Google Updates and SERP Changes - November 2020

[RedBar]

The following 11 messages were cut out of the October 2020 thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5011839.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton



My numbers are in for Occtober 2020:

Global B2B Melded Sites October v September 2020 +8.68%

Melded Sites October 2020 v Sites 1+2 October 2019 +418%

The last week of October was much quieter with, seemingly, no SERPs changes. I am expecting lower traffic levels during Npvember and December.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 2:51 pm (utc) on Nov 2, 2020]
[edit reason] split thread to new month [/edit]

[TalkativeEditorial]

Just to add to worker's comment above.

In the process of doing some research for a device I want to purchase. The results (on desktop at least) are absolutely shocking. All spun articles with subheads like: How Does it Cost?

Most of them read like articles that have been run through Google Translate five times. Not sure if it's just the specific niche I'm looking but wow.

[tony901]

a few weeks ago I changed domain with redirect 301 and notified google of the change, in the first 2 days it seemed that the change was going well but suddenly I'm disappearing completely and my traffic is below about 90%, Has anything like this happened to anyone? that is, it has never happened to me that by changing domain I lose everything, all this in Italy...

[RedBar]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld tony901

Are you 100% sure all your URLs are 301 correctly? Are you using the same URLs or new ones?

I did this only 3 months ago and everything was completed by G within 2-3 weeks with zero loss of traffic.

[MayankParmar]

This is evil: Google is literally scrapping and creating its own content
[searchengineland.com...]

[Chickensalami]

Hey guys, sorry if this is off-topic to what’s going on in November, but ever since May, my traffic hasn’t moved an inch. I’ve experienced fluctuations here and there, and have had temporary strides that look like rising traffic, but eventually it goes back to where it was since getting hit with the core update and I’m thoroughly confused on what’s going on or what to do. I’ve recently added author bios to each post, increased page speeds up to anywhere in the 70’s and 90’s depending on what ads are being displayed, added almost 180 pieces of new content since August 9th(yes, 180), and I’m still stuck at 500 daily pageviews. Is anyone else experiencing anything similar? This is truly insane.

[NickMNS]

RE: Mayank's Link.

So to all the people using 3rd party ranking tools what rank do they give that webiste for the keyword. Oh wait, but what keyword is it even, "When did lil wayne start rapping" or "Tunechi"? Actually forget about 3rd parties how is this even going to be reported in GSC.

[TalkativeEditorial]

So anyone seen the new GSC Crawl Stats report?
Seeing some really weird things there.

[Athedian]

All I'm seeing from GSC since the Sept update is the stats going up and down like a friggin' heart-rate monitor with no consistency to speak of whatsoever. It's nasty.

[mzb44]

Hey guys, sorry if this is off-topic to what’s going on in November, but ever since May, my traffic hasn’t moved an inch.

increased page speeds up to anywhere in the 70’s and 90’s depending on what ads are being displayed, added almost 180 pieces of new content since August 9th(yes, 180), and I’m still stuck at 500 daily pageviews. Is anyone else experiencing anything similar?

Yes, it has been reported by multiple people since May - including here in this thread as well - that if you were negatively impacted by the May update then it appears as if your rankings and traffic were "frozen" to approximately the level they were after the update with minimal variation even if massive changes were performed.

Everyone just needs to wait for them to push out a new update. Until then improve as much as you can even if you don't see any immediate results in the meantime.

[RedBar]

Very few changes in my SERPs and surprisingly busy so far for a Thansgiving Eve ...

[ChokenBako]

@ChickenSalami

Definitly seeing the same pattern. Every content piece I add will lower some other content. So in the end its a straight visitor line from may until today.
Its defenitly a sandbox where you cant get out without a core update...

[Cyril TechWebsites]

Seeing noticeable traffic changes since yesterday. President set, Thanksgiving holidays are the greatest opportunity to "hide" the update. So why not to roll it out?

[MayankParmar]

I'm still seeing movements.

[MayankParmar]

These tools are reporting movements:

- Semrush.
- Rank Ranger
- Cognitiveseo
- SERP Stat
- Advancedwebranking

[Cyril TechWebsites]

@MayankParmar

We are both in computers and IT niche. How about other niches? Is it a wide update or some corrections in specific niches? What about other folks? SEO tools like SEMrush showing the update happened 24 November.

[NickMNS]

I saw some wild bouncing around during the night. 12am down 37%, 1am no change, 2am no change, 3 am up 96%, 4am no change, 5am up 126%, 6am and forward no change. Values are compared to the same day last week. Overall the change doesn't amount to much as traffic levels are low during the nigth, but the swings are pretty extreme. Let see how the rest of the day plays out. It appears that there is a relative increase in direct traffic.

[Rageboi]

Regarding indexing issues, found that one of my new posts appears in Google Philippines SERPs, but not in Google US SERPs.

[tony901]

Hello @RedBar

yes it never happened to me, all redirects are correctly type 301, and nothing has changed, however i noticed one thing that i have over 7800 links in error on desktop site, the error is this "CLS problem: more than 0.25 (desktop devices)", could this be the cause? thanks

[RedBar]

Oh yes, you need to fix this, simply do a search for - CLS problem: more than 0.25

[Chickensalami]

@ChokenBako @mzb44

Thanks. It’s weird how those affected are experiencing the same thing almost identically. You think it might have something to do with core web vitals? Each one of my URL’s show up as “poor” in GSC despite fast page speeds. I know quite a few people who are experiencing the same thing. Whether or not they were affected by the May update, I’m not sure.

[ichthyous]

Thanks. It’s weird how those affected are experiencing the same thing almost identically. You think it might have something to do with core web vitals? Each one of my URL’s show up as “poor” in GSC despite fast page speeds. I know quite a few people who are experiencing the same thing. Whether or not they were affected by the May update, I’m not sure.

I also had thousands of pages moved to "poor" status on mobile due to CLS and LCP issues. I was quite affected by the May update and haven't really recovered from it that I can tell. However, in the last 7-10 days all of my pages have been moved to "Need Improvement" on mobile and "Good" on desktop...I now have no pages in the red zone. I have done nothing on my end other than update my WP theme, which was quite out of date.

[tony901]

hello @ichthyous

now that this problem has been solved your traffic and improved?

[Hfzai]

Confirming a huge decline in traffic starting november 25. Experiencing a 50% drop more or less...

Seeing no problems on Webmasters or Search Console. Indexing seems fine, and so as no significant increment in errors. Can crawl issues alone can affect that much drop in traffic?

[StupidIntelligent]

It is Thanksgiving after all.

[StupidIntelligent]

Don't expect much in the way of US traffic anyhow. ^^^

[RedBar]

All I can do is assume that not as many are travelling around in the USA as a usual Thanksgiving since yesterday saw my busiest day of the month and today's looking completely normal ... right / wrong / something else?

[topaz]

Feels like more than just Thanksgiving fall off. Something is up.

[MayankParmar]

Indexing issues today again! Observed delayed indexing with my site and others too including big publishers. Google News was also having indexing issues.

[ichthyous]

Feels like more than just Thanksgiving fall off. Something is up.

I agree, my USA traffic is down 50% and total traffic down 35% as of 6:45pm EST...something else is at play for sure. Australia down 66%, Canada down 80%, euro countries down 41%-76%. Only UK is up 7%.

[ichthyous]

now that this (Core Web Vitals) problem has been solved your traffic and improved?

Traffic has been trending slightly higher for weeks, but that is normal for this time of year. Overall I have not seen a big jump up no. I am noticing much higher number of impressions, but lower placement in GSC. The result is a relatively static number of clicks. Google just does not want to refer that traffic, that's for sure.