Massive drop in traffic

1. 87

   Butterfly67posted 5 years ago

   So I just saw that I have had a massive drop in traffic and it looks like it is across the board (mot of my top performing articles are on WeHaveKids) - has anyone else seen that? I do get weekly fluctuations but this is something else :-(

   replyreport
   1. 84

      TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Mine have dropped as well, maybe 25% or so. However, my main earning season is mostly over, so I just assumed this was the reason.  This may just be Google messing around with the algorithms again...who knows?

      replyreport
   2. 87

      weezyschannelposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, about 30-40% drop last few days. My articles aren't seasonal either. Hope it's temporary. Glad it's not just me... If anyone has any updates or know why, chime in

      replyreport
   3. 87

      weezyschannelposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Just checked again. About 50% drop! My article is not seasonal either. Lose traffic, lose sales... Nothing in 4 days. Was getting 4-7 sales a day in one of my number one  (used to be) article

      replyreport
   4. 82

      misterhollywoodposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Google has confirmed a big algo change. My stats are down too. I could be wrong but it feels like a penalty given the trends (I'm down 50%).  Will this change? I dunno but it's very clear all of the verticals seem impacted. I have hubs on almost all of them.

      replyreport
      1. 91

         Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Traffic on my accounts went down by 30%, but are now only down by about 15%. A small portion of that are seasonal losses.

         replyreport
      2. 89

         lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Google says it was a small change. So not many sites are affected. But most of the niche sites if not all were (are) affected.

         replyreport
2. 95

   CYong74posted 5 years ago

   Same here. 30 % drop.

   replyreport
   1. 87

      Butterfly67posted 5 years agoin reply to this

      Oh gosh that is a shame and you are on different niche sites.

      replyreport
3. 95

   CYong74posted 5 years ago

   I hope this is just a temporary drop!

   replyreport
4. 97

   eugbugposted 5 years ago

   Same here. Lots of blue arrows for articles on Dengarden and Owlcation. I checked, but there aren't any public holidays anywhere or Google algorithm updates.

   replyreport
   1. 91

      Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      https://www.searchenginejournal.com/goo … ct/270983/
      
      There was an ai update that affects image and video search, and no one knows what else. I have read there are are possibly other types of traffic this will effect. This update rolls out for googles 20th bithday.
      
      This is why hubpages has been hard about the type of photos we use. My main account traffic fell very little, but I planned for this by replacing as many photos as I can with original photos. However, the scope of this is quite large so there might be other things causing your traffic to drop.
      
      Beyond better photo search users can now snap a photo and use it to search google.

      replyreport
      1. 97

         eugbugposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Can't make any sense of that gobbledegook!

         replyreport
         1. 90

            Georgie Loweryposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Don’t use photos you find on the web because Google doesn’t like it. Basically.

            replyreport
            1. 89

               ziyenaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               I write about famous people in history .... Am I to understand that my cited public domain photos from Wikimedia Commons are no longer good enough?  So how in the hades am I supposed to come up with photos of my own on historical profiles related to 500 years ago?  Getting ridiculous

               replyreport
               1. 91

                  Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  No. I think the algorithm has special exceptions for supper old things, like history. In the case where you need to use old photos, then they would go back to your caption, the markup, freshness of the page and your page authority to determine where in image search you would fall.. It isn't just about using original photos, this also hammers back to freshness and authority. Both terms we need to understand fully.

                  replyreport
               2. 87

                  Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Are you kidding? Where did you see this, ziyena? I write about Greek Mythology and it's so hard to find pics of these gods and goddesses.

                  replyreport
                  1. 91

                     Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                     If you have to use old photos, or are in a niche where its difficult to find photos, they will likely compare you to others in the industry. So, the algorithm would judge your photos by authority and freshness. I think that's why they expanded our bio. Im not sure if its authority at page level, but there is indication that it is page level for freshness. I think traffic loss is caused by two things. With the release of google lens, a change in how people retrieve information, and then photo and video results possibly appearing over the content results.

                     replyreport
                     1. 89

                        ziyenaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                        As per reply to Jean ... Thanks for answering us, Beth,  I’m not too sharp on these update things so in this case if we switch out old photos with other photos (wikimedia commons photos in my case) then that is considered “fresh”?

