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Mixed Signs Of A Thanksgiving Holiday Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update

Published

1 year ago

November 28, 2022

Mixed Signs Of A Thanksgiving Holiday Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update

For the past several weekends, I’ve been reporting about a Google search ranking algorithm update that hit on a Friday and continued throughout the weekend. Well, last weekend was the Thanksgiving holiday in the US and I did see some signs of a possible Google Search ranking algorithm update – but truth is, it is unlikely that Google pushed something out on a Friday of Thanksgiving.

Weekend Update Trend

Here are the past weekend updates I’ve covered. For example, we had reports of an update last weekend, on November 18th through 20th, then again on the 11th through 12th and then on November 4th and 5th, the weekend before that on October 28th/29th, the spam update kind of surged on a Friday/Saturday with Octber 21st and 22nd, but the one before that was on a Thursday, October 13th.

Recently, it just seems we are seeing adjustments on Fridays and Saturdays. I mean, that can make sense if Google has search launch meetings towards the end of the week and pushes happen on Fridays? I am just guessing here…

But this past Friday, I doubt Google pushed an update. But yet we had some signals, less so, than in previous updates. So I think this one is just Thanksgiving holiday traffic changes, seasonal changes you’d see in both traffic and search volume?

SEO Chatter

Here is some of the chatter I found across the SEO community about this unconfirmed Google search update from WebmasterWorld starting around Friday:

An 18 hours dead zone for my global site with modest traffic returning at 06.00 UK time but for how long?
UK sites have seen less traffic for several days yet real-world business is still holding-up for the moment.
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Yesterday was the worst day for me as well in the last 17 years. We have been hit hard and down 50% since last year though. We always see a decline before or on a holiday in the US (in this case Thanksgiving) and then a bump afterwards.

Same here. Yesterday I had numbers from the beginning of my main website that I started in 2013. It’s unfortunate…

I am seeing tanking traffic too. Across all my sites.
Some of it probably is due to Google going into turbo greed mode for Black Friday/Christmas, but it’s more than that – a steady downward trend started after US midterm election.

About 10-20% below normal all day today (UK traffic)

Our traffic is down about 12% and conversions (US Ecom) are down 50%+. In normal times we would see an increase in traffic and conversions with consumers who are in Black Friday spending mode. Inflation, recession, etc. all play a role in spending. However, our overall traffic drop is a combination of a substantial drop in buyer traffic to our product pages with a less substantial increase in traffic to our information pages. Taking a look at the SERPS it’s evident big brands are being promoted more than ever with an increase in Amazon crowded SERPS for many buyer intent queries. This is more of the same we’ve seen from Google in prior years, though each year it gets worse.

Traffic to my global site is precisely where I expected it to be with USA -33% with PVs.
UK hotel site with 95.6% long-term UK traffic is seeing both traffic and real-world footfall and takings up considerably. So far the World Cup is being good to us and with some good live bands over the next few weeks plus lots of Xmas lunches etc we may end 2022 on a high note :-)))

This weekend my traffic has gone down 90% overall, I am unsure if just a bad combo of world cup and post black Friday on the weekend which can be unpredictable but this is nuts.

USA traffic has been down this weekend…-16% yesterday. Today it’s starting the morning -53%. I don’t think it’s unusual for a holiday weekend when everyone is shopping for discounts, traveling or just not online. However, people have usually made their inquiries for Christmas purchases by now and it has been practically nil. The ones that did inquire in mid November had low budgets and no sales resulted. People are not spending freely, despite what news reports say about the well off spending…perhaps on food, travel and eating out yes but not on non-essential material goods. 2022 has been my lowest year for sales in memory…absolutely mind blowing. Even worse than the 2008 crash and worse than during the pandemic in 2020. I don’t see 2023 changing that. Unfortunately I used to be able to depend on at least one foreign market to bring in sales at any time…this year the high dollar, UK economy plunging due to Brexit and the slow economy in Europe and Australia meant that there was no place to turn really.

So there is chatter, for sure…

Google Tracking Tools

Here are what the tracking tool are showing:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Algoroo:

Again, I doubt Google pushed something specific on Friday of Thanksgiving but maybe we are just seeing the seasonality of the holiday shopping season? What do you all think?

Not all the tools picked up on it, and again, it was a long holiday weekend.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Source: www.seroundtable.com

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 18, 2024

Published

22 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google Ads notified advertisers that some ad customizers will stop working soon. Google discontinued the limited use video carousel markup. Google Maps has new directions and travel features, plus a bunch of new EV features. Google Notes on Search might not end in May 2024 despite what people suggest. Google Business Profiles asked businesses to register their defibrillators, their AEDs.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Notes On Search Won’t Necessarily Go Away In May

There have been some people noticing that the Google Notes On Search labs experiment has an end date of May 2024 and thus they are expecting Notes on Search to be turned off by then. Just because it has that end date listed, it does not mean the labs experiment will end on that date.

