Google Algorithm Updates - 2022 Ongoing Discussion

[Taq]

Authority Hackers had a good podcast about this yesterday.

What you want to do is approach it scientifically, make a list of say 10 search results where you declined. Then for each of them decide which ranking factors to look at, be specific, word count, DA, ref domains, EAT (author box), H2/H3 keyword, outgoing affiliate links, ads on pages etc.

Then write down each of your metrics vs the top 10 site metrics.

Essentially do a manual Surfer SEO.

This would be something you could outsource as well or we could crowdsource it!

It's something that will certainly need to be done once the dust settles. So far I had one aged domain get hit, and one small site get hit. Different tactics and approaches.

Then I had one site skyrocket at the start of this update, it has since dropped to about 10% lower than it was before the update.

I think to know what is going on we will need mass input after the update.

 

[bernard]

It's something that will certainly need to be done once the dust settles. So far I had one aged domain get hit, and one small site get hit. Different tactics and approaches.

I was actually hit worse than I thought on a handful of my main keywords. Out of first page for all of them.

The only page that didn't decline and in fact improved a bit was a page I redid from the ground up because it couldn't make first page.

A bunch of new content also didn't decline.

That's a starting point I guess.

 

[mcfarlanek]

Found this;

I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts about this I understand most but it’s a bit technical.

 

[Taq]

The update is finished rolling out. I will let the dust settle before jumping to conclusions.

 

[Legit]

One thing that I found interesting is that the latest four articles I've published on my main website get indexed but are nowhere to be found in the top 100.

This is totally odd, I would at the bare minimum get to page 2 once indexed. These are all topics within my traffic tiers except for one, that's 1 or 2 tiers above.

I want to note, that might site hasn't been affected (traffic-wise) by this update, in fact.. it has been doing pretty well.

I will keep monitoring as I publish new content. One thing I would like to mention, these four articles were published In June 2022, anything prior to that is on the first page - the second page.

Totally weird, just wanted to share some insight on my awkward situation.

 

[zentrader99]

I was actually hit worse than I thought on a handful of my main keywords. Out of first page for all of them.

The only page that didn't decline and in fact improved a bit was a page I redid from the ground up because it couldn't make first page.

A bunch of new content also didn't decline.

That's a starting point I guess.

I also noticed this update might be focused on content.

Fatstacks have also written about this

----

This update is targeting AI content but it’s not just hitting pure AI content. It’s hitting all content the algo interprets as AI.

I’m sure there are many variables involved but in a nutshell, content that goes after keywords that were already established by another site with similar heading tags and info are getting pummelled.

Basically, it’s impacting sites that are “rewrites” of other sites. Replicas. Sites that go after the same keywords and publish content in the same format as other established sites. There’s nothing unique about them.

I have a hunch that the content optimizers aren’t helping. It’s just a hunch but think about it. Everyone now uses the same content optimizers that suggest the same headings and outlines as established articles.

The first to publish on a particular topic have no problems.

In fact, in a couple of my niches, established sites are faring just fine. It’s the “replica” sites that are getting smoked.

The established sites tend to (not always), publish more unique content. They are first to cover a keyword. If they go after an established keyword, they do so in unique ways with unique titles and content formats.

In fact, I noticed this trend after finding a few sites blatantly copying my content. Okay, they rewrote it but it was clear they basically copied it… headings, sections, etc.

These are were successful sites monetized with Mediavine probably earning well.

What does this mean?​

It’s simple. Stop copying other sites. Be unique. Publish something different. Don’t go the replica route.

https://fatstacksblog.com/may-2022-google-update-theory/

 

[bernard]

^ I agree about uniqueness being so important now, but I have some pages that are actual literal unique research, data, images etc, that go hammered and outranked by very basic content.

Seems also about increasing authority signals even more, which I think in my part of the world seems to be aged links. Aged contextually relevant links. It's not even the pure quantity or the DR/Page Rank. It's the 10+ years of history of the domain. It's so extremely valuable.

 

[mj22]

Ok, so i have been going through some of the competitors that are in niches i am competing in ( 2 have been pretty goofy as far as looking at anchor distribution), and i noticed 2 sites that are WAY high on targeting exact match anchor(s) (the main money keyword(s) in the niche). One is sitting at 80% and the other is at 60%. I havent been watching these too closely since im not ready to do battle yet for those rankings, but i noticed it and couldn't help but think how bad they are going to tank like a ton of bricks the next core update that focuses on the off site/off page side of things (refresh and adjustments that get rolled out). Which led me to write this post.

Obviously this one targeted on page/site factors, its only a matter of time before another one rolls out targeting off page/site factors. I guess this is just a friendly reminder that while everyone is over here looking at "this", dont forget to pay attention to "that" over there (your link profile). If you have been running your anchor distribution hot, i would work on getting some more generic/natural/branded/naked url anchors to your targets just to be on the safe side before the next one hits....

 

[mcfarlanek]

Hey I noticed one of my sites seems to back to normal traffic levels in GA for tge past 4 hours.

The site was hit huge in this past update so I’m hoping this turn around sticks.

maybe some hope for others impacted?

 

[tyealia]

Hey I noticed one of my sites seems to back to normal traffic levels in GA for tge past 4 hours.

The site was hit huge in this past update so I’m hoping this turn around sticks.

maybe some hope for others impacted?

Sling me some of that hopium maifren. I am still down to only 20% of my preupdate traffic seems to be stabilized at that drop now with no signs of relief. I did have a 40% hit in april and then 3 weeks later a recovery, so theres still hope in a week things turn around but not looking good.

 

[bernard]

It's quite strange for me because I'm down by quite a bit on rankings but my traffic improved and earnings have fallen off. From what I can tell, I've improved a lot on mixed intent keywords, but declined on reviews.

