Views are lower than ever: major Google algo updates happening

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   PaulGoodman67posted 3 years ago

   There are huge "algorithm tremors" happening, according to SE Roundtable. At least as much disruption as happened in the summer.
   
   We can only hope that we come out of this well.
   
   Link below for those interested:
   
   Google Search Ranking Algorithm Tremors Continue & It's Big

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      Kenna McHughposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      For the past couple of weeks, weekends are usually my lowest, so it's hard to discern the "termors."  I'll have to see how this week turns out.

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      chef-de-jourposted 3 years agoin reply to this

      Oh eck another Googlequake for goodness sake. Take a deep breath....

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   CYong74posted 3 years ago

   Yup. Big plunge since Fri.

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3. 68

   Shesabutterflyposted 3 years ago

   I have lost quite a bit of traffic over the last two weeks or so, but I'm honestly not surprised. I didn't expect my highs to last long.
   
   I'm more interested in the seemingly random articles that have popped up with more views than normal. The article page stats never equal what my account stats are, but I'm assuming most additional views are coming from Google. Odd that every couple of days a new article is spiking in views. It's not much considering most of these articles are seeing less than 5 views a day on average, but they are also random and unrelated to this time of year. I find it odd they would even be seeing an increase in views in the first place, especially given my top articles that are in season are seeing a huge decrease.

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   1. 69

      PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      The weird temporary spikes can often be the sign of algo tremors in my experience; either because Google are doing tests and sending traffic to certain articles to get more traffic to analyze, or just because of the general turbulence. That's my interpretation anyway.
      
      As this update, or series of updates, looks big, it might be weeks before we really know the full effects, I'm thinking.

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         Kenna McHughposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         It's like tracking mercury.

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         Shesabutterflyposted 3 years agoin reply to this

         That's interesting. I'll have to take note and see how they change in the near future and during other algo changes. One article seeing a spike is a Pethelpful article, which is a niche that has been getting quite a few changes recently. Makes sense Google might be picking some of those articles to test.
         
         I never expect traffic to stay stable for too long, but I'm always intrigued when seemingly random articles (to me anyway) see large increases for at least a few days.

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         1. 69

            PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

            Big Google updates barely used to happen once/year. Now they come along with alarming regularly. Although this recent one is supposedly over.
            
            I am maybe jaded about short-term traffic boosts. Unless they're enormous, I  don't feel like they make much impact on overall earnings.
            
            Sometimes an article will get a big boost from an algo change and the traffic will stay. But when it's just a couple of days of high traffic, I'm like, meh!

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               theraggededgeposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               Google variants?

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                  PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

                  Except virus variants start out as random mutations, while everything that Google does is deliberate.
                  
                  It's pretty grim what's happening with Google and HP really. I dread to think what late Jan and Feb will look like for earnings.
                  
                  I thought that I might be able to take up the slack with Medium, but after a bright start, earnings there have stagnated. It didn't help that they did away with the bonuses and modified their algo. It's much harder to "go viral" there now.
                  
                  I think I might have to cast my net wider...

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                     SerenityHaloposted 3 years agoin reply to this

                     I am also worried about January and February.

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               Shesabutterflyposted 3 years agoin reply to this

               I have the same feelings about traffic. Although I think the recent change in impressions could be a good thing for these traffic spikes.
               
               In the past short lived traffic changes haven't meant much, but I noticed a major earnings boost the first few days of Dec because of those changes. As long as cpm's do not drop too much, I'm hopeful for Jan/Feb.

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4. 69

   eugbugposted 3 years ago

   CPM mightn't drop much more at the start of Q1 (for me, currently its 33% down on last year). It seems to be fairly steady now from month to month compared to the way it used to drop at the start of quarters.

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      PaulGoodman67posted 3 years agoin reply to this

      True, but we lose the vast majority of the Amazon income after the first week or two of January. That's a big drop for me.
      
      I believe that the CPMs are lower for me in part because the product reviews and DIY articles aren't getting the views that they used to and they have the higher rates for ad income.
      
      It also leads to a flattening effect on the seasonal variation? That's my interpretation of why quarterly rates are changing less, anyway.

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