Google Updates and SERP Changes - April 2020

[michaeldhayes]

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System: The following 6 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4986200.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 6:28 am on Apr 1, 2020 (PDT -8)

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Not aimed at anyone in particular, but I've noticed this thread is littered with people complaining about not getting traffic.

It makes the whole thread rather painful to read through.

SEO is about competing. It's not about complaining. If you can't compete, find a niche where you can. Screaming into the ether and lobbying for some sort of cosmic justice for small businesses is not going to get your anywhere, in life or with google.

We don't negotiate with google for a fairer playing field. They are the playing field. So find an area where you can win, and exploit it.

In more pertinent and less rant-y news: I'm seeing +20%, +20%, and +10% week over week. Tech and industrial. Still think it's COVID related, but with all the volatility indexes going crazy, I'm starting to lean toward update. However that's what I thought last week also, so who knows.

[frankleeceo]

Getting killed with virus :(

[RedBar]

I have a couple of global sites holding steady at about 80% of average otherwise it's varying between 50-90% down!

Considerting that many of us are in lockdown can you believe people on Friday and Saturday were ringing the owner of the hotel / pub site I run IF, becausr of the nicer weather, they were having a BBQ and band this weekend ... WTF is wrong with some people?

I could really go ballistic... </rant before I get started>

[seomotionz]

they were having a BBQ and band this weekend ... WTF is wrong with some people?

@RedBar So much for social distancing.:P

[samwest]

After a decent run that was looking like an actual recovery...the INTERESTING FINDS block has returned to my vertical and instantly killed off the gains. It's all promoting high ad density garbage. Figures.
AI has user behavior right back to zombie level.

[devoo]

Something is going on. My realtime traffic is about to go out of the roof and these are real people not bots or anything. If this is not a temporary glitch, I might be totally recovered from the January core update. Fingers crossed :)

[devoo]

I was too quick to be excited it only lasted about one hour :(

[sk7411]

Can confirm something is happening mostly downward here. They got no chill and probably working overtime from home .

[samwest]

Incredible sudden zombie surge. The signup page is like kryptonite to this traffic, yet bounce is down. Referral spam way up too. Started 6 pm yesterday.

[samwest]

Going on a record high traffic day, yet record low conversion. All junk traffic and referral spam today. Funny how they can switch off conversions just like that.

[RedBar]

@samwest

I never "see" any of this type of traffic however my sites are hosted on a Plesk server as opposed to the, I assume, more common CPanel.

Could this be possible?

The regulat monthly visits I get from Heg Mass, OVH, Sogou etc are entirely expected and predicable insofar as I am concerned and never cause me any data issues.

As you know I'm evergreen, widget informational with no ecommerce, do you feel it's the ecommerce side that creates you all these problems?

[samwest]

@redbar... it seems to be related to the AI continually tweaking the SERP layout. What I can say for sure us that when the INTEREST FINDS block appears...I can kiss all converting traffic goodbye...as they throw up a bunch of click bait style results. Why my traffic increased to a record high yesterday yet nill conversion is likely due to the zombie effect or Bots.

[renatovieira]

My traffic today has stagnated.

Did anyone else feel anything strong today?

[samwest]

Yes. Traffic BEHAVIOR has changed dramatically since Sunday...actually Saturday night. Had a record high level of traffic yesterday and zero conversions. Traffic bounce is down too, and page generation time is normal. There is nothing to explain the sudden behavioral change other than the mysterious black box AI. We've all felt that effect many times before. The way I see it, Google decided to "do their part" and ease up on traffic and user shaping for 30 days. The very second those 30 days were up, we went right back to garbage traffic. Now they are right back to separating the wheat from the chaff to maximize profits. It was predictable.

I can watch GA for about 3 minutes and tell you what the day will be like. Unfortunately, prognosis for today is negative.

[RedBar]

One thing I can definitely see at the moment is that China has gone back to work in my widget industry. Obviously my widget world's bggest producer has been very quiet both with searching and promotional contact.

We'll see if it generates any enquiries.

[glakes]

We've been very busy over here with orders. The virus took out Amazon's ability to ship our Chinese competitor's products, and the impact is starting to bake into our bottom line with increased sales. The choice consumers have are to order the cheap Chinese junk and wait a couple weeks to get it, or purchase a quality product for more money from an American company and get it in 2-4 days. This I know will not last. The American consumer is generally not very intelligent when it comes to the products my company manufactures. Anyway, most American consumers don't realize that saving a $1 on a Chinese product comes at a cost of $2 in higher taxes because their money is going overseas instead of employing their neighbors here at home. Trust me, there aren't many Buy American type of patriots in my industry...

