Google Updates and SERP Changes - July 2020

[ichthyous]

The following 2 messages were cut out of the June 2020 thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4997607.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 5:45 pm on Jul 1, 2020 (PDT -8)

Either that, or my website, is getting a lot of fake bot traffic.

Don't underestimate how much bot traffic and scraping is going on. I spent June creating firewall rules in cloudflare to keep them off my server and yes my traffic reported in GA did drop because of it. Cloudflare doesn't even catch a lot of it. I blocked scans of my server for all kinds of files and URL combinations that don't exist. I don't need the endless bots sucking up my resources. And I still had a brute force attack from China two days ago that CF did not prevent.

I'm wondering if the lower bounce rate and longer time spent on the page from real traffic will benefit me in any way... Doubt it!

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 1:57 am (utc) on Jul 2, 2020]
[edit reason] split thread to new month [/edit]

[Athedian]

Found out a scam bot had stolen my site content, used the content as its own site with spelling mistakes, weird Chinese characters, a few missing images and random letters in its URL (e.g. bot.html/lxyrrt), and Google ranked it higher than our site. The sheer incompetency from the Google AI is mind-blowing. Domain ranking is a lie (at least from what I've seen based on this example).

[Mentat]

I found out the mystery of my misery.
No more Google Discover since Friday.

I’m out, banned it seems.

[BushyTop]

Seeing even more changes today. Seeing considerable shuffle. Really surprised that there isn't more sensors clocking it....

[Athedian]

@BushyTop - even sensors got fed up and tired of tracking Google's daily updates. No more "core updates", everyday is a core update now.

[jayright]

That is very nice that you maintain the traffic, sometimes its very hard that identify bot traffic

[JeanMilburn]

Can anyone tell me how to get 20k traffic on our website? in one month. what is the best strategy?

[BushyTop]

@JeanMilburn PPC :(

[samwest]

Jean.... BT is correct... 20k x 1 dollar per click bid will get you there...and get Gorg rich while you get poor with little ROI.

[ichthyous]

@JeanMilburn 1) free drugs 2) free p0rn0 3) endorsements from several Kardashian sisters

[RedBar]

@JeanMilburn

Apart from the excellent suggestions, why 20K month?

Is it a bet?

Get on the OVH scraping merry-go-round and you'll get 100K !

[renatovieira]

@BushyTop - Today is strange here too.

[samwest]

Still getting slammed by Pinterest spam at the top of the SERPS.
Horrible traffic day, and you know why? Because a site member made a post, which I shared that had the word COVID in it. Any mention of that dirty word and your site will instantly be put in Google and Facebook jail without bail. In this case, it was a very nice post describing how they are adapting to the "new normal"...yet the knee jerk censorship machine is set to 11. Site currently sitting at zero visitors.

Funny how just a day after their Congressional grilling, Gorg seems to be right back at it. This is why they want to break 'em up.

[ChokenBako]

Seeing some negative traffic impact today. About 15-20% . Do you see anything similar within your stats?
Semrush shows moderate fluctuations...

[vgasoft]

@ChokenBako

Kurban bayram muslim holiday from july 30 to august 3

[mosxu]

Is there an algorithm for the summer?

[Treud]

it's really up and down with huge shifts the last 5 days !

[System]

4 messages were cut out to new thread at: Website Owner Gives Testimony on Google Behavior [webmasterworld.com]

[edited by: goodroi at 7:46 pm (utc) on Jul 31, 2020]
[edit reason] Let's be careful to stay on topic :) [/edit]

[ichthyous]

@RedBar You never responded with the changes you made six months ago that contributed to your site traffic increasing. Care to fill us in with actual details?

[RedBar]

You never responded

Apologies, when was this asked? I've been very busy this week and obviously missed it.

[ichthyous]

@redBar July 29 right after your post

@Dooku and others

The media here is making a big whoopla about how effective the hearings were yesterday and that Congress is clearly signaling that they will support any state investigations. Maybe so, but the issue with Google is so deep that it would take years to really effect any change. What can anyone really do to Google other than fine them...no biggie for such a large company. There is no way to break up a search engine into smaller competing search engines. Google's assault on organic search in particular takes so many forms that it would require a forced rewrite of their algorithm...that will never happen.

[glakes]

the issue with Google is so deep that it would take years to really effect any change.

Agreed.

Investigations can take months or years to be conducted, yet an algorithm or instructions for AI can be changed in seconds - having broad impacts across many industries and the entire economy. This is why simply hitting big tech with fines is ineffective. It's time to treat big tech like the utilities they have become and regulate them. As much as I despise Government intervention, it's quite clear punitive fines are not enough. It's also clear Amazon and Google hold so much sway over economies, a failure to oversee their operations via regulation is dereliction of duty on the part of elected officials and the regulatory agencies they oversee. I'd argue the same applies for Facebook, Twitter, etc. since they have essentially become media outlets not held to the same standards, laws and regulations as traditional media.

Bad traffic today from Google, but it looks like they are rolling another update with SERP tools reporting volatility. We'll see how bad Google botches things up this time and/or if they finally demote Pinterest pages that have scraped images/text that provide no value to end users.

[samwest]

@glakes, I can concur with the bad traffic day. Pinterest is back in full force and cheap, ad filled non authority is back on top. I went from #3 to #9 in one day. Any traffic that remains is all zombie. Google is raking it in just a day after hearing. Do they GARA? Apparently No. Almost feels like Google's revenge...and I wouldn't put it past them. Zero traffic at noon.

[mosxu]

@jmorgan

Thanks for the linked shared so on topic, I loved the big school boy 100 $ million spent to win a case.

From my point of view these robots time is up. They are finished. There is never been any evidence on the the traffic they have sent to you whether it is real or something else!

No one knows of Johnny visited or your site or not!

[glakes]

@samwest

There's shuffling going on in the SERPS for my industry now, so let us hope the Pinterest problem gets resolved once this update bakes in. But the low traffic and lack of conversions is very frustrating to say the least.

Have a good weekend...

[brazilsuper]

Google, Amazon and Governments are the same. They are one thing.

Google's algorithm messed it up on purpose.

And it has nothing to do with Artificial Intelligence.

[jmorgan]

Can anyone tell me how to get 20k traffic on our website? in one month. what is the best strategy?

Just put up a random website and buy cheap junk/bot traffic from fiverr.

I don't recommend it, but I've seen people do that because they get a rush from all the "traffic" they are getting (even if it's fake/bot).

[System]

The following 11 messages were cut out to new thread by goodroi. New thread at: google/5004404.htm [webmasterworld.com]
3:44 pm on Aug 1, 2020 (utc -5)