Google Updates and SERP Changes - October 2020

[jmorgan]

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System: The following 16 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5008345.htm [webmasterworld.com] by goodroi - 2:13 pm on Oct 1, 2020 (utc -5)

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I, personally, am not experiencing any negative effects from all these alleged issues that are being reported. However, the following has been a bugbear of mine:

And John Mueller's over there on Twitter throwing his hands up saying "I'm not aware of any issues. Did you make a thread in the [very, very always useful] help forum?"

I always cringe when he says this. Typically in these forums (such as this) you get a lot of hysterical webmasters frustrated with Google and not really providing much helpful advice. Soliciting advice from them could actually prove more harmful than beneficial.

[TalkativeEditorial]

@MayankParmar

Indexing issues on mobile here, too. Same problems as when the mobile indexing issues first started being noticed.

[MayankParmar]

It got fixed for me, at least for now.

[Dooku]

I am NOT using the Chrome web browser, but after hearing complaints I decided to some checking to confirm this:
[forums.theregister.com...]

So basically in small steps in the past 6 months Gorg is blocking downloads of exe file completely without any warning.
They are now controlling server-side and client-side which would be illegal in any other industry.
I am not even talking about controlling the entire vertical like G does in their industry as the list is just too long to mention, just check wikipedia.

This sheds an entirely different light on forcing everyone to use https. Yes it's very logical and far better than http and blocks anyone(normal users) from spying on a https connection. But from a business point of view it would also block Gorg from viewing very valuable information from their "customers"........unless? Which makes me wonder WHY Gorg is using a heavily customized version of Debian on all of their servers in their datacenters around the world. For any normal user it's practically impossible to spy on a https connection. But using any of the well known methods together with the resources of a company like Gorg it's a piece of cake to spy on https connections for them.

So now all of those companies who let their customers download exe files for example of their software or self-extracting archive files are forced to use a different method (probably something far more useful for Gorg). All in the name of security.......yeah right.
What really is funny is that Firefox does NOT block the download of the Chrome exe file installer.

With each and every step like this that is happening continuously than Gorg does not even need to announce a major algo update. Because of the now ridiculous amount of data that Gorg collects from it's control of their "forced to use products" this is becoming such a superfluous process almost in realtime that soon there will be no more "algo updates" needed.

[NickMNS]

@Dooku
Your statements are both false and misleading, and I'm not sure if this is intentional on your part or not.

So now all of those companies who let their customers download exe files for example of their software or self-extracting archive files are forced to use a different method

The article you linked to is pretty clear, right from the title:

Google Chrome to block file downloads – from .exe to .txt – over HTTP by default this year. And we're OK with this

So now I must ask, what companies are you referring to? Companies that can't be bothered to get a free SSL certificate? Can you state a single example of a legitimate and reputable company that will be negatively impacted by this?

The downloads are blocked by default, that means that if you still want to risk infecting your computer with malicious software you can override the default, and still download the .exe files.

It is beyond me, and I hope others here, how you can frame this a bad thing.

Google can be faulted for a lot of things, but helping to prevent it's Chrome users from inadvertently downloading malicious software certainly is not one of them

[ichthyous]

Another big drop in USA traffic today, and UK traffic is down both yesterday and today. No change in my SERP ranking, just in traffic to my site and both clicks and impressions in GSC. This is getting very old now!

[Dooku]

@NickMNS, thank you for pointing that out.
Your assumption unfortunately goes against every move that Gorg has displayed in the last few years:
"but helping to prevent it's Chrome users from inadvertently downloading malicious software certainly is not one of them"

It is NOT for Gorg to decide what legitimate companies let their customers download in which file format. Unless Gorg would first request that to the community (web browsers and developers) to make this a "standard" and at least Gorg should provide a valid alternative solution for these file format downloads. Gorg should not be deciding what is malicious or not? By assuming this you have incriminated a whole lot of people and companies, so all of their downloads must be malicious now?