Google Maps Releases New Directions, Travel & EV Features

Google has announced a number of new travel features with Google Maps and Travel around driving alternatives, trains and buses, travel impact mode and then some new EV driving direction features. Google says these features are to give you more “sustainable choices.”

Google Ads Reminds Advertisers Some Ad Customizers Will Go Away May 31st

On August 31, 2021, Google notified advertisers it would drop support for expanded text ads for responsive search ads. Google is now reminding advertisers that Ad customizers for text ads, expanded text ads and Dynamic Search Ads will stop serving after May 31, 2024.

Google Drops Video Carousel Markup

Google has discontinued its support for video carousel markup and has thus removed it from its video structured data help documentation. Initially, Google tested video carousel on a limited number of sites and is now saying that it “ultimately found that it wasn’t useful for the ecosystem at scale.”

Google Business Profiles Register Your Defibrillator (AED)

Google sent out emails a couple of days ago to businesses asking them to register their Automated External Defibrillator (AED) with Google Business Profiles. Google said, “you could save lives” if you do it.

Google NYC Earthquake Reaction Video

A couple of weeks ago we had an earthquake in the New York region and I finally found a video from the Google NYC office of the reaction of some Googlers while the earthquake happened. These Googlers were recording a video and felt it but were unsure if that was a real earthquake.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 17, 2024

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

The Google March core update still is causing volatility and it is deepening. Google may make changes to the crawl stats report in Search Console. Google Search Console now shows unused ownership tokens. Google Maps will drop the review drafts. Google Add added generative AI for image generate for Demand Gen campaigns. Google Search is testing more sitelinks designs.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Deepening Google Core Ranking Volatility Hits Yesterday & Today

I know we just reported on more volatility this Monday, possibly related to the Google March 2024 core update, but we are seeing even more volatility over the past 24 hours related to this update. This volatility shows deepening movement for those who were hit, which is incredibly sad in many cases.

Google Search Console Adds Unused Ownership Tokens

Google Search Console has a new security feature under user and permission management to help you manage your unused ownership tokens. Basically, it helps you manage who has permissions to your Search Console profiles and who should not, maybe some legacy verifications.

Google: Should We Explain The Crawl Stats Report in Search Console

Martin Splitt from Google posted a one-line question asking, “Should we do something to explain the crawl stats report in GSC?” This was posted on Mastodon, which has a small audience, but the responses were pretty good.

New Google Ads AI Generated Image Tool For Demand Gen Campaigns

Google Ads announced that Demand Gen campaigns are getting generative AI tools to create image assets. This is rolling out to advertisers around the world in English with more languages to come later this year, Google said.

Google Tests Horizontal Lines For Sitelinks & People Also Ask

Google Search is testing horizontal lines under the sitelinks and the people also ask elements in the search results. This is a long horizontal line that goes across the while search result snippet.

Google Maps No Longer Will Support Draft Reviews

Google Maps will soon stop supporting drafting reviews for local business listings and Google Business Profiles. Google said that starting July 16, 2024, review drafts will no longer be supported.

Doogler In Google Play Area

Some of you love photos of dogs, so here is another one of a Doogler, a Google dog, in a play area, at the Google office. This was shared by the Life at Google Twitter account.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 16, 2024

Published

3 days ago

April 17, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google will fight the site reputation abuse spam both algorithmically and with manual actions. Google is testing thumbs-up and down in product carousels. Google Ads similar product carousel is being tested. Google Search updated its image documentation. Google AdSense has a new ad format named ad intents.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Will Fight Site Reputation Abuse Spam Both With Manual Actions & Algorithms

Google’s new spam algorithm update also introduced new spam policies including the upcoming site reputation abuse policy that won’t go into effect until May 2024. Google has confirmed it will fight site reputation abuse spam using both manual actions (humans) and algorithms (machines).

Google Search Tests Thumbs Up/Down Buttons In Product Grid Results

Google launched the style recommendations with thumbs up and down buttons not long ago after testing it in January. Now Google is showing this thumbs up and down buttons in the product grid search results, so Google can see what you like or dislike and then show you more products that you do like.

Google Ads “Similar Product” Carousel

Google has a similar products section and carousel for Google Ads sponsored listings. We have seen similar products and similar shopping related results from the organic / free listings but now I am seeing examples of a search ad carousel for “similar products.”

Clarification: Google Search Supports Images Referenced From src Attribute

Google has clarified in its image search help documentation that images are only extracted from the src attribute of img tags in Google Search. This is not new, but Google decided to update its documentation based on some questions it received about the topic.

Google AdSense New Ad Intents Formats – Links & Anchors In Content

Google AdSense announced a new auto ads format named “Ad intents.” Ad intents places links and anchors showing organic search results with ads into existing text and pages on your site related to your content. Yea, it takes your content, and hyperlinks it to the Google search results.

3-Wheel Tricycle At Google

Google’s Ann Arbor office has this 3-wheel tricycle that some Googlers have used over the years to get around the office. This one looks like the hot pink Huffy brand. I spotted this recently on Instagram but the photo is from 2016.