Google Updates and SERP Changes - March 2021

[MayankParmar]

The following 2 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5025541.htm [webmasterworld.com] by robert_charlton - 1:12 am on Mar 1, 2021- (PDT -8)


Web vital update is expected to live in May and there should be a core update too. They might be testing something for the next core update...

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 9:19 am (utc) on Mar 1, 2021]
[edit reason] cleanup after thread split [/edit]

[yollo03]

Don't rely on core web vitals to give your site a boost. From what I gathered it will give you a very small boost at the beginning, Their plan is that over the years it will give your site a big boost. They can change their mind at any time of course. I believe there is something else (existing) that was tweaked in terms of ranking points.

[RedBar]

To be honest I've not been taking much notice oof my global website stats since the UK'Govt announcement last Monday about re-opening-up the UK economy, the hotel venue has been taking priorit and a good thing too with the volume of enquiries and provisional / confirmed bookings coming in.

So this morning it was good to see my own metrics:

February 2021 v January +25.5% (This was a big surprise)
February 2021 v February 2020 +290%

Genuine business enquiries seem to be very good.

[mzb44]

People hoping to get a boost with CWV update: eventually almost everyone will have green CWV, same with the https and mobile-friendly updates.

Web vital update is expected to live in May and there should be a core update too. They might be testing something for the next core update...

Well, historically if we take into account the shortest and longest core update timeframes that gives us the next core update soonest around end of March and latest sometimes in June.

[strummer19]

For me
February 2021 vs january : -80%

[MayankParmar]

February 2021 v February 2020 = +1%
February 2021 v January 2021 = -20% (because Discover was dead for 17 days and it has 28 days).

[samwest]

My traffic is up 380% over the past two days.

[mzb44]

My traffic is up 380% over the past two days.

Congrats! - I hope it sticks.

[saladtosser]

Strangely after the dec core update decimated me the last few days all positions have returned to pre-December core update. Sadly a friend went into administration 3 days ago due to the December core update but he's positions and traffic also returned, just a few days 2 late for him!

[TalkativeEditorial]

Google Analytics up to funny business for anyone else?
Real time figure is way off - this usually lasts only briefly but it's been like this for an extended time now.

[samwest]

Congrats! - I hope it sticks.

It won't. It never does. The charade goes on and on.

[TalkativeEditorial]

Anyone else having indexing issues?

[ichthyous]

The second half of the day today is a complete disaster, USA traffic fell off a cliff!

[TalkativeEditorial]

Hmmm, just seen that the cached version Google has of some of our pages (home page included) is out by a couple of days.
Anyone else seen this and have any idea why this happens and how to fix it?

Edit: Also serious indexing/de-indexing issues since yesterday. Anyone else..?

[artemi0]

My traffic suddenly has x3, anybody else experiencing massive changes?

[TalkativeEditorial]

Plenty of massive changes, alright. None of them positive.

[insideout]

Traffic SUCKS. Constant decrease starting Feb 17th

[madhuB]

@artemi0 +, I had this 3 days before...after that, traffic dropped like stone...and today the traffic is a joke...

[TalkativeEditorial]

Yay! Sensors are starting to spike again , I can't wait.

[christianz]

I don't think there is much waiting needed as I am already seeing effects. More of the same that happened couple days back. The more substantial and established site seeing reduced traffic and the less established parasite site (which I also own and "compete" with myself) is doing fine.

It could be just something specific that Google doesn't like about my established site. Or maybe their reputation, quality and usefulness perception is broken and somebody senior at Google needs to be fired, before they finally change the direction they have taken since December.

To be honest, my niche is so specific that most humans wouldn't even "get" why my established site is so "special" anyway, so slim chance that Google AI can understand it at all.

This is why simple link-based reputation actually worked, before all those spammers from certain countries created million fake, AI spun, interlinking websites which probably made link-based ranking unfeasible for Google.

[westcoast]

"It could be just something specific that Google doesn't like about my established site. Or maybe their reputation, quality and usefulness perception is broken and somebody senior at Google needs to be fired, before they finally change the direction they have taken since December."

I have contended for a few years now that there is some fundamental bug in the way Google handles very old websites. I have noticed exactly as you have -- new sites with worse or spun content simply do better than established, older sites with better content.

My theory is there is some cumulative bug in the way google calculates reputation. That is, the older a site is, and the more iterations of recalculation its data goes through, the larger and more pronounced the erroneous reputational result is for that site. The correlation between site age and "invisible penalty" is just that strong. My oldest site, 25 years old and going strong, is most heavily affected and it feels like there is an increasing algorithmic penalty weight upon it, year after year, even though its content and user experience improves year over year.

[TalkativeEditorial]

Whatever is going on might also have something to do with the "new look" (as in fonts and such) SERPS seemingly rolling out everywhere at present

[MayankParmar]

Nothing we can do. Either small spam sites or mainstream sites get the benefit when Google test/release these algorithm update. Publishers in the middle suffer.

[TalkativeEditorial]

Publishers in the middle suffer.

Pretty spot on. That's the most frustrating part.

[Athedian]

The whole original content, create best user experience and all these things are useless ever since Google starts focusing on their investors rather than users. They have to make excuses like these so that webmasters like us will continue to push out content hoping for the best (or hoping the next update would "rollback" whatever crap G was throwing out), while at the same time, Google rakes in billions of dollars in revenue through their algo manipulations.

Let's face it, if Google didn't constantly try to brainwash the webmasters around the world (the legit ones like us) with their "advices", there wouldn't be any new content being pushed out because everyone would feel being scammed by this corporate monopoly. And with no new content, there wouldn't be more revenues for G and their investors.

And traffic continues to tank ever since the last update. Great way to start the year eh!

[mzb44]

Nothing we can do. Either small spam sites or mainstream sites get the benefit when Google test/release these algorithm update. Publishers in the middle suffer.

Yeah spot on. This is pretty much the summary of Google search since they started with the core updates.

Mainstream sites always up.

Spam sites up until they get penalised - but this doesn't matter, the spammers just churn out new sites / add a new 301 expired domain redirect.

Medium-sized publishers who play by the book always down, update by update, no matter what they do.

It's really either do pure-spam or become a mainstream big publisher (if you have like at least $10m and venture capital funding). The in-between is getting smaller core update after core update.

[TalkativeEditorial]

Getting nailed on Discover now, too :-)
Not seen it this low in a loooooooooong time.

[MayankParmar]

Yup. Discover is looking horrible after a few good days.

[TalkativeEditorial]

Ranking is still extremely volatile and seems to be swinging wildly from hour-to-hour (literally).

Extremely frustrating because there is always the sense of doubt that there might be a technical fault on YOUR end causing the issues and the urge to tinker needlessly and randomly can become very hard to ignore.

[saladtosser]

Lower your expectations and surrender your income. We will add your textual and photograph distinctiveness to our own. Your website will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile. - Google = Borg :)