Google Updates and SERP Changes - August 2020

[samwest]

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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)

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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]

@NickMNS

I'm not going in the opposite direction however I am not blindly using the same satnav as everyone else, in fact I'm not even using a satnav:-)

[SteveWrz]

Is it just me or have things been a little *too* quiet recently.

[renatovieira]

@SteveWrz - For me, every day is a roller coaster. Yesterday I had massive traffic with no explanation. This morning it was going well until everything disappeared. My conversion today doesn't even pay for breakfast.

[ichthyous]

@renato Seems we have a similar pattern. Yesterday a sudden surge of traffic which continued today until exactly 4pm, then it stopped cold. No conversions, no new inquiries, higher bounce rate. And I noticed yesterday that the traffic was coming from small towns all over the USA. Very odd distribution of traffic yesterday.

[Athedian]

For me, still getting flooded with traffic, bounce rate dropping at least 30% so far, but conversions have tanked massively. There's something odd going on right now with Google.

GSC showing page ranking dropping again even though I haven't changed anything for the last week or so. Rollercoaster ftw. What an inconsistent stats.

[samwest]

Yep...robbed today. Huge traffic drop. Zero conversion. Rollercoaster is right.

[samwest]

And now GA is FUBAR again...showing hundreds on site...Matomo shows 5.

[MayankParmar]

Do you guys still disavow links and see improvements?

[Athedian]

@MayankParmar - I still do it but so far, after almost 10 months, no changes. There was a pretty big ranking drop around two months ago but I blame that on the Google algo update rather than the disavow lists because those external links were spams, directories, and phishing sites that stole our content. The ranking returned back to "normal" for the most part after I did more headline fixes.

[glakes]

And now GA is FUBAR again...

I think this GA problem is typically encountered when Google rolls out an update as they appear to be doing yet again. Google must need the computing power of GA to roll out these updates or to make it appear we are getting traffic so they can drain our ad budgets.

Yesterday's (25th) traffic/conversions from Google closely resembled what I saw from them on the 19th. Low cart totals and conversions of oddball products. Google's AI definitely puts the "artificial" into how Google uses their grip to control consumer choice and how revenue gets distributed across our economy.

Edit:

7:11AM EST. received an email titled: "Google Ads Needs Your Feedback"

[samwest]

@Redbar....you don't use Google ads...do you?

I'm actually seeing Google ads for PINTEREST now! Who creates ads to non monetized Pinterest pages to fill up the SERPs? Gee...maybe someone who makes 500M per day and is grooming P fir acquisition. Sure looks that way.

Going on 48 hours of zip conversions. As if covid isn't bad enough...we have Google to choke us off too. Traffic appears to be clamped to two-at-a-time again. Seems impossible for the slow rate day and night for 2 days straight. Something foul is brewing again.

[glakes]

Who creates ads to non monetized Pinterest pages to fill up the SERPs?

Someone or some people who received multi-million dollar Ad vouchers from Google.

What Google does is artificially introduce a new competitor into niches that are thin - forcing paying advertisers to bid higher and above those that have received Google's Ad vouchers. When Google does this, it's hard to see it any other way then a corrupt technique to artificially influence/raise competitive bids in an alleged "auction style" marketplace. In its most basic form, I see the Ad vouchers as a technique Google uses to add shill bidders to keyword auctions.

[seomotionz]

@samwest yup huge drops today. Yesterday, I was wondering where did my US traffic went? Today I am wondering where most of my traffic went?

GA is showing wrong data since yesterday. Anybody using any other services will be able to figure out.

@MayankParmar I use it every now and then. Seeing improvements after that?! Well that's a completely different story. Sometimes yes and sometimes no. But basically it takes time so many wouldn't even notice.

[Webweeb]

So I just got a dedicated PC for reporting spam, since I really don't want to get malware on my main workstations.
I guess this is the way things are now. Doing my 100 spam reports every day. #newnormal #2020

On the plus side, I'm getting really good at doing captchas. I can feel my IQ rising.

Also there are some really sophisticated blackhat networks on Pinterest and Pinterest wont ban them, since they bring in tons of traffic from Google. It will end up biting Pinterest in the ass if they allow spam like that to profit from it. Some Pinterest accounts are too big to ban, so they can do whatever and if their bot networks promote something, it will rank. They also name their accounts after huge brands to make it less likely to get banned too. At least one guy that I identified because he uses some of the same images and techniques across multiple accounts is pulling in a few Million views every month for Pinterest mostly promoting scams. But nice that Pinterest shows you how many monthly views an account gets.

[edited by: Webweeb at 1:46 pm (utc) on Aug 26, 2020]

[southernguy]

My traffic is so bad today I had to check my server to make sure everything was running properly. This is nuts!

[samwest]

Funny how we are all seeing these issues in lockstep. Points to either an update, a bug, or a glitch. Now, not only do we question their motives, we now question their competence and ability to be in charge of the most powerful "public service" on the internet.
This mess needs to be regulated or overseen in some way. The impact of their willy-nilly changes has devastating effects on millions of livelihoods.