Than please tell me why NONE of the other web browsers are blocking such files? At least they leave the choice to the user to download something or now instead of forcing it down their throats. It's kind of funny that Chrome blocks only stuff that might be interfering with the way Gorg does business but Chrome does NOT block anything that other web browsers DO block and is useful for users, like all the website tracking sh|t. And NO, you can NOT override the default blocking in the latest version of Chrome because that setting is GONE. (I just found out a trick to do that but will NOT post it here).

Gorg is planning to do the same with zip, rar, and even txt files.......are you for real? What's next? What is the point in that in regards to safety? Obviously you are not aware that a lot of small companies do not use the same https for their downloads but use a different domain. Yes, you say "just buy another ssl certificate", fair enough.......but there is no choice left.

When you see what Gorg has done in the past few years and what the results have been and where this all is going than my question to you is: how in heaven did I frame this as a bad thing? I am all for viewing any situation from as much sides as possible because nothing is black and white. But I do find the amount of cognitive dissonance a bit disturbing from some people even when facing the obvious facts. Let's talk again in 18 months after another list of Gorg's "safety implementations".

[NickMNS]

It is NOT for Gorg to decide what legitimate companies let their customers download

Fair enough, but that is not what Google is doing with Chrome. Google is protecting it's own customers from malicious content. You are free to, and as you have already said you do, use a different browser. You can even encourage you customer/user to do the same.

The one thing you fail to realize with this issue:

Gorg is planning to do the same with zip, rar, and even txt files.......are you for real? What's next? What is the point in that in regards to safety?

The file format is of little consequence when communicating over http. Communication between client and server is insecure and thus, what you think you are downloading may not be what your are actually downloading. In other words, when you click download "some.txt" what is really downloaded is "malicious.exe" and you, the client, are none the wiser. It is also worth noting that the server is also none the wiser as the malicious.exe may have originated somewhere between the server and client.

I understand your position, you are saying is let the user make an informed decision. Typically I would agree, but so long as the user is communicating of http it is impossible for the user to be informed as any communication can be intercepted and altered. As a developer or webmaster you may well be sufficiently savvy to assess the risk, but mom and pop next door certainly aren't. They have no clue about http vs https, let alone txt, vs exe, vs rar. All they see is a big green button that says "Download Now", and so they click it. All Google has done is prevent them from clicking something that any informed user would know not to download. If tech-savvy you still wants to download the file, fine. But you will need to jump through some hoops and mess with the browser settings to get there. This seems like a really small price to pay for dealing with what can be best described as an edge case.

[MayankParmar]

Canonical/indexing still to be blamed for spike in sensors or are they doing some updates behind the scenes? Only 8 green days in the last 30 days.

[westcoast]

After very steady and predictable traffic for the past couple of weeks, seeing a bump up in long tail keywords today... started sometime early this morning. Smells a bit like an update underway... hoping beyond hope some of that atrocious May debacle update is undone.

[JustSEO]

Anyone seeing any issues with their snippet stars being gone? I'm seeing the same happening to some of my competitors. This has been happening on my end on and off for the past two months.

[renatovieira]

I have the same average daily PV's since may. I add new content several times a day and nothing changes this average. Apparently all of the new content has not been ranked since may. The url's are indexed, but not ranked. Has anyone else noticed this?

[Athedian]

Man, Google is freaking shady.

Last Thursday we had an incredible conversion and today when I checked the same report again, that conversion number got halved and the other half disappeared. Either Google is breaking the Google Ads again or they are stealing our budget and faking the conversion numbers.

@samwest - Well, looks like the G Casino doesn't want to pay up. They took back the conversions that I got on that particular day. Shady shady.

[MayankParmar]

Q. Has Google delayed updates due to the elections in the states?
John: I don't think that would be the case; it's always good to be cautious, election or not - [twitter.com...]

[mzb44]

Cautious about what? Does he say that the update is indeed intentionally delayed because they want to be "cautious"?

[glakes]

Either Google is breaking the Google Ads again or they are stealing our budget and faking the conversion numbers.

Yesterday was Prime Day for me. Google loves to Amazon crowd SERPS in my industry and that traffic sent my Amazon sales thru the roof. I need to open up early so our shipping and receiving department can get cracking right away. Conversions from Google? Nearly non-existent.

