Google Updates and SERP Changes - May 2021

(Part 1 of 2)

[sk7411]

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System: The following 21 messages were cut out of thread at: https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/5032067.htm [webmasterworld.com] by goodroi - 9:52 am on May 2, 2021 (utc -5)

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Here we go again ,

Something started brewing yesterday.

[mzb44]

Also, what is going on with core updates? It's been five months.

Last time it was 7 months. So if this is the new timeline the next one will be in July.

[vgasoft]

RedBar, they wrote about The Core Web Vitals not the Core Update

[RedBar]

they wrote about The Core Web Vitals not the Core Update

But didn't they say it was "connected" this time in some way hence the delay?

Maybe I'm thinking of something else?

[mzb44]

But didn't they say it was "connected" this time in some way hence the delay?

No, they said the exact opposite. That's it's not connected to broad core updates in any way.

[RedBar]

Ahhh ... So that definitely means it is :-))

[mzb44]

:-)

But jokes aside, I believe them in this case.

Core web vitals seems to be a just a minor technical detail, same as https, for example.

Broad core updates encompass so much more (most of which we don't even know) and involve a multitude of factors and changes.

They never said they would be doing a broad core update in May and then delayed for June.

However this does not mean they can't do a regular core update together/close to the CWV update. Either by coincidence or intentionally.

They were really uninspired when they named the new page experience update Core Web Vitals update. It's easy to see why it's so confusing.

[yollo03]

When https was considered a ranking signal (minor) I do not recall a core update being launched close or near it. I may be wrong. They have already layered the ground for the core web vital so I really don't see why would they push a core update with it.

I wrote this before, I think whatever they've done in December went out of control. That's why they said the core web vitals will be released gradually and they will monitor the 'mayhem' it might cause more carefully. So in essence it makes a lot of sense the core update will be split into small updates. If I recall they did say that half will be pushed slowly and the other half around August. Obviously things can change so anything can happen.

[mzb44]

^ Literally a few posts above it's being explained (again) that the core web vitals update is NOT a core update (like the December update).

[mzb44]

It's May 4 today, meaning that technically there has been only one core update within the last 12 months period.

[christianz]

I hope it becomes infinite number of months without core updates, because chances of receiving further traffic cuts are higher than chances of recovery. At least for me.

Recent non-core changes don't encourage any optimism.

[yollo03]

In my niche authority calls the shots, not youtube. Perhaps it might happen to specific niches but not all. Authority calls the shots. I was in the number 1 spot for a certain keyword until a news site that is completely irrelevant to the niche decided to write a short article and grabbed the number 1 spot not only for that keyword but for numerous keywords. It's all down to authority at the moment rather than content.

[guarriman3]

@strummer19

Google analytics realtime broken for you ?

My traffic dropped nearly 50% in the last two hours :-/

[christianz]

Personally, I've been putting a lot more effort into youtube content than my web website content just based on how things seem to be heading! (wish I didn't have to I'm a quiet person and youtube followers like attention-seeking people on speed that have only one tone, loud)

Except it is retarded when you have custom web app that displays information in domain specific way and is infinitely better at filtering and presenting this info than a static video tape with some attention w***e blabbering about "comment, like, subscribe", pushing clickbait videos with 10 interstitial ads every 20 seconds...

Do the real creators of the WWW have to downgrade themselves to the level of "youtube creators" and instead of making web applications, start making clickbait videos?

How is w*****g ourselves out on some video platform with terrible ad rates, constant algorithmic manipulation, shadow-banning and instant account ban without warning, any different from working on a slave plantation picking cotton?

[saladtosser]

christianz + , agree with everything you say, sadly though this seems to be the way many information niches are going and I expect the more videos created for more niches the more niches this will impact.

Has anyone else noticed all google properties (basic search results, youtube, Gmail) fail terribly for core web vitals, you would think leading by example would have been a good idea?!

[christianz]

If someone from Google search team is reading this (and I know some are), here's an idea on how you can improve your search product by 30% by investing no time and no money.

Simply remove the line of code that injects the YouTube videos into the result pages. It takes 10 minutes and you will have material improvement in digital wellbeing of billions of people who are using Google search.

It's a low hanging fruit - the easiest massive gains in Search quality you can have. You can then move on to removing "people also ask" and block of 4 ads covering entire screen on mobile device on any product-related queries.