I'm about to start checking power cords and network connections today too as it seems the entire internet has completely died. Seeing this across many sites I manage. Wait till they start slowing it all down (and intentionally adding "glitches") to obstruct progress some more. It appears to be their ongoing modus operandi.

My home page and main entries are suddenly repellent to traffic. Only seeing odd entries to obscure side pages. The trickle is all Zombie traffic. Funny, the last conversion action was two days ago with two sales in the same minute...nothing since.

[RedBar]

@Redbar....you don't use Google ads...do you?

Neither AdWords nor AdSense.

I used AdWords in the mid-noughties for a few months to understand how it worked and removed AdSense from every property a couple of years or more ago. I started in June 2003 and my trial immediately generated USD 2K a month, I then went sitewide across most sites and generated USD 10+K per month until about 2012 and from then onwards watched it streadily decline every month to the minimum payout every two months!

[glakes]

This mess needs to be regulated

Agreed. One minor change in how Google ranks websites, which takes them seconds to deploy, can take years for Government investigations to play out. During this time, Google introduces further tweaks that will also take years for investigators to "look into." Google has not only webmasters chasing their tails, but Government and the small businesses/consumers they allegedly care about. Google being regulated, would allow Government to address the abuses in as close to real time as they can get.

It's absurd to think politicians allow our economy and jobs to be controlled by a handful of companies with next to no regulatory oversight. Our leaders and regulators inaction speaks volumes to their incompetence.

I looked at live traffic to my site earlier and saw visitors from Pinterest. A Google ad rep called shortly thereafter, which I did not answer. These trends, including clear traffic/conversion manipulation, demonstrate how Google has fine tuned their ability to shakedown businesses. But politicians, and the agencies they oversee, do nothing. I know, I've filed complaints/written them all...

[ichthyous]

Very odd...I saw two days of much higher traffic, and it looks like today might be the third. That is despite losing some ranking after the glitch. One thing though...the higher traffic isn't converting at all. Two days of much higher traffic and not even one new inquiry.

[Webweeb]

You cant really regulate a search engine without making the inner workings public. You cant make the inner workings public without people using it to rank.

So a regulated search engine is necessarily a bad search engine.

Its not just that the law has not caught up to the situation, its that it never will. And sadly thats probably in our best interest, unless you are a blackhat.

However, what you can do is create competition. So Google needs to be splitt up.

[Gautam1983]

Does anyone know what google's update in march contained?

I don't know much about google but I run a small online pharmacy in the UK and it completely fell out of search in March.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

<no links please>

[edited by: not2easy at 2:57 pm (utc) on Aug 26, 2020]
[edit reason] Please see ToS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[Webweeb]

@Gautam1983
Did you completely get Zeroed?

That usually means something else is wrong. I got a doorway penalty once that zeroed me.

Are you still indexed? Check your Webmaster tools.

March 17th was the COVID update... so medical related. I assume they wanted to get rid of any untrustworthy medical info, so authority and EAT was probably weighted more.

[edited by: Webweeb at 3:03 pm (utc) on Aug 26, 2020]

[RedBar]

If an update came through

Historically one would guess about 22nd/23rd September for the next core update, sometimes it has been done in October however they need to get their Xmas "preferences" sorted!

[samwest]

If I didn't now any better, I'd say traffic is flowing like a turn-style...1 or 2 and that's it. No daily surges as one would expect...and has seen previously. SERPs don't appear to have moved other than a suddenly widespread infiltration of strangely nonsense Ads to sites that don't seem like they need to be advertised, like Pinterest. Advertising a Pinterest page only means a much longer funnel to your site. Another Behavioral Op.

[MayankParmar]

There was no outrage when Google glitched the search results for half a day. Nobody cares except the few vocal webmasters. Google can pull down sites, call it a glitch and everyone will believe.

[RedBar]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld Gautam1983

You are in YMYL - Your Money or Your Life sector, use the search above, there were loads of posts from affected sites.

Usually you need a very high trust factor to be ranked well and yes, I realise you have an excellent Trustpilot with almost 60K reviews however I'm not experienced in that sector, you need someone who is.

[samwest]

>20 years online, started business the same year Google started and yet they'll still not trust you.

4 calls this morning from the well known Google Ads pusher number.
Not even ads are converting.
Dark days indeed for many webmasters.

[RedBar]

Google's algo is spreading itself around even more!
<snip>

[edited by: goodroi at 6:35 pm (utc) on Aug 26, 2020]
[edit reason] Let's be careful to stay on topic :) [/edit]

[ichthyous]

I spoke too soon, after two days of higher traffic it dropped like a stone today. Not one visit from the UK yet and it's 2pm. Considering that UK is normally 10-12% of my daily traffic that is impossible without some sort of manipulation. Australia traffic is up 400+% and USA down 33%.

[renatovieira]

@ichthyous - It is practically the same situation as mine. There is no longer a traffic pattern. I noticed this since the may update. Each day is a different situation. It was unpredictable...