Google Updates and SERP Changes - August 2021

[goodroi]

As usual, it's both entertaining and frustrating when monitoring Google's SERPs, and the performance of our sites. Google's core algorithm updates have proved interesting, to say the least.

First we had Google Core Update May 23 - June 3, 2021 [webmasterworld.com] referenced in Google Updates and SERP Changes - June 2021 [webmasterworld.com]

Before long, in July, we see a Google Core Update July 1, 2021 [webmasterworld.com] which created much more frustration and angst, with some successes, which we referenced in theGoogle Updates and SERP Changes - July 2021 [webmasterworld.com]

Without much delay we heard of a Google and Link Spam: Qualify Links for Affiliate Links or Sponsored Guest Posts Update [webmasterworld.com].

And during July we had an interesting question How long for Google to Index a New Website [webmasterworld.com]
Did you see the news that we might get a sneak look at Google's ranking algorithm. Google "About This Result" in SERPs Indicates Ranking Info [webmasterworld.com]
Most of us know about the Google search operators, and here's an overview of SEO search operators [webmasterworld.com]
Plus lots of other Google search and SEO topics [webmasterworld.com].

What are your observations on the algorithm updates/changes to the SERPs?

[yollo03]

Looks like a major update is being rolled out, good luck everyone

[KaseyM]

Ugh huge drop - hoping it's just turbulance.

[golderberger]

everything down again, especially sales

[superclown2]

Looks like a major update is being rolled out, good luck everyone

Interesting. What do you base this on?

[RedBar]

Completely normal Saturday for me at 80.3% and so far today looking similar which, I must repeat, is very good for my quietest month of the year.

I do not see any updates other than for a new .UK site I laucned 1st July. Already it is doing extremely well in DDG / Bing, G knows it is there and it has actually taken a a couple of very high positions, I assume the remainder will have their usual slowish climb upwards .

DDG / Bing did surprise me somewhar though :-) In fact their SERPs are looking cleaner again.

[StupidIntelligent]

Or, it could be that everyone is glued on the TV watching the American evacuation from the Kabul Embassy. It's Saigon once again.

[Dooku]

Interesting. What do you base this on?

Easy....check the google "algo changes" websites like Mozcast, correlate those with known google algo changes, then compare those to your log files or stat services like Statcounter. After a while you will recognize the pattern instantly......even for small google algo updates.
It does not matter if your website was impacted or not, the update IS there. I can even tell when the filters are lifted and dropped again.

[antigravity]

Am I crazy or did Google remove the "People Also Ask" feature from the SERPs? I can't seem to trigger it no matter what I query.

[RedBar]

Not missing for me.

[EditorialGuy]

Our Google traffic is down a few percentage points today, but not as much as our direct traffic or our traffic from Bing, Yahoo, etc. I figure this is the usual August doldrums. (We have a travel-planning site, and by now the people who want to take summer vacations in 2021 are already on summer vacation.)

[BushyTop]

Seen some movement this morning... Anyone else seeing anything?

[Martin Ice Web]

Seen some movement this morning... Anyone else seeing anything?

Yes, drop, drop ,drop

And this update hit all our main pages with lots of good content. We only get visits from google search for pages with nearly no content. Main winners in my niche are webpages that sells accessories for e.g. heatings. But this are not shops with a lot of selection. Just this one item. And that are special items only for using it with this heating.

It seems that google sees manipulation in every good written content that is not publiched by big brands.

[Cyril TechWebsites]

My website recovered +15% since last couple of days (I lost -30% during July 2021 update). It's not big numbers, but at least it's not a further drop... :/

[MayankParmar]

In July, I reported (via Twitter) a chain of sites abusing expired domains to rank for highly competitive keywords including COVID vaccines. They've outranked sites like BBC in various niches.

One of the domains: [imgur.com...]

Low-quality articles written by "admin" and they're ranking well because of the expired domains. Of course, Google is doing nothing about them.

Hypocrisy at its peak

[ichthyous]

Traffic was slightly lower this weekend, but it appears that my home page vanished from the serps again since there was a 60% drop in visits overnight and this morning. That is getting really old since traffic to my home page had mostly recovered this past week.

I am seeing a very gradual uptick in clicks in GSC since the beginning of July, but impressions remain about the same. Overall, the clicks and impressions are no where near where they were in January. My ranking on high-volume terms hasn't improved much at all.

There is no real way for a site like mine to recover from this, since Google has decided that only specific types of content and sites will rank now. All of those high-volume search terms that were my bread and butter have been taken over by crappy how-to articles or the same small group of mega-etailers and stock photo sites, and that has not changed since March. Where I was ranking top 10 before, I'm now at 25-70 for many of these high volume terms.

At the same time, all of the image search traffic has shifted to large media sites. Google made a decision to hand all the traffic to legacy media to get them off its back, and did it in one swoop. Only their images are ranking now and I lost almost all of that traffic in a matter of a day or two.

While there are marginal improvements, this huge shift in March (and again in June) means there simply isn't enough viable traffic to make anywhere close to the number of sales I was making in January / Feb. All of this would need to revert itself so that the SERPs are not so totally skewed as they are now...it's been almost six months with no sign that is going to happen. In fact, it might get even worse.

[mzb44]

In July, I reported (via Twitter) a chain of sites abusing expired domains to rank for highly competitive keywords including COVID vaccines. They've outranked sites like BBC in various niches.

