Some observations about the latest Google core updates

[agentblue]

There's been a lot of discussion about the latest google core updates, with many trying to figure out what changed.

but it looks to me like they may have rolled it back whatever it was (for many at least)

See some examples here:

http://volatilitynow.com/tools/out.php?d=viking-direct.co.uk&s=222
http://volatilitynow.com/tools/out.php?d=cashconverters.co.uk&s=222
http://volatilitynow.com/tools/out.php?d=bdo.co.uk&s=222

 

[SuperLinks]

They absolutely rolled it back, I'm seeing all of the changes across hundreds of different niches/keywords back to previous rankings prior to the core update. They also have seemed to "freeze" the results as nothing is moving as it usually does since the roll back.

My guess is they were testing something, potentially Penguin, as they've done in the past and reverted it back to verify and analyze the results.

 

[ThopHayt]

I don't think its a roll back necessarily. It COULD be the effects of the full roll out.

IE: They rolled across your site... it lowered it. Now they've rolled across competitors sites and it moved them back too. The effect can look like a roll BACK without being a roll back.

Or it could be tinkering.

But I feel a roll back is the least likely scenario. Google isn't a bunch of idiots, a roll back sounds like an 'oops' to me and that is more rare than other possibilities.

 

[Cedric Heyward]

Yea, some of my safe sites also experienced this.

I hope, I am not about to tank any sooner Lol!

 

[SoccerLover]

All my Serp didn't moved, I was hoping to get a bit down..
They stand still from the start though

 

[blackbeans]

Well, if they did roll it back, that should get people worried more than if they let the changes stand.

I hope you see where I'm coming from.

It seems that Google is trying to look for patterns and if they rolled back the old results, then this means that they might have found what they're looking for.

The next change to the core algorithm might be even more devastating because of the patterns detected.

I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but given the huge amount of money involved, it's much better to be cautious rather than think you escaped the axe.

We might all want to consider this as an advance warning.

If anything, people who got hit really hard, should start building alternative networks and alternative bands as soon as possible.

 

[SuperLinks]

I don't think its a roll back necessarily. It COULD be the effects of the full roll out.

IE: They rolled across your site... it lowered it. Now they've rolled across competitors sites and it moved them back too. The effect can look like a roll BACK without being a roll back.

Or it could be tinkering.

But I feel a roll back is the least likely scenario. Google isn't a bunch of idiots, a roll back sounds like an 'oops' to me and that is more rare than other possibilities.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. As stated I track thousands of different campaigns and have seen evidence of a complete revert on all of the changes that were rolled out from this core update. One thing I noticed was a huge shift for brand related/company related search terms, which are now back to previous SERPs. Brand related search terms saw a huge influx of business directories moving up and related TLDs starting to rank that had never ranked before. For example a US based company with another site in an international TLD (.com.au) start ranking next to the brand domain in which that domain was never ranking in Google's US based search results. I also saw a significant loss for review & scam related sites that don't utilize subdomains, for example RipOffReport where as PissedConsumer saw a nice bump.

This isn't the first time I've seen Google roll out an update on a large subset for a week/weekend and then revert back shortly thereafter. Thinking about it from Google's perspective it makes sense, internal tools can only go so far where as real time data and CTR information can help tremendously at looking at the real time effects of an update.

Do you have any evidence that shows a change in rankings from that core update and more importantly those changes have stuck over the past week or two?

 

[Jumbuck1976]

I think it's way too early to be thinking about roll backs.

Leave it a few weeks, Google always messes about with a major change in the weeks after.

 

[Ch3Mik]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. As stated I track thousands of different campaigns and have seen evidence of a complete revert on all of the changes that were rolled out from this core update. One thing I noticed was a huge shift for brand related/company related search terms, which are now back to previous SERPs. Brand related search terms saw a huge influx of business directories moving up and related TLDs starting to rank that had never ranked before. For example a US based company with another site in an international TLD (.com.au) start ranking next to the brand domain in which that domain was never ranking in Google's US based search results. I also saw a significant loss for review & scam related sites that don't utilize subdomains, for example RipOffReport where as PissedConsumer saw a nice bump.

This isn't the first time I've seen Google roll out an update on a large subset for a week/weekend and then revert back shortly thereafter. Thinking about it from Google's perspective it makes sense, internal tools can only go so far where as real time data and CTR information can help tremendously at looking at the real time effects of an update.

Do you have any evidence that shows a change in rankings from that core update and more importantly those changes have stuck over the past week or two?

I also found a weird behaviour regarding TLDs and even language. For some keywords/niches, 6-7 out 10 sites on top 10 on Google.es were English, foreign sites. That doesn't make sense at all


Then, things got back to normal.