SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update On July 10th
Yet again, we are seeing more volatility and ranking instability in the Google Search results. It probably started around July 9th through July 10th or so and we are seeing more chatter and many of the tools showing spikes. Today, July 11th, most volatility seemed to calm down – at least for now. But the weekend was pretty volatile.
The last unconfirmed Google search ranking update we reported on was the July 7th and 5th updates and before that June 28th, June 23rd, June 19th and 20th, also the Google May 2022 core update began rolling out on May 25, 2022 and was officially pronounced complete on June 9th but we saw big tremors before and after the start and end date of that update.
Note: If you are ever curious if there was a Google update, don’t forget to check my microsite – Was There A Google Update.
Google Tracking Tools
But like I said, we are seeing more and even bigger spikes from some of the tools on July 10th or so. Let’s start with the tracking tools:
So there seems to be a lot of volatility based on most of these tools.
SEO Chatter
Here is some of the chatter from the SEO community over the weekend from both this site in these comments and on WebmasterWorld:
My websites are killed with this update by around -20%. I was updating content all the time, trying not to leave any old articles and info on the websites. Was actually hoping for a great increase because of that. But Google, as almost all the time, decided differently… Just don’t know how to react, those updates since 2018 became absolutely crap and illogical. So tired of that. How can we plan at least something in such circumstances?
So far this month my page views average per visitor has dropped 18% v 2022 average, my July PVs vs 2022 average is now -32.5%.
Lost all my traffic just a few hours ago, went from 140 active users on google analytics to now 0
Lost all my traffic, went from 14k organic a day to literally 6 so far today
yeah, lost 40% traffics across some of my sites, good job Google!
Traffic is perpetually bad since the update, and even worse since ~June 17th. All of these huge drops in traffic from region to region are not helping. UK traffic is down 68% today for no apparent reason. I also think that there are other factors at play that explain the low traffic:
‘Tis glorious weather across the entire UK today, all my UK sites are way down today except the hotel site where we’ve had a Fleetwood Mac tribute band on and it was very busy … those high street shops open all reported footfall down drastically.
Traffic is perpetually bad since the update, and even worse since ~June 17th. All of these huge drops in traffic from region to region are not helping. UK traffic is down 68% today for no apparent reason. I also think that there are other factors at play that explain the low traffic:
‘Tis glorious weather across the entire UK today, all my UK sites are way down today except the hotel site where we’ve had a Fleetwood Mac tribute band on and it was very busy … those high street shops open all reported footfall down drastically.
I know many of you are getting tired of these types of stories but I do believe that when I see these spikes, reporting on them are important to the hundreds of people who comment on these posts. It helps them, who may have seen a reduction in ranking, know they are not alone. Plus, there are many who read but do not comment.
I hope you all did okay with this last one…
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Google Won’t Change The 301 Signals For Ranking & SEO
Gary Illyes from Google said on stage at the SERP conference last week that there is no way that Google would change how the 301 redirect signal works for SEO or search rankings. Gary added that it’s a very reliable signal.
Nikola Minkov quoted Gary Illyes as saying, “It is a very reliable signal, and there is no way we could change that signal,” when asked if a 301 redirect not working is a myth. Honestly, I am not sure the context of this question, as it is not clear from the post on X, but here it is:
More from @methode:
– 301 redirect not working is a myth. “It is a very reliable signal, and there is no way we could change that signal”.#SERPConf2024#SERPConf2024International— Nikola Minkov (@n_minkov) April 19, 2024
We’ve covered 301 redirects here countless times – but I never saw a myth that Google does not use 301 redirects as a signal for canonicalization or for passing signals from an old URL to the redirected URL.
Forum discussion at X.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Passover.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Again Says Ignore Link Spam Especially To 404 Pages
I am not sure how many times Google has said that you do not need to disavow spammy links, that you can ignore link spam attacks and that links pointing to pages that 404/410 are links that do not count – but John Mueller from Google said it again.
