Google Updates and SERP Changes - August 2020

[samwest]

---

System: The following 11 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5001046.htm [webmasterworld.com] by goodroi - 3:44 pm on Aug 1, 2020 (utc -5)

---

August 1st. Big SERP changes and not a single conversion in the past 48 hours. The number 1 result for several of my test queries is now....drum roll please...a single PINTEREST pin....with no followers. Is this Googles idea of a "quality user expetience" and is EAT out the window or is everything just broken? Again...

With no on site changes...bounce was dropping every day for the last few weeks...now over the last two days bounce is way up so traffic behavior has suddenly changed for the worse....which indicates a large algo change.

Anyone else seeing this?

[RedBar]

a new Google SERP update is on the scene

Definitely not in my widget sector, the usual mediocre'ish sites plus Pinterest and eBay still infest the SERPs even when they are totally unable to supply, madness.

[Dooku]

Definitely something brewing right now (or since this morning).
Very high volatility. Rankranger is off the chart and Semrush also.
Seeing keywords rankings changing A LOT!

[glakes]

Pinterest and eBay still infest the SERPs even when they are totally unable to supply, madness.

Similar problem, but with Amazon though they can supply.

How many listings in the SERPS is Amazon entitled to? Would three be enough, four or even five listings? At what number of listings for one domain should AI reach before it does a self-diagnosis? Martinibuster wrote about Amazon having 9 of 10 SERP results on SEJ [searchenginejournal.com...] though I would argue even 5 of 10 SERP results is too much. It's next to impossible for small businesses to compete in such a hostile environment.

With every Google update I patiently wait to see if they will finally address the Amazon crowded SERPS but am always left disappointed. This update, if not a glitch, will likely be no different.

Edit: I'm seeing a massive spike in pending orders on Amazon. Shoppers could have saved a minimum of 10% if they had just purchased from our site - and avoided the marketplace facilitator tax on top of that.

[ichthyous]

I'm not seeing anything on my end...I've almost completely recovered the lost KW from "Glitchgate" and traffic has been average to slightly higher. ZERO conversions since the glitch reverted, only one fake inquiry and a sizable sale to a customer from last year. Google is determined to send zero converting customers, that is clear...I am focusing on selling through other channels AND improving my site for Google just in case the May update gets dialed back come September.

[mini_007]

Norway I see big drop and SERPS looks much strange

[Webweeb]

LOL google just turned the dial on google sites spam WAAAAY up. I see an average of 2 each page1.

Less spammy pins, less random parasite spam on unrelated sites, but WAAAY more google sites spam and .gov and .edu spam PDFs. Also more direcotry list spam. Like company profiles.

Page 1-4 still 95% keyword-stuffed spam linking to deindexed sites in my niche. So at least that is constant.

On the plus side: I havent seen google books in a while. Also they seem to notice that their answers are bad and moving them down on the page. T shirt spam is now ranking page 2 or low page 1 too... so I guess yaay? Still 2 pages above me of course, but then Im not a spammer so thats fair.

[universenet]

From my server side nothing yet but semrush 9.2 , maybe will be totaly crash soon..

[RedBar]

and .gov and .edu spam PDFs

What are they?

Spam of what kind?

[Webweeb]

If you feel depressed, check out the average Page 1 in my niche. There are hundreds of these.
[ibb.co...]
[ibb.co...]

Now you wont feel so bad about your rankings. @mods: I censored all the sites, noone will know what they are.

@RedBar
Like what you see in the image. They have huge call to action buttons before they are deleted. Funny thing is, they keep ranking for weeks after deletion also they usually rank higher than this. They are usually filled with one paragraph of text and then just pages of keyword stuffing (as in Keywords seperated by comas ;), rarely only stuffed text beside the huge button. probably spammers are paying students to upload them, then university staff deletes them.

Rankranger shows 130 must be bugged XD

[MayankParmar]

Lol I liked the censorship there.

[sofie77]

Something big is rolling out at the moment. Looks like a core update.

[renatovieira]

Something big is rolling out at the moment. Looks like a core update.

Hell yeah!

[oldnewby]

July 11th my organic traffic more than doubled, then went back to “normal” the next day. Seeing the same spike - same page is favored - today.

