Pixotri Technologies: google algorithm updates

Showing posts with label google algorithm updates. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2015

Mobilegeddon Is Beginning, Not Ending

Google’s mobile friendly update came and went with a bit of a whimper, rolling out on April 21, 2015, to much fanfare and not much substance.

Part of this is because webmasters were so concerned about the impact of “mobilegeddon” that they finally did what they should have done in 2009 when Google announced blended mobile ranking. Google tells us that there was a 4.7% increase in mobile friendly sites in March and April as a result of this mobile friendly update, so a lot of people were scared enough of potential traffic loss to make their sites mobile friendly.

But then 4/21 came around, and the update was a lot tamer than its apocalyptic nickname implied. Those who monitor changes in rankings en masse didn’t see anything that would justify the Google quote about this update being more significant than Panda or Penguin. While it may have affected a lot of queries, it didn’t (as far as we know) level businesses the way that its predecessors did, and wasn’t “significant” in that sense.

Before we give a collective shrug to the idea of mobile friendly content, however, we should remember three things:

1. Businesses Lost Search Traffic As A Result Of Not Being Mobile Friendly

A new (to the U.S., at least) development resulting from the mobile friendly update is that, for certain queries, listings rank higher in smartphone search than they do in desktop search simply because the site that previously ranked higher is not mobile friendly.

If you still haven’t seen any examples of this, definitely check out Glenn Gabe’s growing list.

You can also see it pretty clearly using SEMRush. If I put in a site that I know is mobile-unfriendly — like our friend (and SEL Editor In Chief) Matt McGee’s U2 fan site, which he said on Mobilegeddon eve would be leveled by the mobile friendly update — we can see that it appears to have taken a little hit.

Not “leveled,” fortunately; but since it’s only 6% mobile-friendly according to SEMRush, we see smartphone rankings decreasing at a faster rate through the mobile update than desktop rankings.

The desktop rankings appear to remain constant, with the site losing only five “top three” search results since April 14.

On the other hand, the mobile rankings clearly trend downward, losing 43 “top three” search results since that time.

This is likely not accidental, but a result of Google’s mobile friendly update. Hopefully, Matt will update us in the future on how this affected traffic, but early results from SearchMetrics further demonstrate that there were clear winners and losers in this update.

The sky never fell, Chicken Little — but for some, it clearly rained.

2. Mobile Rankings Have Never Been More Different From Desktop Rankings Than They Are Right Now

Consider this: Back in 2011, one of the most popular and well-known SEOs in the world, Rand Fishkin, was not optimistic about the future of mobile SEO, predicting instead that mobile search rankings and desktop search rankings would converge, eliminating the need for a mobile website.

In fact, it has actually played out in the exact opposite way, with search results and queries diverging — not converging — over time. Even with smartphones having the ability to access content that computers can, search engines have optimized the search results for desktops and smartphones, and what we’re left with is smartphone search results that aren’t the same as what you’d see on a desktop or laptop.

This started well before the mobile friendly update. I’ve listed differences between mobile and desktop search results on Search Engine Land over the years, and in 2013, Google announced that they would start ranking pages with mobile site configuration errors lower in smartphone search results.

In June 2014, Bright Edge reported that mobile search results were 62% different than desktop results. SEO Clarity reported that this number was 67% prior to April 21 and climbed to as high as 73.1% following the mobile update. It has since stabilized a bit, with the last reported number at 69%, but it’s clear the mobile friendly update has only increased the already big difference between smartphone and desktop rankings.

3. It Will Only Get Worse For Those Not Optimized For Multiple Screens

And the genie is not going back in the bottle. If you’re hoping that Google will abandon their mobile-friendly algorithm, never say never, but it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. In fact, I respectfully disagree with my friend (and SEL editor) Barry Schwartz, who recently said that he thinks we’re seeing the worst of the mobile friendly update. Mobilegeddon, I think, is really just beginning.

Google has more of an incentive to continue to update search results for mobile searchers, as they recently announced that there are officially more smartphone than desktop searches in the U.S. As long as searchers continue to use their smartphones to search, and they are in growing numbers, Google will prioritize those searchers and attempt to give them the best experience.

