: I have even stopped checking the SERPs during updates as there is just no point until its fully rolled out and everything has been reindexed

[seomotionz]

As per usual, don't jump to any conclusions yet! - the update is still rolling out so fully expect rankings to be all over the place/snippets going missing/ect

@RareBit You are exactly correct. Things still can go different paths. As the case is Google things can just fly away in a spaceship.

[notoriusbean]

Has anyone noticed any changes in your geographical distribution lately?

Namely, our audience is typically 90-95% from US, UK, and Canada, with the remaining ~5-7% coming from India and Australia. About a week ago, we started noticing some traffic fluctuations. The three English countries together dropped about 10% and India traffic doubled - making the new distribution (more or less) 85% US/UK/CAN, 10% India, and 5% Australia.

It has recovered a bit so today the distribution is about 90% US/UK/CAN, 6% India, and 3% Australia. The US/UK/Canada traffic is still lower than where it was at a week ago though.

I'm wondering if this, 1) is real traffic, and/or 2) has anything to do with the algorithm update.

Here's an image of the distribution changes over the last month: [i.imgur.com...]

[sk7411]

As per usual, don't jump to any conclusions yet! - the update is still rolling out so fully expect rankings to be all over the place/snippets going missing/ect

Lol my short term joy sustained yesterday for mere 40 mins with +30% and we got slayed after that , so no one can tell better than i . I am down about 25 - 30% today and it's shuffling like crazy , probably it will stay like this now .. Google algorithm is just like more sort of a shuffling algorithm now , they will flip the coin and you might or might not survive every update .

[edited by: sk7411 at 3:39 pm (utc) on Jan 14, 2020]

[seowinning]

I bet the old expert guys isn't working at google anymore, the new staff is messing so much with the algorithms, I thought ddg would become better than google by improving, but it's the opposite, google is becoming worse to the point ddg will succeed without so much effort.

[RedBar]

Let's face it these days, is there actually any difference between a core update and their every day/week updates?

Unless they have an actual demotion target, think medic, for quite some time it has been a constant G everflux and unless one is priviledged enough to have the ear of G, then this wil be the state for months and years to come ... think jobsworth.

[RareBit]

@sk7411 - It will be shuffling whilst its updating, happens every time!

[sk7411]

@sk7411 - It will be shuffling whilst its updating, happens every time!

Correct , but i guess the trends stays that way , people who lost their traffic or gained will probably continue the same trend for the whole week or so . Isn’t it ?

[jmorgan]

If we're not seeing the new format on the search results i.e. with the favicon, does that mean it's a DC that's yet to be updated?

[universenet]

is anybody checking visits over other statistic and not only GA?
I understand that awstats and webalizer show diferent statistic of google analytics
But why for 13 january show 20-30 percent bigger visits of ussual and GA show 30 percent less visits of ussuall..so diferent of other days what should be like a expected?.,.

Is this normal?
What is with google analitycs?
Sometimes I have feeling like google only changing google analytics for show difrennt numbers..but ok...this is just feeling maybe after this new update
Or is jjust bug on GA ... or is bug on both webalizer and awstats?
But awstats and webalizer going in oposite direction of GA

I am not sure how will finnish this new update.. maybe soon we can expect some new again in few days (CORE every day)

[NickMNS]

But why for 13 january show 20-30 percent bigger visits of usual and GA show 30 percent less visits of ussuall..so diferent of other days what should be like a expected?.,.

The problem with any tool is understanding the assumptions it makes behind the scenes. The biggest concern in analytics is the determination of what is or isn't a bot. GA makes one assumption, other packages make others or possibly no assumptions in that regard. Without knowing the difference it is really impossible to compare one reporting method to another.

My guess would be that awstats or webalizer are probably including bot traffic that GA isn't. The only way to know for sure would be to look in your raw logs.

[jmorgan]

Bots are out of control these days and will probably only get worse.

[samwest]

Yeah, well, I knew it wouldn't t last...after about a two week decent run..the zombies are right back. No changes in SERPS but total change in user behavior...filter must have been cranked up again. Smh.

[BushyTop]

Morning report. We have been spanked by this. People assuming it is a rollback, well... our data tells a different story. We go hit in June and ever since its been a grind into nothingness. Launching a new site that we have been working on for the past three months at the end of the month. Hopefully, we get a response from that.

[glakes]

People assuming it is a rollback, well... our data tells a different story.

I agree - this is not a rollback.

Google has slaughtered our money (product) pages and has given huge boosts to some of our info pages that never had much traffic before. These pages are designed to support our customers and products, not sell them. I guess it could be worse - Google could have boosted traffic to our privacy policy. LOL

I know this update is still being pushed, but I can't help to see the similarity between the pages that got the boost. The pages with a huge increase in traffic have not been updated in 5+ years, while most other pages within our website have been updated at least once yearly.

[seomotionz]

Zombies and bots are a problem alright.

@glakes I am seeing it too. Some irrelevant pages which are related somehow, are getting traffic.

@samwest Did this happen right after the core update started rolling or it just happened to you today?

[volochain]

BERT Updates

[glakes]

Some irrelevant pages which are related somehow, are getting traffic.

Thanks for sharing. From all I've seen, my data and from other comments across the web, I can confidently say this update is not a rollback to any point in the past.

[mosxu]

Just seen an Adstage benchmark report, average CPC went down in 2019 Q4 from $1.5 to $ 1.2

Funny enough for us clicks only go up in price :))

Amazon is enjoying more and more buyer traffic while users no longer have the patience to research products.

Quality traffic is less and less and it seems that not every competitor is allowed to compete for it.

[seomotionz]

Thanks for sharing. From all I've seen, my data and from other comments across the web, I can confidently say this update is not a rollback to any point in the past.

You know what that mean?! Its the job of the webmasters that it is going to be more and more tough.

The sites which has gained rank or still gaining. Its just because they have improved somehow.

[sk7411]

You know what that mean?! Its the job of the webmasters that it is going to be more and more tough.

The sites which has gained rank or still gaining. Its just because they have improved somehow.

Honestly i believe it is a zero sum game , some core update will moon you while some will bring you down . It's a shuffle game these days. Hard work might pay off but nothing is guaranteed .