Google Updates and SERP Changes - December 2020

[jacobjack]

Though there is not change in SERPs, traffic is down due to holiday season. Looks like in December, it will go down more.

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Previous Monthly Thread [webmasterworld.com]

[edited by: goodroi at 10:55 am (utc) on Dec 1, 2020]
[edit reason] New month, new thread [/edit]

[frankleeceo]

Roughly down 20%~30% so far. This hour looking to be -40%. First started seeing changes starting at 7:00 pm pst. Hurting :(

[MayankParmar]

Crazy movements, a few (piracy) sites which never ranked are all of a sudden ranking on the first page. I'm down a bit but nothing major. Unfortunately, scrappers are still ranking. Looks like another 'quality' update :)

[mzb44]

To me this seems like a direct extension of the May update rather than a reversal or shift in focus.

General high authority sites are going up and ranking for absolutely everything even for unrelated stuff, and smaller niche authority sites are being butchered.

Also seems like sites with super high authority 301 redirects are exploding now at the expense of everyone else. Expect expired domain prices to increase substantially soon.

Seems like a continuation / amplified version of the May update.

I did say before that many people (especially those with smaller sites - regardless of quality) will be very disappointed.

[Athedian]

I did say before that many people (especially those with smaller sites - regardless of quality) will be very disappointed.

I know I, for one, am really disappointed with this update. Seems not only an extension of May update, but also a possible incorporation of the Core Vital that's to come "officially".

[MayankParmar]

Wild movements. It's like watching election results - SERP is changing every hour

[loliover]

Wild movements. It's like watching election results - SERP is changing every hour

I hope they stop moving too at like 2AM and then next day when I get up I rank #1 for everything.

[jediviper]

Traffic was normal till the December update.

[mosxu]

Last two days full of zombies...

[Martin Ice Web]

Last two days full of zombies...

I can confirm that. (germany) It is exact the converting traffic that google is routing elsewhere.

I am astonished that poeple still use google products. google is full of ads wether you use search, youtube, gmail ... it is hard to find information between all the ads.
It is like i would buy a journal consisting of ads with only one article in it. Crazy world.

[mzb44]

Still early but some key observations I saw from checking hundreds of sites so far today:

- ultra link authority sites and major brands are clear winners
- lower authority sites even with amazing content seem to be losers provided they have high authority or major brand competitors (even with less relevant content) which were the winners
- very high authority revived expired domains or 301 redirected expired domain sites are big winners. Even if the expired domain was completely irrelevant and unrelated to the new site.

It seems it's yet another "authority/trust" update, which appears to use link signals to determine this "authority" or "trust".

It seems that these signals now out-weight other signals (including content relevancy, quality) even more than after even the May core update.

It seems like a continuation or minor tweak of the May update without significant shift away from what that update did.

[Chickensalami]

@mzb44

If this is the future of SEO then a lot of us are fighting a losing/rigged battle. May update completely froze me and if they don’t lift whatever restriction was placed onto my site despite the changes and hundreds of quality pieces of content put out between then and now I may just throw in the towel.

[renatovieira]

This morning there was a significant increase in traffic from Europe.

Too early to claim any real change.

Live streaming, Global

[renatovieira]

Wowww Semrush sensor is on fire today!

[semrush.com...]

[mzb44]

If this is the future of SEO then a lot of us are fighting a losing/rigged battle. May update completely froze me and if they don’t lift whatever restriction was placed onto my site despite the changes and hundreds of quality pieces of content put out between then and now I may just throw in the towel.

I'd like to add to my previous post that it appears that lower authority sites do great after this new update provided they target niches / keywords where so far there were no major brand or mainstream site competitors.

So, perhaps, for us "regular" people we need to focus on less mainstream topics and search terms - things major brands and bigger sites are not really interested in.

[Chickensalami]

@mzb44

Jeez, I sure hope so. Honestly, focusing on these types of keywords is all I’ve ever done, but so far, no movement. I guess we’ll see what happens as it continues to roll out but right now, the data seems to be hard to look at. I appreciate you sharing your observations.

[christianz]

- ultra link authority sites and major brands are clear winners
- lower authority sites even with amazing content seem to be losers provided they have high authority or major brand competitors (even with less relevant content) which were the winners

Bingo. And this is exactly what is killing and will kill completely the WWW.