Traffic is consistent, and I've seen no signs of an update in a while. Conversions were down this morning, but it's starting to ramp up. One unfortunate side effect of the virus is a slight increase in buyer fraud. Hopefully the stimulus money they get from the government will help to keep that in check, but if it gets out of hand I'll have to increase prices to offset losses. Our B2B sales are quiet, but was shocked to see some businesses/government agencies we supply pay their invoices despite being in states with shutdown orders. That money helps, but getting materials and supplies during this shutdown is causing some substantial delays.

[RedBar]

but getting materials and supplies during this shutdown is causing some substantial delays.

And the knock-on effect for raw / semi-finished / finished supplies from countries still in lockdown is going to get worse.

In India we've just got another 3 weeks minimum, I know of several who've already thrown in their towels and walked away!

[mosxu]

Locals are all locked down and getting same spots it must be a terrible user experience.

Not sure of the purpose of these locals anymore.

Amazon still showing for two weeks now with product currently not available. Any other site will go in 2 days if currently unavailable text is on.

[sk7411]

...

[jmorgan]

@renatovieira

Did anyone else feel anything strong today?

My traffic has rebounded from the Easter break. My traffic generally goes down during the holidays, pandemic or not (apparently).

[RareBit]

We saw record traffic levels over the Easter weekend with organic users & CTR's at an all time high - sales were not huge but they always lag by around 2 weeks on 1 site due to a 'sample then order' process

[RedBar]

Asian, Russian & USA traffic steadily returning, Europe's extremely quiet, we've never had much traffic from South America since they're one of our major competitors, Africa holding its own however we tend not to promote much there since, as a generalisation, price rules over everything but Northern Africa is far better than the "middle".

[glakes]

And the knock-on effect for raw / semi-finished / finished supplies from countries still in lockdown is going to get worse.

The only benefit to Google killing off our conversions beginning in November 2019 is that we had plenty of materials/supplies going into this pandemic. I saw the supply line disruptions coming from the virus and placed many orders early on. While most of what we purchase is here in the USA, in locations under state mandated lockdowns, our suppliers are "essential businesses" just as we are. Materials/supplies are coming in, just with a much longer lead time.

In my industry Google has taken no action to remove/demote Amazon from the SERPS. The poor user experience continues with Google sending their users to Amazon product pages with an estimated delivery date of 2+ weeks. Bing/Yahoo don't have this same problem as Google, or at least as impactful, since they don't rely on Amazon crowded SERPS to demote small businesses in the way Google does.

[samwest]

The clamp continues. Since Saturday evening, it seems traffic is back to "clamped" status, which simply means "two at a time" visits, no more. It's an obvious pattern that ebbs and flows all day, as opposed to the past 4 weeks which were oddly unfettered traffic. I was able to set my watch by conversions again, like prior to 2010. Right now it's down to two zombie page sitters or zero traffic runs again. Traffic that does appear moves like molasses. And my site is of HIGH interest to those siting at home right now. Once G caught wind of my short recovery, they appear to have shut it right down. ...as usual. SERP's remain unchanged, yet user behavior is beyond poor. Just like flipping off a switch.

[renatovieira]

@samwest

Wowww ... Exactly that!

[southernguy]

@samwest I am seeing the same thing, aside from my spammy sites, two of my authority sites began coming back a couple of weeks ago and were converting, it was the best 10 days I had seen for those two sites in months. As of Monday, my traffic dwindled once again to a trickle with absolutely no conversions.

[EditorialGuy]

No changes for our editorial travel-planning site. Traffic (including Google traffic) has been low but consistent for weeks now, in the wake of the coronavirus going global.

The order of our most heavily-trafficked pages has changed a bit, because some topics (e.g., public transit) are more likely to be of interest to real-time travelers than to readers who are sitting at home.(Some of our older evergreen pages on general travel topics have bubbled up to the top in recent weeks.)

[mosxu]

Zombies are back in business:

All I get is Adwords account suggesting higher and higher bids. Never mind more than half of advertisers closed

[RedBar]

I'm seeing a noticeable shift in page view priority this month for my 22 year old widget trade directory site. The top four pages are still the top four however my used / secondhand machinery section is, literally, within page views v the index page views of being the most popular, never seen anything near that before.

Also interestingly but probably predictable is that my global exhibition / fairs calendar, normally contending with the used machinery section, is at the moment seeing its PVs halved.

The fourth page is still about the same being used a lot as educational references, specifiers etc.

Overall the directory traffic is now down 15% v Jan / Feb / Mar with an increase in PVs this week so far.

Overall across my global sites I am seeing traffic return although Europe is definitely lagging BUT my UK sites are still down 70-90% however they are not ecommerce.

[glakes]

Looks like some shuffling going on. SERP trackers are reporting the same. It will be hard for Google to rearrange the results, and add info or advertisement blocks, to meet revenue targets in this environment.

[paybacksa]

No, silly.

"bravo" for the comment... acknowledging the SEO challenge, instead of whining.