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I may have missed a small Google update, unconfirmed update, that happened on June 27th/28th and there may have been an update this weekend on July 5th.
There are two different threads at WebmasterWorld with discussion about both updates. This thread is talking about the June 27th/28th update and this thread is on the update from July 5th.
There is not a lot of chatter around it but there seems to be enough. It might be related to manual actions, but many say they do not have manual actions in Google Webmaster Tools. I doubt it was a big algorithm change because the chatter is not that high on either day. July 5th chatter may be specific to the July 4th weekend and less internet traffic happening. But June 27th/28th might be a link penalty or something else. I am unsure.
The tracking tools mostly show activity on the July 5th but very little on June 28th. Here are the charts from Mozcast, SERP Metrics, SERPs.com and Algoroo:
Did you notice any updates on June 28th and/or July 5th?
Comments:
seddek
07/07/2014 01:47 pm
yes there was an update thankfully it had a positive impact
Art Linkbetter
07/07/2014 01:49 pm
Surprised no one mentioned till now. Saw site skyrocket for some terms over weekend (when no one online) only to return to lower serps in time for business hours this morning.
Donna D. Fontenot
07/07/2014 01:55 pm
Saw a couple of sites rebound from Panda hits somewhat on July 5th. Not a full recovery, but a very significant uptick.
BBEX Ninja
07/07/2014 02:18 pm
I also saw a site that was hit by Panda 4.0 rebound in the last few days.
Sean
07/07/2014 03:19 pm
They're constantly tweaking Panda 4.0 because it was a a disaster. They need to roll it back completely before everyone just starts using Bing. PS: Is anyone else noticing hundreds of searches where separate Wikipedia results are taking up the top two positions for Search Results? That's just lazy on Google's part, and its frustrating as hell as a cunsumer.
StevenLockey
07/07/2014 03:47 pm
Our major sites now sitting at #1 for all main keywords! (Not their name either) Quite a few others improved as well. Seeing improvements for quite a few white-hat sites with the dodgier ones dropping down lower.
Adam
07/07/2014 04:15 pm
Ha, people aren't going to start using bing because a few sites got penalized by panda. The average user doesn't even know what SEO is, let alone panda 4. Not to mention Googles market share has stayed consistently dominant this past DECADE. As much as I would like people to switch to Bing solely because of how easy it is to rank sites....it's not going to happen any time soon....if ever.
Sean
07/07/2014 05:30 pm
The idea that Google has a permanent monopoly in search is silly. The web is littered with once powerful companies we thought would never be knocked off their perch and they fell anyway. AOL, MYSPACE, Digg, Netscape... If you give people a low quality product they will find something better and there is no barrier to switching in search.
Rameshwor
07/07/2014 06:03 pm
I think they should completely remove Wikipedia from search because Wikipedia is just as popular and 99% of the google searchers always seperately search Wikipedia and almost everyone who knows google knows Wikipedia. Alternatively they can display Wikipedia results on sidebar "below ads if any ". That would give better chance for extra URLs to show in regular results on the first page. Also, decreasing word count in meta description, making it just one line can give room for few URLs from 2nd page to the first. Everybody is a winner. Not so?
Adam
07/07/2014 06:24 pm
I don't disagree with you that powerful companies can be knocked down. But compared to the competition, Google is not giving a low quality product. There may be some phrase exceptions here and there, but Bing (or any other competing engine) would have to seriously step it up in order to unseat Google. I'm not saying Bing is bad, but they have to be better than what they currently are. People are creatures of habit, they aren't going to switch unless they have a very compelling reason. Add to the fact that Google is core in over half or more of all mobile devices, the chance of that happening is slim to none. Even people that publicly hate Google, secretly still use it. Numbers don't lie. I'm not saying it's impossible, but very very improbable. And if Google does die out, I guarantee it won't be by a slightly better/worse search engine like Bing, it will need to be a new concept altogether to get people to switch.
Tian_Mian
07/07/2014 06:54 pm
The regular monthly graduate Panda refresh?
James
07/07/2014 07:21 pm
Hey Barry, Can you tell us Why Google stops Goo.gl url shorting service ??? !!!
goo.gl
07/07/2014 07:38 pm
works for me... what problem have you got with it?
Yo Mamma
07/07/2014 11:06 pm
When you're wrong ADAM, you're wrong. People use Google by habit only and hate using it. They also find little spice in any part of G$$GLE and no longer trust anything they say or any product they offer. Apple, on the other hand they love. But there too, Apple is as good as their next iphone
Yo Mamma
07/07/2014 11:08 pm
"Our major sites now sitting at #1 for all main keywords" lol I actually like some of the sites I saw Lockey. Fast Fuel was a nice one and All Chefs too. You need to keep up the hard work 30 year older :-)
Tim Dugan
07/08/2014 01:29 am
Yup, I saw some rankings jumping around - I saw a number of my target terms bump up few spots over the weekend at some point.
Adam
07/08/2014 02:33 am
Wait, let me get this straight. You believe the general population hates using Google products? Based on your previous comments, I know you harbor some serious anger management issues towards Google...but you cannot seriously believe that the general population shares that opinion. The ONLY people I know that have any hatred towards Google are a few SEO's that have been penalized in the past, or a couple family members / friends that own iPhones and only dislike Google because they compete with Apple in the mobile market. Superficial stuff that doesn't mean anything. Most people just don't care enough to have an opinion and Google happens to be their default engine on their browser, and it works well so they use it. End of story. There's no dislike, no hate, no tin-foil hat distrust paranoia. Btw - If you're using Google by habit AND hate using it, then stop using it. You don't form a habit by doing something you hate. That's silly. Not that this has anything to do with the article =)
StevenLockey
07/08/2014 08:32 am
Wow, talk about sites that haven't changed in years. Neither of them have had any work in an long time. I don't even know who built them they were made that long ago and they have barely been touched since. And no, I don't say which sites they are without asking the client permission first because I respect our clients. Not that I'd probably post them here even with permission, too many people who are just want to cause mischief and slag people off rather than actually have a discussion about SEO.