In a thread on X, John Mueller from Google wrote, “if the links are going to URLs that 404 on your site, they’re already dropped.” “They do nothing,” he added, “If there’s no indexable destination URL, there’s no link.”
John then added, “I’d generally ignore link-spam, and definitely ignore link-spam to 404s.”
Asking if it would hurt to disavow, after responding with the messages above, John wrote:
It will do absolutely nothing. I would take the time to rework a holistic & forward-looking strategy for the site overall instead of working on incremental tweaks (other tweaks might do something, but you probably need real change, not tweaks).
Earlier this year we had tons of SEOs notice spammy links to 404 error pages, John said ignore them. In 2021, Google said links to 404 pages do not count, Google also said that in 2012 and many other times.
Plus, outside of links to 404 pages, Google has said to ignore spammy links, time and time again – even the toxic links – ignore them. The messaging around this changed in 2016 when Penguin 4.0 was released and Google began devaluing links over demoting them.
Here are those new posts in context:
I’d say add both. Lol
— Jeremy Rivera (@JeremyRiveraSEO) April 11, 2024
Sure. But also, save yourself the work completely :-).
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
Re-reading your initial post – if the links are going to URLs that 404 on your site, they’re already dropped. They do nothing. If there’s no indexable destination URL, there’s no link. I’d generally ignore link-spam, and definitely ignore link-spam to 404s.
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
… but still… is this a dumb idea?
— Rebekah Edwards (@rebekah_creates) April 11, 2024
It will do absolutely nothing. I would take the time to rework a holistic & forward-looking strategy for the site overall instead of working on incremental tweaks (other tweaks might do something, but you probably need real change, not tweaks).
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
And in general, Google says it ignores spammy links, so you should too (not new) but this post from John Mueller is:
I would just ignore them, Google ignores them too. Sometimes they’re just more visible in tools, but that doesn’t mean they’re a problem.
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 18, 2024
And then also on Mastodon wrote about a similar situation, “Google has 2 decades of practice of ignoring spammy links. There’s no need to do anything for those links.”
Forum discussion at X.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Passover.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Needs Very Few Links To Rank Pages; Links Are Less Important
Gary Illyes from Google spoke at the SERP Conf on Friday and he said what he said numerous times before, that Google values links a lot less today than it did in the past. He added that Google Search “needs very few links to rank pages.”
Gary reportedly said, “We need very few links to rank pages… Over the years we’ve made links less important.”
I am quoting Patrick Stox who is quoting what he heard Gary say on stage at the event. Here is Patrick’s post where Gary did a rare reply:
I shouldn’t have said that… I definitely shouldn’t have said that
— Gary 鯨理/경리 Illyes (so official, trust me) (@methode) April 19, 2024
Gary said this a year ago, also in 2022 and other times as well. We previously covered that Google said links would likely become even less important in the future. And even Matt Cutts, the former Googler, said something similar about eight years ago and the truth is, links are weighted a lot less than it was eight years ago and that trend continues. A couple of years ago, Google said links are not the most important Google search ranking factor.
Of course, many SEOs think Google lies about this.
Judith Lewis interviewed Gary Illyes at the SERP Conf this past Friday.
-
PPC5 days ago
19 Best SEO Tools in 2024 (For Every Use Case)
-
SEARCHENGINES7 days ago
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 17, 2024
-
SEO7 days ago
An In-Depth Guide And Best Practices For Mobile SEO
-
SEARCHENGINES6 days ago
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 18, 2024
-
SEARCHENGINES5 days ago
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 19, 2024
-
MARKETING6 days ago
Ecommerce evolution: Blurring the lines between B2B and B2C
-
SEO6 days ago
2024 WordPress Vulnerability Report Shows Errors Sites Keep Making
-
WORDPRESS5 days ago
How to Make $5000 of Passive Income Every Month in WordPress
You must be logged in to post a comment Login