                        replyreport
                        1. 84

                           TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

                           This link explains it more clearly, but still leaves many questions for those of us who write here.
                           
                           https://searchengineland.com/new-google … out-306025

                           replyreport
                           1. 87

                              theraggededgeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                              Yep, Google says 'jump' and we will jump. I hate that one bunch of people can dictate how the whole online world behaves.

                              replyreport
            2. 97

               eugbugposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               I try to take photos myself but sometimes out of laziness I use public domain photos.

               replyreport
               1. 91

                  Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  Your content is so fresh, and your authority is obvious. This is my off account, I wish I had responded with my main account. Lol, now I am forced to only answer from this account. You have always been an inspiration to me. Quite honestly, I am shocked that you would be impacted by this change. I wish I knew more about the AI, because its going to change everything.
                  
                  Do you have everything captioned, in anticipation of the next change?

                  replyreport
         2. 91

            Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            And soon google photo search will show captions, so check all of your photos for freshness and make sure the caption is spot on. Plus, as far as image search the two metrics that are most important are authority and freshness of a page, and HP has been working hard to help us gain more authority.
            
            Some of this update was already made ready on desktop but what we are seeing is the full mobile roll out of the ai and algorithm changes. Googles birthday present to itself.
            
            If you have not already done so, I would highly suggest educating yourselves on how the AI currently effects search results, and its relationship to the algorithm.

            replyreport
      2. 84

         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

         i clicked on your link but didn't "get" exactly what this deals with.  Can one of our gurus here review this and give their thoughts?  Thanks.

         replyreport
         1. 91

            Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            When it comes to AI changes, its kind of crazy. We could sit around all day trying to predict what the AI will do, but we can't. At this point we have to just focus on keeping our content factually correct, fresh, authoritative, and useful. In addition we must understand the ai and the algorithm are gaining greater understanding of intended meaning and its relationship to user queries. They are using more tools to understand each page considered for search results. This means every single element of the page matters, both on our side and on the HP side. I think we are also competing with more image and video results than we were used to. In some cases we might find ourselves further down a page, even though we are still first place because the search engine generated image and video searches that will be above the first content listing.

            replyreport
5. 95

   Rupert Taylorposted 5 years ago

   Not happening to me. Most of my articles are on Owlcation and Soapboxie.

   replyreport
6. 96

   Glenn Stokposted 5 years ago

   I noticed a huge drop in traffic this morning too. Around a 30% drop. Maybe it’s because everyone was glued to the Kavanugh testimony hearings all day yesterday.

   replyreport
   1. 92

      jansharesposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      That's what I thought, too, Glenn.

      replyreport
7. 86

   NateB11posted 5 years ago

   Yeah, my traffic has dropped a lot too, at least on this account, haven't checked my other one.

   replyreport
8. 87

   Jan Saintsposted 5 years ago

   Yeah, this is happening and it's so sad!

   replyreport
9. 88

   Ekcedeonposted 5 years ago

   Same here, about 45% drop in traffic at letterpile for my top hub

   replyreport
10. 92

    Jeremy Gillposted 5 years ago

    Same, about a 25% decline. Hopefully it'll rebound over the weekend.

    replyreport
11. 93

    Shesabutterflyposted 5 years ago

    My views are also down almost 30%. My top 3 articles are all on different sites (Owlcation, WeHaveKids, and Delishably). My articles from Pethelpful have seen the biggest decrease though.

    replyreport
    1. 87

       weezyschannelposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, me too! Pethelpful was doing so well and had record Amazon sales that I've ever had for the past 6 mnths. In fact, the Amazon sales in one day, added up to more than I have earned over a 10 year span. Ho hum...... No sales in 4 days now.

       replyreport
       1. 89

          lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          Wow. One day better than 10 years that's impressive.

          replyreport
12. 87

    theraggededgeposted 5 years ago

    It may be a stats reporting problem It happened a few months ago. Earnings weren't affected.

    replyreport
    1. 97

       eugbugposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       GA is also showing a drop in traffic though.

       replyreport
    2. 86

       NateB11posted 5 years agoin reply to this

       I was thinking this too. And hoping so.

