Google Updates and SERP Changes - January 2021

[MayankParmar]

Traffic is very low for me as well. It dropped around December 14.

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Previous Monthly Thread [webmasterworld.com]

[edited by: goodroi at 6:56 pm (utc) on Jan 1, 2021]
[edit reason] New month, new thread [/edit]

[samwest]

@Lisa01 - wrong forum. This is Google. Was not aware people still used Bing...but they should.
As far as dropping for any big tech search engine these days, your words will matter. There is no more free speech. Talk the state up and you will rise, talk it down in any way and it will drop. This is the sad state of this new dystopian world order. You have been warned by Big Brother.

[Lisa01]

So sorry. Didn't realise I was posting in the wrong thread. And my website doesn't have any controversial content. But thank you.

[TalkativeEditorial]

After a few days of relatively consistent traffic, we're back to not existing. KW rankings remain fairly stable (ie no drastic dips as a few other members have experienced). Also not seeing any of the drops in the indexed pages in the enhancement reports as also noted here.

[MayankParmar]

Possible Issues With Google Search Console Canonicals & AMP Reporting [seroundtable.com...]

[TalkativeEditorial]

Yeah, not seeing quite that but am seeing the good old "this url is indexed" but it absolutely is not.

[delorean]

Does anyone experiencing slow index crawls? Previously, my pages are being indexed within hours, but now 3-5 days before being indexed. Am I the only one experiencing this?

[christianz]

The December update has gone really badly wrong for Google. It appears to me that as a result we are entering the "Golden Age of Spam". The amount of copy&paste / spun / generated content / annotated stolen images that ranks is breathtaking. Google has absolutely no clue what is a real niche website and what is a recently created copycat/generated spam. Black hat methods are working better than ever, content quality is not a factor and EAT is just a cover for sending traffic to sites owned and operated by people that think like them or are their friends.

Judging by recent events in USA, there is no hope that this will improve in the next 4 years. Its already 20 days since the December update and nobody at Google seems to be in any hurry to address the glaring spam issue.

[renatovieira]

Has anyone noticed a small drop in traffic today? Things are very quiet right now. This is not normal.

[ichthyous]

@renatoviera Not by a small amount...my USA traffic dropped 21% yesterday and is starting the morning way down. That's after three weeks of good stable traffic, so definitely not normal to drop 21% in one day no. My SERPS are not really changing much at all. Non-USA traffic is stable or increasing...traffic from the UK has been particularly on fire for me this entire month of January.

[seomotionz]

@renatovieira @ichthyous

Some tech sites reported around 20-30% drop in North American traffic. USA contributes the most (70-90%) in that traffic lot. And also some gaming & entertainment sites who gets 5-10% US traffic has become almost zero.

[renatovieira]

@ichthyous @seomotionz

The december update definitely benefited my main site. January was incredible, but until yesterday I had a decrease and today even more.

My niche is weather forecasting with streaming cams, usually holidays I have increased users and traffic. Today, I also see a 20% drop compared to the entire month. Let's wait...

[gatormark]

Was there a Google search engine update within the past two days? I just saw my organic search engine traffic jump 10,000 pages in one day.

[ichthyous]

I believe there must have been some sort of update because my traffic has been much stronger all month but yesterday and today USA traffic has fallen off a cliff. At 2pm EST my USA traffic is down 43%. Hopefully this is temporary, but more likely Google has just cycled which sites are getting traffic.

[markseo]

Something happened in the last 24 hours - I'm seeing downturn and small shift on main keywords since around 10am this morning UK time. There are updates every week right now, everything is shifting on a weekly basis - up, down, surges, dips, constantly.

[Athedian]

Seems like another possible update may be brewing again. Conversions dropped, traffic is stable but not good quality traffic.

[jediviper]

Really?
Can u post such links regarding Google confirming updates after months?

[RedBar]

Google changes stuff every day, my business does, the core remains more or less the same until a "major" revision which many of us then notice.

[JesterMagic]

For the past month a site has risen to the top 3 for a lot of search terms in our niche which is only very loosely related. I looked at the site 2 weeks ago and saw it was for a some what famous restaurant. All the pages in our niche from this site are hacked pages that when you click on in the serps you get redirected to some affiliate site. I reported the site to Google.