One of the domains: [imgur.com...]

Low-quality articles written by "admin" and they're ranking well because of the expired domains. Of course, Google is doing nothing about them.

Hypocrisy at its peak

Meh. The reason this is still happening is because G is still insisting on pushing the authority (measured by strong links) > all approach.

The fact you can buy an expired domain that before was, say, a technology site with a lot of very big backlinks and remake it was a medical, casino, financial etc. site and it instantly ranks high clearly shows that (link) authority > everything.

I'd like to see the E-A-T people to ever address this but they never do.

If topical authority, content relevancy etc. would still matter then zero of these expired domains would work - except in the extremely limited number of times you find one that 1:1 matches your niche.

[edited by: mzb44 at 1:31 pm (utc) on Aug 16, 2021]

[samwest]

Tried to get into search console this morning, my sites are all suddenly UNVERFIED. If I re-download the verification file to the root, it refuses to verify. Something is up...or should I say down. Gorg just keeps breaking the web.

[Edge]

Most have heard claims of G’s “Referral Traffic Capping” or equivalent… Let’s test this theory.

Real example site, 21 years + old, never a manual action, never manufactured links, straight shooting SEO, just hard work and integrity – though not a perfect site.

April 12th to be exact – Google smartphone bot stumbled on a trap and triggered an automated ip ban. For the next several months I noticed a gradual reduction in G referrals (10%) but thought nothing of it as Covid seemed under control we’re out and about, summer, and Olympics, etc.

Then, got hit by the dreaded G core July update… 20%-ish dive in referral traffic overnight – first ever of this magnitude to hit this huge high traffic site.

I seen the chatter on various websites looked at keywords lost or dropped and did logical deep dive and "stop your complaining" investigation ~ “What do I do now to improve and make G love me again!”

I then discovered the April 403 ban and realized that more than 450 important to SEO webpages had been dropped from G’s index. Ouch! and shame on me...

I cleared G’s bots from the ip ban list and hunted down the cause of the auto-ban and began resubmitting the lost webpages back into the index.

As of today, I’ve got everything back in the G index except 16 ancient and minor webpages.

Starting AHEM! July 2 my traffic has not varied much more than maybe 3% on the peaks and totals for the day except one day (July 28) that I had a moderate increase then right back to the consistent and predictable traffic number’s.

I do not have any more insight to the Wizard of G's thinking or algo than the rest of you so therefore I leave it you folks, conclude what you want…

[not2easy]

If I re-download the verification file to the root, it refuses to verify.

Be sure you have not blocked their verification bot. It does not come from the same 66.249. range as their SE bots. I had a problem and needed to unblock a few ranges that had been blocked for unwanted activity: 66.102.0.0/20 and 66.102.128.0/20 for their verification bot. If you use CP you can see any errors due to those IPs in your error console.

[Edge]

So, are we allowed to post keywords for investigative search here?

I've got one that should send chills down your back for what the future may hold..

[StupidIntelligent]

"I've got one that should send chills down your back for what the future may hold.."

@Edge - Not sure what you mean there. And, sure you can post a keyword. Why wouldn't it be allowed.

[Edge]

Ok then... I actually have hundreds...

"Triangle Solutions" See #1 competitor, also see the Wikipedia snippet (wasn't wiki pushed down the serps?)
"Units converter" See #1 competitor
"Mortgage Calculator" Below ads #1 competitor

Now imagine that you're competing with the #1 serp result.

[KaseyM]

Still quite poor this end. Just noticed Google is looking for author URLs in rich snippet. Maybe that'll solve all my problems and send me to the moon (sarcasm).

[EditorialGuy]

Just noticed Google is looking for author URLs in rich snippet.

Sounds like a good idea to me. If you've got a unique name like mine, it probably isn't very useful, but if you're a John Smith or a Jane Doe, the URL should help Google associate your "by John Smith" or a "by Jane Doe" page with the correct author.

[StupidIntelligent]

@Edge - Old story. This has been Google's thing for years now. A decade or so from now; they probably wouldn't even need organic listings anymore.

[BushyTop]

Still seeing lots of movement today in the UK... cant see much from the sensors though?! Anyone else?

[ichthyous]

A decade or so from now; they probably wouldn't even need organic listings anymore.

A decade? Try two years max. They are rapidly heading in that direction because they have realized that users simply don't care whether they are handed a list of promoted ads or real organic serps. As long as people can find something they're good.

Search isn't even a priority anymore, YouTube is. My only hope is that someone will see the drastic decline in search result quality as an opening to enter the market with cleaner results...hear that Apple?!

Apple has the brand trust and the money and it would serve the purpose of undermining a competitor. However apple is very smart about not venturing too far astray in new lines of business and sinking into a quagmire of money losing ventures. MS Bing hasn't exactly been a hit, and they also had to abandon Corbis. Google owns it all and that's why the SERPS will soon be nothing but ads.

[ichthyous]

I had an enormous spike in traffic from the UK at exactly 1pm today...all coming from Google search or direct (Google images UK). All from different IP addresses and cities around the UK, and real traffic that had multiple PV. My UK traffic is up 869% so far today. Anyone else seeing this?

[golderberger]

semrush sensor spiking again, correlates with my sales loss again. So this is the new normal? SERP update every other day?

[engine]

Today's SERPs suggest problems displaying country-specific sites.
No wonder some countries will see traffic loss!