MatthewWoodward
Senior Member
- Aug 31, 2012
- 997
- 1,728
Hey,
Here's a quick tip that will allow you to check if Google's search engine evaluators have visited your site.
In summary:
Create a new custom Google analytics segment that looks like this:
Then set the date range to the last 10 years and check if you have ever had a visit.
if you have had a visit, it will look like this-
If that is the case:
Drill down to the page level (Behaviour > Site content > All pages)
Then set the secondary dimension to “full referrer”-
This will allow you to see exactly which page they reviewed and when.
At this point you should also check how this visit relates to your organic traffic.
If there is a traffic spike you’ve likely passed:
If there is a decrease you may have failed:
But please don't take this as conclusive evidence.
So far I have reviewed 30x sites that confirm there is a pattern worth investigating (more on that in a minute)
And other people are finding similar patterns-
Unfortunately Twitter has become a bit of a sling fest and the conversation devolved into mansplaining and other irrelevant issues.
So I am hoping the BHW community can step up and act maturely.
This is what I have learned so far-
But for now, I want to be clear-
So please go and setup the custom Google Analytics segment and report back with what you find!
Let's not devolve into the idiocracy of Twitter and let the data do the talking.
Because honestly when I think about it:
I cannot think of 1 ranking signal that SHOULD be stronger than a unanimous decision by a group of humans.
It's how we judge the Olympics, it's how we judge the UFC, it's how we judge criminals...
So why not search results as well?
Please report back with your findings BHW!
Here's a quick tip that will allow you to check if Google's search engine evaluators have visited your site.
In summary:
Create a new custom Google analytics segment that looks like this:
Then set the date range to the last 10 years and check if you have ever had a visit.
if you have had a visit, it will look like this-
If that is the case:
Drill down to the page level (Behaviour > Site content > All pages)
Then set the secondary dimension to “full referrer”-
This will allow you to see exactly which page they reviewed and when.
At this point you should also check how this visit relates to your organic traffic.
If there is a traffic spike you’ve likely passed:
If there is a decrease you may have failed:
But please don't take this as conclusive evidence.
So far I have reviewed 30x sites that confirm there is a pattern worth investigating (more on that in a minute)
And other people are finding similar patterns-
Unfortunately Twitter has become a bit of a sling fest and the conversation devolved into mansplaining and other irrelevant issues.
So I am hoping the BHW community can step up and act maturely.
This is what I have learned so far-
- All 30 sites showed sharp increases or decreases in organic traffic after a review took place
- All 30 sites were affected purely on a page level
- All of these examples span 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018
- There is no correlation of traffic increases/decreases with known algorithm updates
- The search engine evaluator team do a great job and in my opinion are 100% right in their decisions of promoting/demoting sites (assuming that is what is actually happening)
- A site that received a review and had no significant change in organic traffic
- An example from 2019
But for now, I want to be clear-
- In this moment - many people are seeing similar patterns. This doesn't confirm anything but it does give us an avenue to investigate further
- This has nothing to do wit Google’s in house web spam team. This purely focuses on the external “quality raters” that Google contracts out to other companies.
So please go and setup the custom Google Analytics segment and report back with what you find!
Let's not devolve into the idiocracy of Twitter and let the data do the talking.
Because honestly when I think about it:
I cannot think of 1 ranking signal that SHOULD be stronger than a unanimous decision by a group of humans.
It's how we judge the Olympics, it's how we judge the UFC, it's how we judge criminals...
So why not search results as well?
Please report back with your findings BHW!
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