What is the new / current google algorithm update targeting and how to adapt / fix SEO approach accordingly ?
-
Over the past c. 3 weeks our average Google SERP rankings for a site have been as follows :
-
week 1 : average 3rd in SERP
-
week 2 : average 1st in SERP
-
week 3 : average 7th in SERP
Reading on sites including Moz, SEO Roundtable and looking at Moz's mozcast tool it seems there is allot of change going on with Google's algorithm at the moment.
Is there a general consensus as to what the new algorithm update is targeting so that we can adapt our site / marketing accordingly ? Or is it too early to adapt ? When Google rolls out an update like this is it common to see fluctuations as they try out things or if we are currently down in the rankings should we take action now.
I know there a tools that look at your google analytics data an overlay a list of major google updates such a penguin and panda, but from what ive read this is a generic algorithm change rather than a defined named update.
-
-
Since writing this question originally, now that Penguin 4.0 has been publicly announced is it the consensus that the heavy fluctuations in rankings that started around 1st September where Penguin being rolled out ?
Eg. if a site has gone down in rankings since 1st Sept, will it have all / mostly been to do with over optimisation of backlinks and anchor text ?
-
I think that it very unlikely for people who discover the main changes provided by an algo change to be posted in a timely manner out there. I think that your best bet is to analyze winners vs losers and test changes on your site, to find out which are the changes that may be affecting your rankings, anyway I would suggest to wait a week or 2 until you see that ranks stands so you ensure that your drop is not just normal fluctuation.
-
Nothing's been confirmed yet so not much that we can do, aside from ride the waves and keep an eye out for trends on what it could be affecting. Based on your own experiences and others'.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google asking questions in SERPs
I just did s search for Hayley Kiyoko, and Google asked me which song is my favourite from her new album. Is this a new thing? I've never asked Google a question before and had it ask me something back, other than "did you mean... (the correct spelling for what I was looking for)?" u6qYnwq.png
Algorithm Updates | | 4RS_John1 -
Thoughts on Google's Autocomplete hurting organic SEO?
A client sent over an article about how Google's Autocomplete eliminates your chance for clicks. Saying that if your competitor is higher than you, the user will bypass the page one organic rank and click on a specific business from the autocomplete which in turn presents an entire page one result for that business. So in a sense they are wondering why they're doing organic SEO if potential customers are just going to bypass the page one organic results. I would love to hear thoughts from like minded people on this as I have to start proving my case with articles, facts, data, and research.
Algorithm Updates | | MERGE-Chicago0 -
Ranking Well in Google But Not Bing - Why?
Hello Moz Community, I'm ranking well in Google (#2-#6 for various keywords) but on the second page of Bing. Are there certain differences that I should be aware of? Thanks, Cole
Algorithm Updates | | ColeLusby0 -
Has Google Authorship been completely removed from SERPs?
Noticed today that when I search (non-personalised search, incognito etc.) some of my pages on Google ALL references to authorship have now been completely removed. Does anyone know when this change occurred? I might be a bit slow this week (or last week) with concentrating on projects. I know like others that photos went some time back but now there are no author details being displayed. Just the page title and description. David
Algorithm Updates | | David-E-Carey1 -
Why Google Cache is not showing ?
Hello Everyone, I have a question for you. Today when I checked cache:www.bollywoodshaadis.com on Google.com, it is showing following message. 404. <ins>That’s an error.</ins> The requested URL /search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=519&q=cache%3Awww.bollywoodshaadis.com&oq=cache%3Awww.bollywoodshaadis.com&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2501l16050l0l16394l30l30l0l23l0l0l353l1781l0.1.4.2l7l0 was not found on this server. I was able to see sitelinks till yesterday but they also have disappeared now. Can someone please tell me why is this happening? Is this a temporary issue? or something needs to be done.
Algorithm Updates | | SEOcandy0 -
Does this mean that exact keyword phrase anchor text is not the dominating ranking factor anymore for serps?http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/11/ten-recent-algorithm-changes.html
Does this mean that exact keyword phrase anchor text is not the dominating ranking factor anymore for serps? http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/11/ten-recent-algorithm-changes.html If so what is the new most important factor?
Algorithm Updates | | AndrewSEO0 -
Removing secure subdomain from google index
we've noticed over the last few months that Google is not honoring our main website's robots.txt file. We have added rules to disallow secure pages such as: Disallow: /login.cgis Disallow: /logout.cgis Disallow: /password.cgis Disallow: /customer/* We have noticed that google is crawling these secure pages and then duplicating our complete ecommerce website across our secure subdomain in the google index (duplicate content) https://secure.domain.com/etc. Our webmaster recently implemented a specific robots.txt file for the secure subdomain disallow all however, these duplicated secure pages remain in the index. User-agent: *
Algorithm Updates | | marketing_zoovy.com
Disallow: / My question is should i request Google to remove these secure urls through Google Webmaster Tools? If so, is there any potential risk to my main ecommerce website? We have 8,700 pages currently indexed into google and would not want to risk any ill effects to our website. How would I submit this request in the URL Removal tools specifically? would inputting https://secure.domain.com/ cover all of the urls? We do not want any secure pages being indexed to the index and all secure pages are served on the secure.domain example. Please private message me for specific details if you'd like to see an example. Thank you,0 -
Google Directory vs DMOZ
What is the difference between the Google Directory and the DMOZ if any?
Algorithm Updates | | BrandonC-2698870