[Fabinho]

Can manually type in

Thanks for refreshing my memory @Athedian lol

Contrary to the reports here, I felt no change for us today. The last sigh of improvement was on August 10 in that so-called "bug". Perhaps because I am in Brazil, I am still not seeing any different behavior in the algorithm as you are experiencing this Saturday. In case something happens, I will report here for you. I'm hoping to get back to sleep well, recovering my peace as it was before the damn May 4th! lol

[samwest]

Anyone have crazy conversions early Saturday from 6 am to noon (7 conversions in 6 hours) then BAM! Nothing the rest if the day?

Looks like it was quota makeup day...or the filters were temporarily OOS.

Google traffic is just like fishing.

[glakes]

Anyone have crazy conversions early Saturday from 6 am to noon

Nope - barely any conversions from Google the entire day. Even a dramatic rise (about a 300% increase) in Google traffic does not equate to conversions.

[NickMNS]

I'm up about 30% starting as of 9am. But I reached a peak at 8pm and now stats appear to be trending back down. So more volatility. Let's see how this pans out in the long term.

[immrrobot]

don't know what's going on with serps right now. There was a glitch before then it was restored again. Yesterday it was again pulling strings now it seems like normal again. Looks like they are upto something

[BoredMeteor]

Well, for at least a short while earlier, my (previous) #1 keyword shot back up to page one, and its image even made it back into the top carousel. 'Course, it's gone again...and keywords generally look to have even worse rankings now across the board. So, you know, yay.

And for one of my old keywords, now there are no less than four Pinterest pages in a row on page 1. That's about what I see on Google anymore: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google Books, blah blah blah. I switched to Bing and DDG for actual searches a while back, and I don't miss it at all.

[MayankParmar]

Nothing really huge, but I believe core update is coming. Could be announced next week :)

[sofie77]

Yesterday we saw for arround 2 hours our serps before the 5th may core update. Yes, the filters were temporarily OOS. From our side everything was good again. The pinterest spam was gone etc.

it's a shame that everything is gone again...

[Webweeb]

@sofie77
Extremely interesting. I saw the same thing on the 10th of August. Also 2h. also an apparent rollback to pre 4th of May.

But yesterday I didnt see a thing. Except more spam. Maybe they are testing the algo on different niches.

Lets pray to God they include this change in the next update. Google really has helped my spiritual life, since there is no way for me to talk to them, God is the only one to turn to.

[sofie77]

@Webweeb

yeah, it was really interesting how everything could look like without those tough filters. Usually I don't see such changes anymore because I haven't checked the keywords since May 10th. I couldn't watch it anymore. I had already overcome this feeling and I am annoyed that yesterday I even checked the positions before going to sleep, which I normally don't do anymore.

There can be no recalculations, as these cannot be switched off again so far. Therefore I assume filters.

I shouldn't have seen that at all. Having hope is not a good thing on Google, because sooner or later everything will be gone again anyway.

Lets pray to God they include this change in the next update

Yes, but with the next core update in 2021 everything is gone anyway. I gave up / have resigned, but also got a lot of lifetime back.

[edited by: sofie77 at 7:02 am (utc) on Aug 16, 2020]

[Webweeb]

@sofie
Yes, there is a part of the algorithm that seems to rank actual spam in some specific niches.
[ibb.co...]
[ibb.co...]

Same, before may 4th I never checked rankings. There was no need to everything felt fair. Lets hope we can soon go back to not caring about SERPS.

Though, I doubt that after this I can trust Google to provide fair, merit-based rankings.

[jmorgan]

Not really seeing any changes on my end.

[MayankParmar]

It was another glitch or something that triggered the sensors. No updates.

[Webweeb]

Yea. Idk a 130 update over the weekend doesnt seem likely. You would expect that to be an all hands on deck kind of thing.

[MayankParmar]

@Webweeb I wonder if you can outrank those spam sites with links to your sites?

[Webweeb]

@MayankParmar
I havent built links in 7 years and until May it woked fine. I would not know if the spammers build links, but I guess if they pay universities to upload spam PDFs, they are not above buying links.

I wont steep to that level, even if Google almost forces me to.
I want to be able to point at the people gaming the system, not be one of them. I'm in this for the long term. I built a recognizable brand over many years and I wont risk that because Google decided to rank spam.

I dont build my site around Google. I build it to help the user and tell them the truth. I hope Google gets some competition so I dont depend on their whims and am not tempted to build my site for Google instead of my customers.

[MayankParmar]

[twitter.com...]