From being fed the same content on cable TV and newspapers 30 years ago to having freedom of information discovery and power of self-publishing in the early days of WWW, and now going full circle back to being fed the same mainstream media content again via single corporation (Google) and no freedom of self publishing (only on large platforms and with constant threat of banning for wrongthink).

Just like in finance and economics today - those who already have the most are being given the most and those who have the least get the least.

[mzb44]

From being fed the same content on cable TV and newspapers 30 years ago to having freedom of information discovery and power of self-publishing in the early days of WWW, and now going full circle back to being fed the same mainstream media content again

For some reason, this seems to always be the case in every industry, niche / whatever.

Expect more of this on the web (including search) and not less.

This is the new normal.

[JeepersCreepers1]

For me unfortunatelly traffic from google dropped of almost 40-50% and I do not know what's happened with Google News and AMP bacause all of my content is not visible. Yesterday situation was completely normal but from today completely not.

[loliover]

127 on RankRanger. Thats bigger than may 4th.
[rankranger.com...]

For me the update seems pretty much rolled out. Half recovery, a bit less, from pre may-update state. Still loads of spam in the SERPs, but legitimate sites are showing up again.

7 months for a half assed fix for this spam is unacceptable. Spam PDFs and Spam google sites, pins ect are still ranking page 1. But legit sites can now be found on page 2+ instead of 5+

[JesterMagic]

Great a Core update just before Xmas... More stress.

I always find for our niche it takes about a week for things to level off so those who see gains or declines right away may see different results 5 days from now.

Fingers cross those reading come out ahead.

[superclown2]

I can't see this update sticking. It's bad for Google.

Quality and relevance have been thrown out and the only criteria now seems to be backlinks. Much though we may criticize Google they have always concentrated on quality. I predict changes over the coming days.

If I am wrong then providing the best possible content and user experience is a waste of time.

[MaHi84]

I noticed an increase of about 50 percent.

In Germany it's 2 p.m., most visitors are from 7 p.m. Most sales too.

However, Friday & Saturday are generally bad days in my niche.

[mzb44]

I can't see this update sticking. It's bad for Google.

Quality and relevance have been thrown out and the only criteria now seems to be backlinks. Much though we may criticize Google they have always concentrated on quality. I predict changes over the coming days.

The May update did the exact same thing this one did too. And back them also everyone was convinced they will reverse it. Just go back to the May thread and you will find many comments very similar to yours.

Then they kept the May update as it was for 7 months.

Now they released a new core update that amplified whatever the May update did even more!

This will absolutely stay as it is for the foreseeable future.

This is the new normal.

[SteveWrz]

I was devastated by the random update last November, hit hard again in May, and have slowly recovered throughout the year. As of right now, I notice no changes in rankings or traffic. Either the update hasn't hit me yet or I've been (hopefully) spared.

[MayankParmar]

Analytics delayed or down? (Mobile app)

[Chickensalami]

Yes, the app has been acting buggy the past two days. Sometimes it’ll show data but most times it won’t. Not sure what’s going on with it.

[RedBar]

@MIW and USA Searchers

I am astonished that poeple still use google products. google is full of ads wether you use search, youtube, gmail ... it is hard to find information between all the ads.

Earlier this week on UK Channel 4 TV they had a very up-to-date programme about Amazon taking over the world v Google.

They made the assertion that in the USA 60% of searches now start on Amazon.

Is this correct?

If so then why is anyone, selling relevant products, even bothered with what Google is doing?

Obviously this does not apply to all sites.

[frankleeceo]

I gained for May update, and lost for this one.

[jrpfhc]

Down about 15 percent, and I gained a bit on the may update. Auto

[superclown2]

mzb44 + you may be right but I hope not.

Since this morning In my UK financial vertical there are perhaps a dozen at most companies dominating all the SERPs whether they are relevant or not. If this 'update' sticks it can't be long before the mainstream media cottons on to the fact that searching Google is a waste of time since all that will be produced is the same small number of sites run by companies which, coincidentally, happen to spend mega money on Google ads. Just one crusading journalist could do enormous damage to them - and there are plenty of journalists who want to make a name for themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I wish Google well. I have made a lot of money from them over the last two decades and I reckon they are miles ahead of any possible competitors right now. They are not crazy at the Plex but the search results I see at the moment could have been created by a 6th form student. I am sure this situation will improve but if it doesn't I see trouble ahead and they have enough to worry about at the moment with monopoly and other legal problems.