Going by the signs of change in SEO during this month (November 2019). It is evident that a Google update is underway. Numerous sites across various niches have felt the impact of the update. They are mostly negative, barring a few winners among the spam community. According to forensic expert Alan Bleiweiss’ tweet, who monitors 47 sites, the effects of the update were evident in all the websites. It is ranging from mental health to recipes and from travel booking to skincare, to name a few.
The recipe blogger niche is a highly organized community. It was the first to notice the update. The websites of all sizes and repute, small, medium, and big sites all experienced a massive 30% and more drop in traffic. The update is still rolling out, and one must wait until its completion to measure the impact. Google may say something about it even though it would be a very rare occasion because usually, Google does not announce updates expect for exceptionally high impacting ones.
First-time casualties
Google does not target any specific niches or websites through its updates. It affects almost one and all but in different ways. It is with the majority experiencing the adverse effects and a few seeing positive results. However, the current November update is special for some websites that reported that never there had been any effect of the earlier updates on these websites, which have now become first-time casualties.
A member belonging to the group named SEO Signals Lab Facebook group shared a similar experience. A seven-year-old website belonging to a member of the group that had been at the top for three years has now suddenly found its rank shifted to the second and third page of the search result. Another Facebook member reported a 20% decline in organic traffic but no change in ranking. In general, the reports of loss in the ranking are much higher.
Streaks of positivity
Members of Proper SEO Facebook group, self-professed ‘grey hat’ practitioners, focused on Private Blog Networks (PBN) links see positivity in the update. The Admin of the group admitted that there had been an upswing for all the keywords. Another member expressed satisfaction over the week to week improvement in sales to the tune of 30%. Some other members appreciated huge gains in changes that happened to Google Local.
Google updates always have specific issues in focus as proved time and again through its earlier updates, and this time too. There is no reason to see it differently. Therefore, anyone who thinks that the update aims at some specific niches is entirely wrong. Barring a few exceptions, targeting specific industries has never been on Google’s agenda.
Looking across the vast SEO horizon, it will become clear that the update has affected a wide range of site topics. Considering that most of the updates focus on relevance to understanding better the significance of web pages, a better understanding of user queries, and a link signal, we must wait for better clarity and, if possible, hear from Google to know the intent behind the update.