Today I was searching some shoe sizing charts from different brands and I was amazed how much scrolling I had to do to actually get to the relevant website with the size chart. 4 top ads, images, featured quote/snippet, people also ask - all kinds of clutter before the actual results.

[mzb44]

Simply remove the line of code that injects the YouTube videos into the result pages. It takes 10 minutes and you will have material improvement in digital wellbeing of billions of people who are using Google search.

It's a low hanging fruit - the easiest massive gains in Search quality you can have. You can then move on to removing "people also ask" and block of 4 ads covering entire screen on mobile device on any product-related queries.

Ha! And then have to explain to shareholders why your quarterly revenues decreased.

Will never happen under any circumstance.

I assume you've read the news last week that Q1 2021 G had 32% growth YoY in terms of ad revenues.

This set ups expectations for future quarters. Not continuing to deliver this level of growth for a stock that does not pay dividends is suicide; investors would just drop it.

As such, expect much more of these intrusive search features and more dramatic core updates soon.

[engine]

Moderator note: This thread should stay on topic on SERPs updates and observations. Off topic posts may be removed or split off, See forum Charter. [webmasterworld.com...]

[widgetized]

I've been observing a steady rise in total impressions, but a decrease in CTR in the last two weeks. Sales have been terrible, just a couple of orders in two weeks, and a storm of spam emails every day. I'm struggling to find the reason. I have 0 poor URLs on Core Web Vitals, so I don't think that CWV has something to do with that.

It's also ironic that April 2020 has been the most profitable month of the whole year 2020, while April 2021 is the worst one so far for the year 2021.

[renatovieira]

Google analytics realtime broken for you?

My traffic dropped nearly 50% in the last two hours

Here too! I don't know if it was a very huge drop or if the G real-time broke.

[christianz]

Sharply lower traffic today across all sites, starting afternoon. Semrush sensor surprisingly stable. Don't know what they did - maybe organics order stays the same but now there are more ads, widgets and youtubes (what a shocker!)

[KaseyM]

Google Discover fell of a cliff.

[samwest]

Getting absolutely clobbered by whatever Gorg messed up this time. I moved from #4 to #1 and yet traffic dropped to nearly zero today. They also plastered the top of the page with another big ad block.

[ichthyous]

I've been observing a steady rise in total impressions, but a decrease in CTR in the last two weeks. Sales have been terrible, just a couple of orders in two weeks, and a storm of spam emails every day. I'm struggling to find the reason. I have 0 poor URLs on Core Web Vitals, so I don't think that CWV has something to do with that.

Ditto on all counts...impressions climbing steadily with lower clicks and terrible conversions. Tons of spam. My CWV are all yellow or green, no red.

[mzb44]

I've been observing a steady rise in total impressions, but a decrease in CTR in the last two weeks.

Yeah me too. Seems like rankings and impressions are going slightly up but clicks down. Can't really explain it.

Maybe they expanded the 'people also ask' and similar stuff to much more serps than before?

I guess Q2 is turning out to be lower than expected and they needed a boost.

[mzb44]

Check this - [twitter.com...]

I think I was too quick to say that the mainstream is not catching up to this or that it's fine with it.

Sure, she seems a bit confused about what she's seeing, but her overall point stands - that G search is getting worse and all these different search features are distracting the searcher.

I'm assuming she's referring to the featured snippets, 'people also ask' and all those things and believes those are ads. They of course aren't ads but we know they have the role to keep the searcher on G to increase the likelihood of clicking on ads.

It's extremely interesting to see that someone not from the industry is potentially equating those search features to ads - or at the least is clearly annoyed by them.

[yollo03]

I've experienced the same, impressions up, clicks down. Yesterday my impressions dropped by 60%. No idea how today will end, traffic is very low.

[samwest]

We have now been hard clamped to 1 visitor, single file drip traffic once again. Oops, just dropped to zero again. #1 position, yet zero traffic. More smoke and mirrors.

[topaz]

Discover is completely dead. Even SERPs are offering oddly low traffic despite rankings remaining the same... Started around April 28 for me.

[yollo03]

Semrush sensor is over 7.0 for my website so perhaps something is happening, at least to me. What's your semrush personal score (sensor)?

[saladtosser]

Discover went to 140+ clicks for me overnight last week then fell off a click back down to zero today, I expect it will stay like that for me for 3 weeks then a few days of traffic again, then nothing. This is how discover works for my site for some reason!