       replyreport
    3. 92

       Jeremy Gillposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Earnings came in for Thursday and Friday, and the decline wasn't as much as I expected considering the drop. Hopefully it stays that way!

       replyreport
       1. 89

          lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          Mine is significant. 25% drop in earnings.

          replyreport
13. 87

    Daughter Of Maatposted 5 years ago

    My most popular article has had a 50% drop. It's the we have kids niche site that is the only one affecting me. I'm going to check for content scraping since it's just one article for me.

    replyreport
14. 84

    Don Bobbittposted 5 years ago

    I have had zero ad revenue since the 23rd!! DON

    replyreport
    1. 84

       TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Earnings have not been posted since last Monday except that I just noticed that they posted Amazon earnings for Wednesday.

       replyreport
    2. 87

       Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Me too. And a sea of blue arrows. Most of my articles are on Exemplore and Owlcation. But sometimes I have received payment in the early evening. I guess we shouldn't panic.

       replyreport
15. 93

    kannanwritesposted 5 years ago

    Thirty percent down for me. Still, I am sure it will bounce back. Quality matters, for Google I believe.

    replyreport
16. 95

    Gregory DeVictorposted 5 years ago

    I have seven arrows pointing down and only one pointing up. However, my three most popular articles remain unchanged.

    replyreport
17. 95

    nomadspiritposted 5 years ago

    Same here. I'm on Wanderwisdom and traffic down about 30%.

    replyreport
18. 92

    Natalie Frankposted 5 years ago

    Down about 20% but have been fluctuating more in general lately though not quite to this extreme.

    replyreport
19. 90

    Chriswillman90posted 5 years ago

    General drops across the boards, but it happened last week as well.

    replyreport
20. 89

    lobobrandonposted 5 years ago

    Also lost around 40 - 50% of my traffic.
    
    But this is not the image algorithm update that is hitting us, there's also another update happening. About this other update, we need to wait a bit more and study the sites being affected and the sites gaining. It seems to be a relevance update from my observations. I'm just going to explain a bit about what I read regarding the image update, which many of us could use to our benefit.
    
    The image algorithm has gotten a lot better and google is now being able to actually figure out what the image represents. In short: Google now kind of has eyes to look at the image themselves, and they do not totally depend on your caption or alt text (this is not surprising they were working towards this). Bonus points when your caption, alt text and content are related to your image.
    
    Google wants to show people images that belong to pages that have helpful content because then they are sure that the image actually represents what it says it does (alt and caption) or what Google thinks it represents (from scanning the image). So we all check one point here: images on pages with helpful content. The next thing, they want the images to be easily accessed on the page. When you click an image they don't want people to struggle to find that image on the page they land on (this has happened to me quite a few times). Therefore, they rank you better for image search if the image is closer to the top of the article and not hidden from plain sight (think of online stores where you click an arrow to see the next image).
    
    Made for pinterest images with text on them may help. Look up the images for green apple nutrition. I was ranking #1 or so over there for a long time. But now it's images with a nutrition label stuck on an apple. Similarly, I have noticed an increase in rankings on some of my made for Pinterest images with text on them. You don't have to make the images look as bad as the green apple nutrition images, but the usual Made for Pinterest images do well.
    
    For those who want to read another persons opinions and some related facts, check this out https://www.stanventures.com/blog/googl … explained/
    
    Conclusion:
    
    The image algorithm is not what is getting us unless you were getting like 30 - 50% of your traffic from image search (the average drop we are seeing). Some snippet positions may be lost due to a loss of image ranking, but again it should not account for 30% or so of our traffic. I see some gains for directly related terms, but drops when the article does not explicitly discuss a specific topic. Just mentioning something and not discussing it doesn't mean an article should rank for that term.
    
    The update is fresh, and it is very likely that some things roll back after they see the impact. So the drop may be temporary. I hope it is.

    replyreport
    1. 91

       Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you for being so through. It all seems strange to me, on my other account I rank for a term, and the made for pinterest image at the top of the page is in the top 5 in the image search, so I think your right about that helping. Previously, I understood that the text within an image would not be processed, but maybe now it is?
       