This means that Google will continue to tweak their mobile-friendly algorithm over time, adding factors as they see it helps the mobile searcher.

Google’s Gary Ilyes confirmed to me just yesterday that we haven’t seen the last of the mobile friendly algorithm. When I asked him if mobile page speed would be the next factor in their mobile friendly algorithm, he said:

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We employ a variety of proven recommended techniques to increase your chance for top rankings.These include optimizing your website's page,content,and structure to drive traffic to your site for specific keyword research.Pixotri technology is a creative house developing quality web designs, E-Commerce solution. SEO services and Gaming development.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9xSWDsTYC8

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Google Says No Panda Update Happened This Past Weekend

There was a lot of speculation over the weekend, starting off on Friday morning and going through the weekend that there may have been a Panda or other Google update. Many SEOs and webmasters were asking if this was Panda related or something else.

I asked Google about it and they said no update happened over the weekend. Not just that there wasn’t a Panda update over the weekend, but there was no update over the weekend. Not Penguin, not top heavy, not any algorithm update.

Even after Google sent us the statement, there are still webmasters and SEOs not believing it. See the comments over here:

From where I stand, I see changes (sessions -10% to -20% and Serps variations) on 10 sites (10 countries) during the w-end. May not be panda updates, but something happened.

The webmaster and SEO discussion around this non Google update is still going on, and many webmasters are not understanding how there couldn’t have been an update.

Maybe this is related to other Google ranking changes that Google won’t disclose? It is hard to say but Google did say on record that there was no weekend update.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9xSWDsTYC8

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Google Adds 70 More Now Cards

Seventy new Now cards in the Google app provide even more information to Android users before they've had a chance to ask for it, according to a blog post from Google.

The search powerhouse introduced Google Now cards back in February, as a way for users to keep up with information from 40 different apps, including Pandora, eBay, and Airbnb. For example, when you turn your mobile Internet back on after a flight, a card from Lyft may remind you to order a car, while one from Instacart, which keeps track of frequently ordered items, may let you know that it's time to stock up on those items.

Some newly available apps include Spotify, OpenTable, Jawbone, ABC News, RunKeeper, YouTube, and Zipcar. Additionally, Now cards can remind users of local traffic, events, and public transit arrival times.

The number of Now cards partners is now 110, with a third wave of apps to be added in the near future. The feature is still only available in Google's Android app.

SEO solution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9xSWDsTYC8

The Mobile Search Survival Guide

With Google’s recent mobile algorithm update, businesses of all sizes are clamoring to remain relevant in Google mobile search. In fact, Google claims it has seen a 4.7 percent increase in mobile sites in the two months since its announcement regarding the mobile search update. That’s a huge increase when you consider the number of websites in Google’s index.

That also means there are a lot of websites that have not yet made the transition to mobile. If your website falls into this category, the Mobile Search Survival Guide will not only help you survive the mobilepocalypse, but dominate it. For those that made a hasty transition in reaction to Google’s announcement, mobile-friendly does not necessarily equate to user-friendly, and the Mobile Search Survival Guide is a good resource for you as well.

Step 1: Determine If Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly

First, test your website using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool. Note that this test is performed at the page-level, and not sitewide, which is also the case for Google’s mobile algorithm. So, test your homepage URL. In most cases, if your homepage isn’t mobile-friendly, the rest of your website probably isn’t, either. If the results come back that your site is not mobile-friendly, then it’s time to choose the right mobile-friendly solution. If your site is mobile-friendly, then skip to step three.

Step 2: Choose the Right Mobile-Friendly Solution

When it comes to mobile search, responsive Web design (RWD) is the optimal solution, and is also the solution recommended by Google. Try to avoid dedicated mobile websites as a solution, because you end up not only having to manage multiple websites (desktop and mobile), but you increase the chance for errors, such as faulty redirects between a desktop URL and its equivalent mobile URL. There is nothing worse than searching for something on a mobile device, tapping on the most relevant search result, only to be redirected to a mobile page that is completely irrelevant because the indexed content lives on a separate desktop site. Since RWD serves the same content to users regardless of device, faulty redirects are never an issue.