Today these hacked pages still are in the top 3. Situations like this once again shows that Google has lost their way when they cannot even confirm a simple redirect hack automatically and fix the issue in the SERPs.

[saladtosser]

JesterMagic My friend's site was hacked a few years back, they used a couple of internal pages to sell handbags and linked about 400 sites to that page. We only found out because the home page went straight to number one. We removed the pages they edited and to this day it still ranks at number one thanks to the hacker's links lol

[ichthyous]

@RedBar Not an everyday tweak. My USA traffic was down 21% Tuesday and 39% Wednesday. That's after a month of good stable traffic. During these periods of sudden drops I get zero business coming in so collectively a big impact. Let's see what happens today.

[RedBar]

I have also seen some large traffic fluctuations, up to 50% more and then 33% less, but I am 99+% sure that it's nothing to do with significant G changes.

[ichthyous]

@RedBar...there is nothing other than Google rotation that causes such huge swings, and targeting only one country too. Only my USA traffic has plunged...today at 1pm its down 30% again. My UK traffic is up 144% today. I am sitting on the east coast but most of my customer inquiries are coming from the UK right now! Is this normal? It's sheer Google manipulation.

[mini_007]

Looks like there is very big update or big bug in Norway right now for all casino keywords. All low quality sites ranking top 3 and a lot spam scraper sites ranking high

[delorean]

The December 2020 update favors spam sites. The worst update so far.

[Athedian]

Anyone seeing a big conversion increase on Jan 4th-Jan 5th? On my side here, seems Jan 5th, the filters are off and conversions jumped big time.

[jediviper]

@mini_007
Just because you see some up and down for an unpopular niche in a specific country it doesn't mean that Google is having any big update.
Look a bit further than your microcosmos.

Especially if you don't provide info about how many kws/sites etc were affected and how, what is the usefulness of such post?

[superclown2]

This morning I checked the most lucrative search term in my UK vertical on a mobile phone. The results were:
Ad
Ad
Ad
Ad
(these took up so much real estate I had two complete scrolls before reaching the first organic result)
Organic result
Organic result
People Also Ask; the first three of four results relating to USA companies.
Organic result.
'Find Results On' bar (are these paid ads? )
Local results box, including large map
Organic result
Top Stories: (from USA)
Top Stories: (from USA)
Top Stories: (from USA)
Organic result
Organic result
Organic result
Organic Result
Ad
Ad
Ad
Related Search box

So: 8 organic results, all of which were businesses that spend the heaviest on ads. A long scroll to reach the first one, then the rest buried under junk, most of it completely irrelevant to a UK searcher.

If Google had serious competition, would anyone choose them to give the best unbiased results?

I am seriously wondering if Google is expecting their monopoly to be broken when the legal processes against them are concluded. If so, perhaps they are making money whilst the sun still shines, despite the effect this is likely to have on their long term future. After all their shares pay no dividend and confer no voting rights. The only reason to buy or hold them is in the expectation of ever increasing income.

What will happen after the USA court actions are concluded, if their monopoly is indeed severely damaged and others (perhaps including Apple) with big pockets enter the fray? And if by then searchers have become so sick of scrolling through junk that they will welcome newcomers?

I was around when Altavista was king. They disappeared almost overnight. Perhaps we should all start planning for the post-Google era.

[saladtosser]

If google was a bar it would run like this

Waiter: How can I help you today sir.
Customer: Hi, yes id like a large glass of merlot, please.

Waiter: (pulls photos of wine from his back pocket) here are some photos of wine sir, would you like to see additional photos..
Customer: No, id just like to buy a glass of wine thankyou.

Waiter: We have some interesting facts on wine sir, would you like to know more?
Customer: No thanks just the wine, please.

Waiter: Our other customer also ask questions like, "what percentage of customers who buy wine accidentally drop the glass on the way back to their table" would you like to know more?
Customer: Err no....thanks.....

Waiter: How about 3 youtube videos, 1) How to drink wine using a plate? 2) What is the most widely planted grape in the world? 3) How many grapes does it take to make a standard bottle of wine?

Customer: .....No.....
Waiter: Would you like to know the location of other local bars that serve wine?

Customer: Sigh
Waiter: How about some more photos of wine sir?

Customer: walks away

[insideout]

Lots of fluctuation today. Anyone else ?

[renatovieira]

High traffic today. By day and time, it is not normal.