       Your right though, the images can't be causing this kind of traffic loss. I have articles on my other account that still has their first place ranking and or snippit, yet still lost a lot of traffic. Maybe it lost other keywords? I really don't know. I also hope this is temporary.

       replyreport
       1. 89

          lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          Yup, you're right. That article lost rankings on other keywords, just as mine did. That's what I meant by relevance.
          
          And Google can definitely read text on images, this is what most of us in the SEO space have been testing and debating about over the past year or so now.

          replyreport
          1. 84

             TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

             I've been using text on my first image in every article I write for quite some time now and then posting that image on Pinterest.  However, one problem I've seen over and over with the writings of others here is lack of focus.  They will start writing about something and then veer off topic. It's very easy to do, but can be disastrous for the creds of an article.  I used to tell my students that if you want to write about apples, don't start adding info about oranges!  One of the best ways to check this is to look at your subtitles.  They should be supportive of your topic and should tell a story.  If they don't, you need to rethink your article.

             replyreport
             1. 89

                lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                Yup. If you're going off topic, you should write a new article instead. Also, I find it best these days to write a new article if you think something could stand on its own.

                replyreport
    2. 95

       SmartAndFunposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for always giving such clear, helpful information.
       
       What is alt text?
       
       Also, will it help if we rename our images with a description of the photo rather than the code the camera assigns it? For example "hummingbirds at feeder" rather than "DSC_3025." I recall at one time this was encouraged, but then we were told never mind, HP changes the photo file names back to code, anyway. But that was several if not many years ago. Also it may be that I am misunderstanding ()

       replyreport
       1. 89

          lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          The Alt text is the text that shows in case an image fails to load. But Google uses this to understand what the picture represents because, by definition, it must and should be a description of the image.
          
          Here on HP, we do not have the option to enter a specific alt text. Instead they use our image captions as the alt text. If you look at any page source code ctrl+u or cmd+u and search for alt using the ctrl+f you will see that the alt is nothing but your caption.
          
          Yup, it's pointless renaming your images. I do this just for organisational purposes before I upload my images online, but if you look at the source URL of any of your images, they are hosted on another domain and have an alphanumeric file name: https://usercontent2.hubstatic.com/14084395_f520.jpg (the image from my SEO guide hosted on HP).

          replyreport
          1. 95

             SmartAndFunposted 5 years agoin reply to this

             More helpful and excellent information. Thank you!

             replyreport
21. 60

    Callim Murrayposted 5 years ago

    Personally I would not worry. Just a small hiccup and everything will right itself in a few days. These changes happen often so not to worry. Ride the highs and the lows.

    replyreport
    1. 91

       Bethieannieposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you for the reminder. I am just going to focus on creating unique and useful content. I am done wasting time worrying about it. I have learned what I can about the matter, that is that.

       replyreport
       1. 89

          lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          Exactly. Not much you can do about these changes.

          replyreport
    2. 95

       Kierstin Gunsbergposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       I think Callim is right. What I've noticed with these huge drops is that in another eight weeks I usually end up seeing traffic surges that hit high and hold steady until the next update. Just gotta ride this one out. It's still discouraging though. I read that blogs and news articles are being favored in this particular update (so far...)

       replyreport
22. 61

    paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

    Same here on the traffic drop. Resignation. No party lasts forever.
    
    That being said, there's a shot it's only temporary.

    replyreport
23. 89

    ziyenaposted 5 years ago

    Traffic may be dropping but my score per almost every article is gaining serious grounds  ... I'm wondering if it's because I revamped all photos by placing the article title in each of my main picture detail captions?

    replyreport
    1. 89

       lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       The internal hubpages score has no real significance. You can blindly ignore it.

       replyreport
       1. 89

          ziyenaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          Okay then lol

          replyreport
24. 92

    Sherry Hewinsposted 5 years ago

    Same here, and across all network sites. Healdove, Remedygrove, Spinditty, Dengarden...

    replyreport
25. 95

    Kierstin Gunsbergposted 5 years ago

    Lobo, same - but this happened to us over the summer once didn't it?

    replyreport
    1. 89

       lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       There have been many updates. Two big ones over the summer. We gained from the previous one. I don't really remember the effects of the first one. But it's all moving in the direction of giving the users what they want, I guess. Bing has been ranking my stuff and my own websites really well. Why don't people use bing much?