Step 3: Create High-Quality, User-Centric Content

Google uses more than 200 signals to determine the best search results. Mobile-friendliness is just one of them. High-quality content is still a crucial component of ranking well in mobile search, and more importantly, providing your visitors with a great user-experience. Without high-quality, user-centric content, Google does not care if your site is mobile-friendly. A well-designed, mobile-friendly website combined with high-quality user-centric content is a combination that will give your site premium placement in the mobile search results.

Step 4: Review Your Mobile Search Engagement and Conversion Data

Next, review the site’s mobile search engagement and conversion data, because even if your site passes Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s user-friendly. Note that Google’s mobile algorithm is specific to smartphones, and does not include tablets. So, when reviewing your traffic data for mobile, be sure to isolate for smartphone users. If your engagement and conversion metrics look good, then your site is both mobile-friendly and user-friendly. However, if the metrics are not as good as they should be, your site may have mobile user-experience issues.

Step 5: Diagnose and Correct Mobile User-Experience Issues

If you have a mobile-friendly site with poor engagement and conversion metrics from mobile search, it could be because you have a dedicated mobile site that’s failing to provide users with the content they’re searching for, or you may have a responsive website that loads too slow on mobile devices. Regardless of the exact reason(s), it’s likely a user-experience issue or a combination of issues. In addition to reviewing your traffic data, utilize Google’s Page Speed Insights tool to help diagnose the issue. This tool helps you determine if your site has page load speed issues on mobile devices and why. It also lets you know if the site contains mobile usability issues, and how to correct them.

Step 6: Resubmit to Google’s Index

Once your site is mobile-friendly, is filled with high-quality content, and mobile usability issues are resolved, resubmit the site to Google’s index by asking the search engine to crawl your site’s URLs via the Fetch as Google and Submit to Index tool within Google Webmaster Tools. Although Google will eventually crawl the new pages automatically, this tool can help expedite the process.

Step 7: Measure and Improve

At this point, you have a responsive website that passes Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, and receives high marks with Google’s Page Speed Insights. Furthermore, the website is loaded with high-quality content that your visitors actually want to read. The next step is to measure your mobile traffic engagement and conversion data over time to ensure that the website meets user expectations, and be prepared to make improvements as needed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, follow the steps outlined in the Mobile Search Survival Guide, and you will not only survive the mobilepocalypse, you’ll dominate it.

SEO solution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9xSWDsTYC8

Thursday, April 23, 2015

1 Day After Mobilegeddon: How Far Did the Sky Fall?

Even clinging to the once towering bridge, the only thing Kayce could see was desert. Yesterday, San Francisco hummed with life, but now there was nothing but the hot hiss of the wind. Google’s Mobilegeddon blew out from Mountain View like Death’s last exhale, and for the first time since she regained consciousness, Kayce wondered if she was the last SEO left alive.

We have a penchant for melodrama, and the blogosphere loves a conspiracy, but after weeks of speculation bordering on hysteria, it’s time to see what the data has to say about Google’s Mobile Update. We’re going to do something a little different – this post will be updated periodically as new data comes in. Stay tuned to this post/URL.

If you watch MozCast, you may be unimpressed with this particular apocalypse:

Temperatures hit 66.1°F on the first official day of Google's Mobile Update (the system is tuned to an average of 70°F). Of course, the problem is that this system only measures desktop temperatures, and as we know, Google's Mobile Update should only impact mobile SERPs. So, we decided to build a MozCast Mobile, that would separately track mobile SERPs (Android, specifically) across the same 10K keyword set. Here's what we saw for the past 7 days on MozCast Mobile:

While the temperature across mobile results on April 21st was slightly higher (73.7°F), you'll also notice that most of the days are slightly higher and the pattern of change is roughly the same. It appears that the first day of the Mobile Update was a relatively quiet day.