Cautious about what?

Cautious about the Antitrust lawsuit the DOJ is expected to file against them is my guess.

[edited by: glakes at 10:49 am (utc) on Oct 19, 2020]

[christianz]

Traffic has been weakening for the past 7(ish) days for my thinly spread (lots of URLs) information sites. <snip>

[edited by: engine at 6:09 pm (utc) on Oct 30, 2020]
[edit reason] No specific search terms, even for fun, thanks [/edit]

[samwest]

@Athedian - it was my turn yesterday. Conversions turned on at 3am and kept going all day, with 4 in the 8 am hour alone. Record day. Today it's shut right back down. Saying they are shady is being kind.

They turn off their filters for a few hours and it reveals their hand. Bad days ahead for big tech.

[StupidIntelligent]

@christianz - Praise Antifa as well for extra ranking boost.

[ichthyous]

FYI to all...a good WAPO article on Google search manipulation. It seems that the world is finally catching on to Google's monopoly - [washingtonpost.com...]

[MayankParmar]

WashintonPost could have shared better examples but at least they're reporting.

[mzb44]

It needs these kinds of reporting in mainstream press, even if they aren't always fully accurate. It's still a relatively obscure subject for the non-technical media to cover but I'm sure they'll get better at it the more this gets covered.

[glakes]

@ichthyous

I especially like the image of what Google's SERPS looked like in 2000, 2013 as compared to 2020. There's no hiding Google's Ad Spam, that's for sure!

I really would like to see Google get knocked off their high horse, but I just don't see it happening. Your average consumer/voter may see the story and even be shocked. Right afterwards they will go straight to Google and search for something. When you think about it, a dummied down population fighting among each other makes it easier for politicians to get rich serving the lobbyists that big multi-national companies fund.

[Dooku]

Thanks for posting that article link Ichtyous, makes you wonder why it took so long for mainstream media to finally catch on?
Some times I wonder if all of us on this forum are a bunch of weirdos seeing things that "aren't there" at all :-)

Maybe another piece of good news this week in a newspaper in my country: a few european parliament members responsible for "big tech" are pushing for extra legislation on top of the current push to level the playing field so smaller companies are not crushed by the likes of Gorg and to protect consumers. One of their proposals are options to fine those companies with amounts that will make the current 2 billion fine of Gorg look like chump change. In their words translated "so it will really hurt!"

[MayankParmar]

Final update: the canonical issue was effectively resolved last Wednesday, with about 99% of the URLs restored. We expect the remaining edge cases will be restored within a week or two - [twitter.com...]

[Athedian]

@samwest - G deliberately turns off filters for a short while to give some goods to people then once it thinks that it has given enough to satisfy the disgruntled users, it then turns back the filters back on to continue to make money. And since they are not doing so well during this pandemic, they are trying to play catchup to give the shareholders what they want.

Anytime a company goes public that's when their quality starts to tank.

[samwest]

@Athedian - you hit the nail on the head. Maybe it's just our hallucination, but that's exactly how it seems to work. I guess the trick is to be constantly disgruntled then...which pretty much describes the last ten years on the WebmasterWorld Google SEO updates forum. I'll stop barking when they completely end the blatant manipulation of our traffic and conversions. Larry Page and Sergy Brin don't need 40 billion dollars while we barely scrape by. We can only pray for their eternal souls.

[Sandy Sohail]

Google still cannot index most of my articles. Today Google is indexing 1190 URLs of my site instead of 2000+. Most of the indexed URLs are crap and should not even be there. Just a few days ago it had 1400 URLs from my site, yesterday 1200, and today it is 1190. Every day they are removing URLs instead of crawling new ones.

[MayankParmar]

Other sensors are fairly stable, so it appears that it's just Semrush and Google is not doing any updates at the moment.

[not2easy]

Just a heads up - the discussion about U.S. Justice Department Has Filed Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google is over here: [webmasterworld.com...]

[TalkativeEditorial]

Seems mobile indexing is acting up again. Anyone else?