       replyreport
       1. 89

          ziyenaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          I've got quite a few hits from Bing today for just having published a few days ago ... I'm sure for someone as traffic savvy as you - who's always hitting the numbers that Bing is not such a big deal ... but there are people who can't stand to use Google - just keeping that in mind.  Sure would love that rank in Google!

          replyreport
          1. 89

             lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

             I definitely need to check out bing, stats etc. in detail. But like you say, google is where the traffic is.

             replyreport
26. 92

    Natalie Frankposted 5 years ago

    Views no down 40% and seeming to still  be falling.  Got to stop monitoring them and write instead but I seem to have a habit problem

    replyreport
27. 61

    paradigmsearchposted 5 years ago

    Still down,

    replyreport
28. 93

    Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

    I did a search for a product to compare a price for a dog toy and images came up that had nothing to do with the product. It was weird. I think Google is still trying to figure out this image thing.

    replyreport
    1. 87

       Jean Bakulaposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       My account page is still a sea of blue down arrows today.

       replyreport
       1. 92

          Jeremy Gillposted 5 years agoin reply to this

          My arrows are mostly blue as well, but my earnings drops wasn't as much as I'd expected. Then again, lobo seems to have suffered losses corresponding to his traffic decline, but it's worth checking out if you haven't already.
          
          We'll see how this weekend turns out, hopefully things will pick up.

          replyreport
29. 93

    Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

    My YouTube Channel has noticeably picked up.

    replyreport
30. 95

    Gregory DeVictorposted 5 years ago

    Historically, I receive the lowest number of page views on Saturdays. For today, my traffic is about half of what it would be on a “normal” Saturday.

    replyreport
31. 92

    Sherry Hewinsposted 5 years ago

    It looks like Google is confirming a “small” search ranking algorithm update this past week.
    https://searchengineland.com/google-con … eek-306103

    replyreport
    1. 89

       lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for the link.

       replyreport
32. 95

    Kierstin Gunsbergposted 5 years ago

    This morning I'm noticing that:
    
    1. Earnings have not been hit quite as hard as I thought they'd be considering the major drop in traffic
    
    2. My traffic is going back up now
    
    3. One of my medical-related articles has an uptick in traffic while everything else is seeing blue arrows.
    
    I think we'll recover from this one quickly. Although it felt "big" this past week, this does seem to be a small update in the scheme of Google updates.

    replyreport
33. 95

    CYong74posted 5 years ago

    I seem to be recovering too. After checking, most of my better articles are still in their usual spots on google.

    replyreport
    1. 84

       TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 years agoin reply to this

       Things here are looking up a bit, too.  Not as good as before but much better than a few days ago.

       replyreport
34. 93

    leahleflerposted 5 years ago

    I had the same decrease in traffic. These hiccups have happened in the past, so I will patiently wait and see if it recovers over the next week or so. I'm always sad to see blue arrows!

    replyreport
35. 93

    Kenna McHughposted 5 years ago

    My stats are going back to where they were slowly but surely. Yikes! Right at the end of the month, too!

    replyreport
36. 87

    Butterfly67posted 5 years ago

    My numbers have gone back up a bit today but then they normally go up on a Monday. But they are still about 30-40% down.

    replyreport
37. 97

    eugbugposted 5 years ago

    Same here. Visits 32% down from last Monday.

    replyreport
38. 91

    Rochelle Frankposted 5 years ago

    This supports the theory that stats are fickle and should be mostly ignored.

    replyreport
39. 95

    Kierstin Gunsbergposted 5 years ago

    This morning I'm noticing that my traffic is rebounding, slowly but surely, with an uptick on a medical article of all things (which don't see great traffic, in my case) and my WeHaveKids articles are suffering. With how quickly the slump is turning around though, I'm optimistic that this will be one of those updates that benefits us in the long run.

    replyreport
    1. 89

       lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

       I just came here to add a comment as well. My Caloriebee article is regaining some lost traffic. Just 25% lower than normal right now instead of 50% comparing the average HP 24 hours stats. I can do this simple comparison because this one receives near constant traffic whether it's weekdays or weekends and all through the year.

       replyreport
40. 95

    Kierstin Gunsbergposted 5 years ago

    That's good news, lobobrandon!

    replyreport