This seems true on Ahrefs keywords. I'm up on my broad keywords but declined quite a bit on reviews, though they were already most out of the top 5, so it doesn't matter that much.

I listened to Marie Haynes (?) podcast who talked about this being a lot about changing intent and also how sites would lose or gain in very specific keywords or intents.

 

[tyealia]

It's quite strange for me because I'm down by quite a bit on rankings but my traffic improved and earnings have fallen off. From what I can tell, I've improved a lot on mixed intent keywords, but declined on reviews.

This seems true on Ahrefs keywords. I'm up on my broad keywords but declined quite a bit on reviews, though they were already most out of the top 5, so it doesn't matter that much.

I listened to Marie Haynes (?) podcast who talked about this being a lot about changing intent and also how sites would lose or gain in very specific keywords or intents.

Yeah listened to that podcast as well, i just wish it applied to me i have sites using same build and dame type of content that gained and ones that were hit site wide like the one i mention, all keyword wether review or info were hit for this particular one, almost felt like a manual penalty. Who knows at the end of the day if the machine learning is assigning an overall trust to a site.

 

[zentrader99]

^ I agree about uniqueness being so important now, but I have some pages that are actual literal unique research, data, images, etc, that go hammered and outranked by very basic content.

Does your site have a stronger/weaker link profile than the competitor with basic content?

 

[bernard]

Does your site have a stronger/weaker link profile than the competitor with basic content?

That depends on how you define weaker link profile.

I lack aged links from editorial sites. Most of the competitors are on expired domains.

 

[mj22]

That forbes page i mentioned before is doing the "crappie flop" again, they must be tweakin some more shit lol.

 

[OnlineDopamine]

^ I agree about uniqueness being so important now, but I have some pages that are actual literal unique research, data, images etc, that go hammered and outranked by very basic content.

Seems also about increasing authority signals even more, which I think in my part of the world seems to be aged links. Aged contextually relevant links. It's not even the pure quantity or the DR/Page Rank. It's the 10+ years of history of the domain. It's so extremely valuable.

Same here. Been outranked by a high DR site (90) on one of my major keywords where I was actually the first one to publish a post on. They went after some of my other keywords as well.
The only thing that separates their article from mine is freshness (updated mine October '21, theirs was published March '22).
I'm going to update those very same articles, see if I can reclaim my rankings, and report back to y'all.

 

[bernard]

I'm going to update those very same articles, see if I can reclaim my rankings, and report back to y'all.

You probably can.

Here's an example of a commercial keyword that was stuck for a long time outside the top 5, but bounced into the top 3 immediately after updating content.

I listened to a podcast about Query Deserves Freshness recently, which it was claimed it only relates to trending topics, but it seems obvious to me that content that is regularly updated does better now. Most recent reviews get a big boost.

 

[Taq]

Google seems to have fixed the bug. Many people have got back most of their rankings and traffic.

 

[mcfarlanek]

Mine was back last Friday, great over the weekend then tanked again Monday afternoon.

So stressful.

starting to feel like an abused puppy, cowering in the corner,

 

[Taq]

Mine was back last Friday, great over the weekend then tanked again Monday afternoon.
So stressful.

It's tough watching this update. Mine gained some serps back but not much traffic.

I feel Google is still working frantically behind the scenes on this update. Let's hope for the best, or at least to figure out what the hell this update was about.

 

[Augustus]

Mine was back last Friday, great over the weekend then tanked again Monday afternoon.

So stressful.

starting to feel like an abused puppy, cowering in the corner,

I experienced the same thing.

I thought I recovered and was super happy for a minute.

 

[OnlineDopamine]

Semrush Sensor at 8.5 - something's cooking up again.

 

[mcfarlanek]

So I was thinking after both my sites were destroyed from the latest update.

Whether I agree or even understand it, it just doesn’t make sense.

Why would an established and clean site lose rankings overnight, get them back for 4 days, then lose them again.

All in the span of two weeks.

So I’ve been thinking.

If My content was good enough to hold exactly 2,184 rankings in the top 1- 3 as of May 16 and held those spots for years!

Then over night, those same pages don’t show up anywhere in the top 100 SERP positions for those same keywords.

Like gone! Disappeared,

What’s the issue?

Is my content so garbage that a page about NASCAR is more relevant than my page about coffee?

Or is it my site?

I’m starting to think Google has penalized my entire site.

Why?

We’ll, when I look at the sites ranking on page 10 for example.

It’s garbage!

pages and sites that have nothing to do, AT ALL, with the term searched, are ranking.

Like you search for “Coffee” and get sites about NASCAR.

Surely my page that was targeting the keyword would show “somewhere” in the top 100 before a site and page that is not even relevant to the term searched.

So here’s what I’m going to try.

Im going to take some of the content on my “penalized” site and move it to a new domain to see if it will rank.

obviously I won’t move over my top performing content yet….

I’ve already bought a new domain, got it lightning fast and moved over two articles and cleaned them up.

My plan is to move about 10 articles, that are all part of the same topic cluster.

I’m also not submitting the site to GSC.

Just waiting to see if it gets indexed.

What do you all think?

love to hear some thoughts.

Mod Note: Please, for the love of god, nobody ever format their posts like this ever again.

 

[JamaicanMoose]

You're reacting emotionally. Wait a couple of months to see if Google does a correction before doing something so drastic.

 

[Potatoe]

@mcfarlanek

Listen to the Wise Moose.

Take a deep breath.

Pour a glass of water.

Sip it.

Pay attention to your breath.

Feel the water flowing through your body.

Pause.

Write an article.

Post it.

Wait.

Just chill.

Chill for a week, a month, a couple months.

See where things land.

Keep posting. Keep pressing P.