There's another metric we can look at, though. Since building MozCast Mobile, we've also been tracking how many page-1 URLs show the "Mobile-friendly" tag. Presumably, if mobile-friendly results are rewarded, we'll expect that number to jump. Here's the last 7 days of that stat:

As of the morning of April 22nd, 70.1% of the URLs we track carried the "Mobile-friendly" tag. That sounds like a lot, but that number hasn't changed much the past few days. Interestingly, the number has creeped up over the past 2 weeks from a low of 66.3%. It's unclear whether this is due to changes Google made or changes webmasters made, but I suspect this small uptick indicates sites making last minute changes to meet the mobile deadline. It appears Google is getting what they want from us, one way or another.

Tracking a long roll-out

Although Google has repeatedly cited April 21st, they've also said that this update could take days or weeks. If an update is spread out over weeks, can we accurately measure the flux? The short answer is: not very well. We can measure flux over any time-span, but search results naturally change over time – we have no real guidance to tell us what's normal over longer periods.

The "Mobile-friendly" tag tracking is one solution – this should gradually increase – but there's another metric we can look at. If mobile results continue to diverge from desktop results, than the same-day flux between the two sets of results should increase. In other words, mobile results should get increasingly different from desktop results with each day of the roll-out. Here's what that cross-flux looks like:

I'm using raw flux data here, since the temperature conversion isn't calibrated to this data. This comparison is tricky, because many sites use different URLs for mobile vs. desktop. I've stripped out the obvious cases ("m." and "mobile." sub-domains), but that still leaves a lot of variants.

Historically, we're not seeing much movement on April 21st. The bump on April 15-16 is probably an error – Google made a change to In-depth Articles on mobile that created some bad data. So, again, not much going on here, but this should give us a view to see compounding changes over time.

Tracking potential losers

No sites are reporting major hits yet, but by looking at the "Mobile-friendly" tag for the top domains in MozCast Mobile, we can start to piece together who might get hit by the update. Here are the top 20 domains (in our 10K data set) as of April 21st, along with the percent of their ranking URLs that are tagged as mobile-friendly:

en.m.wikipedia.org -- 96.3%

www.amazon.com -- 62.3%

m.facebook.com -- 100.0%

m.yelp.com -- 99.9%

m.youtube.com -- 27.8%

twitter.com -- 99.8%

www.tripadvisor.com -- 92.5%

www.m.webmd.com -- 100.0%

mobile.walmart.com -- 99.5%

www.pinterest.com -- 97.5%

www.foodnetwork.com -- 69.9%

www.ebay.com -- 97.7%

www.mayoclinic.org -- 100.0%

m.allrecipes.com -- 97.1%

m.medlineplus.gov -- 100.0%

www.bestbuy.com -- 90.2%

www.overstock.com -- 98.6%

m.target.com -- 41.4%

www.zillow.com -- 99.6%

www.irs.gov -- 0.0%

I've bolded any site under 75% – the IRS is our big Top 20 trouble spot, although don't expect IRS.gov to stop ranking at tax-time soon. Interestingly, YouTube's mobile site only shows as mobile-friendly about a quarter of the time in our data set – this will be a key case to watch. Note that Google could consider a site mobile-friendly without showing the "Mobile-friendly" tag, but it's the simplest/best proxy we have right now.

Changes beyond rankings

It's important to note that, in many ways, mobile SERPs are already different from desktop SERPs. The most striking difference is design, but that's not the only change. For examples, Google recently announced that they would be dropping domains in mobile display URLs. Here's a sample mobile result from my recent post:

Notice the display URL, which starts with the brand name ("Moz") instead of our domain name. That's followed by a breadcrumb-style URL that uses part of the page name. Expect this to spread, and possibly even hit desktop results in the future.

While Google has said that vertical results wouldn't change with the April 21st update, that statement is a bit misleading when it comes to local results. Google already uses different styles of local pack results for mobile, and those pack results appear in different proportions. For example, here's a local "snack pack" on mobile (Android):

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9xSWDsTYC8