Google Updates and SERP Changes - November 2021

[engine]

Well, October was a mixed bag of tweaks from Google in the SERPs, interspersed with a few announcements, and we're hoping November will not be a roller-coaster.

Firstly, here's a quick round-up of news in the past month that you may have missed.

For those tracking the update threads, here's last month's Google Updates and SERP Changes - October 2021 [webmasterworld.com]

Do you use Google Analytics? Google has said its completed rollout of the new Search Analytics API which, in addition to search performance, includes Discover and Google News data, along with Regex support to the query and page dimensions. [webmasterworld.com...]

Google has updated its search quality rater guidelines this 19 October, 2021 [webmasterworld.com...]

Potentially, we can all be on page one of the SERPs as Google in the U.S. has changed the mobile search to continuous scrolling. [webmasterworld.com...]

Had you though whether URL length affects ranking in SEO. Find out more here [webmasterworld.com...]

Plus lots of other Google search and SEO topics [webmasterworld.com], and recent discussion in other sectors on WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

I've long focussed on conversion quality, but, obviously, need traffic in the first place. Let's discuss this, the latest changes, and how we might achieve better results.

[southernguy]

@jez123 I have a few sites in different niches and am experiencing the same thing. Google is just squeezing the life out of small business just like governments are doing it worldwide. It seems to get worse week by week sadly I don't see things improving.

[widgetized]

November has just become the worst month of 2021, orders and contacts from real customers tanked, despite the black friday and cyber monday storewide sales that we're running every year. I checked and the only orders that came in were from our recurring customers.

Not even sure what's the purpose of the last G update (no significant changes in traffic), but they sure achieved something.

[ichthyous]

...Ranking seems the same and people hitting the site but nobody ordering...Is this what everyone affected is seeing?

Yes, but it's not recent, it's been going on for months. My ranking has never recovered since the March 2021 update, but the changes in June really killed off business. Inquiries from new customers fell to such a low level that I am basically out of business. Last week was the first week where I saw an appreciable uptick in months...I received a normal number of inquiries again, but no actual sales.

If you look at the page layout on mobile you'll see so many ads, carousels, videos, and links that it's no wonder that the paying customers are getting siphoned away. The problem is that even if you pay for Google adwords you still won't get those good quality customers back, you'll only get junk leads.

[Jez123]

@widgetized I have seen this several times before, after an update where you get lazy, non converting traffic but this is the worst I have seen it. I can't see where ranking has been affected and traffic levels are not dissimilar to last year but nothing is converting which is crazy this close to Christmas.

[samwest]

Still in the top three on page one, yet zero traffic trend continues. Usually, we are trending up at this time of year, but it's trending straight down.

[BigKat]

I spoke with our USPS carrier today and she noted parcels are light. Those getting lower than expected sales, myself included, are not alone. IMO, the rapid rise in inflation is manifesting itself into consumer shopping habits. This is to be expected in a souring economy. Combine this with the new covid variant, I don't think consumers have a lot to be upbeat about and are likely tightening down on their wallets in preparation for worse times.

[RedBar]

@samwest

We're in a "similar" niche and I'm seeing somethingstrange with my UK widget site compared to my global site which is doing ok.

My UK widget site is in my same niche but aimed at informing retail purchasers rather than bulk wholesale purchasers however despite ranking extremely well for most of my keywords there are very low traffic levels, about 25% of what I would have though reasonable, plus zero enquiries which I find extraordinary.

This time of year is usually quieter however not this quiet!

I'm going to call several large retailers and wholesalers tomorrow to see how things are on the ground.

[EditorialGuy]

For us, COVID (not Google) is the problem. Our international travel-planning site's traffic was improving nicely (YOY) when the latest variant hit the headlines and people went back to reading our COVID articles instead of our destination pages. Right now, it's like early 2020 all over again.

[BushyTop]

We're experiencing a mess again. Just when you start to see some improvements, it gets pulled. Same story for alot of people I'd imagine. Seen these types of comments before. We're seeing an uptick again in untargeted traffic, lots of bot activity, poor conversions and inflated bounce rates. Its so easy to notice the difference. Literally nothing too technical to spot.

[goodroi]

New discussion at Google Updates and SERP Changes - December 2021 [webmasterworld.com]