StevenLockey
07/08/2014 09:42 am
@Adam - Hes either a troll or seriously deluded, one of the two.
Upendra Kumar Chansoria
07/08/2014 10:05 am
Hey, I didn`t get any positive or negative impact on website during these days.
seosanjayupadhyay
07/08/2014 11:32 am
yes i saw some ups and down but that was minor changed
Henk Maas SEO Baas
07/08/2014 11:42 am
No.
Antonio del Drago
07/08/2014 12:14 pm
Hey Barry, With Matt Cutts away on leave, do you think that we'll see a Penguin refresh? Or will we have to wait until his return? It's been 9 months since the last refresh, and if we have to wait for his return, it will be a year between refreshes. That seems kind of cruel when you consider how many websites have conducted cleanups in hopes of recovering from Penguin, but need a refresh to recover.
Barry Schwartz
07/08/2014 12:16 pm
I believe we will.
Patti Paz
07/08/2014 12:25 pm
Am I so far off base when I declare that Matt WON'T be back. It just a way for him to slowly fade away.
cruel-google
07/08/2014 12:40 pm
I don't think Matt has the monopoly on cruelty at Google. I am sure they are more than capable of that function.
Yo Mamma
07/08/2014 01:21 pm
"The ONLY people I know that have any hatred towards Google are a few SEO's that have been penalized in the past" you obviously are not informed. Some examples of those that have a stiffy for G$$gle. How about the those that consider G$$gle guilty of copyright infringement of millions of hard-copies they dumped onto the web? How about the those that consider G$$gle guilty of aiding and abetting the distribution of child porno? How about the those that consider G$$gle guilty of dominating the internet? Here is an example: Craig Hamilton-Parker wrote today: "So many great sites are falling by the wayside. I am now writing traditional printed books again because you just cannot get your voice heard on the web any more. Google takes us backward in time." How about the those that consider G$$gle guilty of defrauding the public trust? How about the those that consider G$$gle guilty of violating their rights to privacy when information that is OLD and IRRELEVANT is constantly aired to the world when new information is ignored? THE EU fixed that, but not in America How about the those that consider G$$gle guilty of invading and spying on their email accounts when they decided to target ADWORDS to their gmail accounts? And not to forget the millions of users that try in vain to get hold of the non-existent G$$gle CUSTOMER SERVICE Just a few examples of some that may have an issue with G$$gle
Yo Mamma
07/08/2014 01:22 pm
Lockey, you still need to drop those nuts to get an opinion. You're not fully matured at 30 - Englishmen included, actually especially
Yo Mamma
07/08/2014 01:24 pm
Yeah, we must always be vigilant in not exposing our clients, especially when you blah blah on the internet
StevenLockey
07/08/2014 01:24 pm
Or both it seems
Guest
07/08/2014 01:32 pm
Yes, yes, indeed, both nuts
Antonio del Drago
07/08/2014 01:38 pm
Even if they're not saying it, a lot of people are wondering the same thing. This kind of thing happens in workplaces all the time. An executive takes an extended leave of absence, and never returns. It's a way to bow out gracefully. As for whether or not that will happen with Matt, only time will tell. He seems like a really good guy, so I hope that he comes back.
Bob
07/08/2014 01:41 pm
This is clearly Matt Cutts at work - he hasn't gone away at all, he's just uploaded his consciousness direct into Google's servers for further control.
Patti Paz
07/08/2014 02:24 pm
Are we writing about the SAME Matt Cutts??
F1 Steve
07/08/2014 02:44 pm
He seems like a really nice guy? So did Rolf Harris for 60 years across the U.K. and Australia to millions of people! Yet he has just been sent down for being a pedo for the past 60 years! I suggest you people stop being so naive, you don't know anyone in the public eye! I say to the people who think they know how to judge a corporate mouth piece based on a few YouTube videos, tweets and conference appearances, wake up, he was paid to come across as nice you twits, sheesh!
Francisco
07/08/2014 03:44 pm
On my end I see a big spike in organic traffic that started July 6th. Saturdays always suck. Mondays are the best. But my Sunday had spiked to my Monday's volume.
Google Penalties
07/08/2014 09:05 pm
This is the best statement ever! Love it! Made me laugh!
Google Penalties
07/08/2014 09:17 pm
I concur, does my head in how brain washed so many people are believing Google is Good? There have been hundreds of thousands of business broken by G$$gle. Yep, all great empires fall and I prey ( sorry got carried away with the thought of G$$gle viewing small businesses as prey) pray, I am still alive to see it.
Yogita Aggarwal
07/09/2014 02:45 am
Even I feel because from last 3-4 days, i can see the improved organic traffic for my blog. Happy!!!
Yogita Aggarwal
07/09/2014 02:49 am
Yes, After all Matt clearly mentioned in the latest blog post "And just to reiterate, the webspam team is in great hands while I’m out."
Matt_agarwalla
07/09/2014 06:07 am
I love you janu!
yo yo dine
07/09/2014 09:37 am
Nice work Barry. At least you get rid of the previous Google update image. This one is better.
yo yo dine
07/09/2014 09:41 am
Nice reminder. Otherwise I was thinking of spamming the hell out of big G. :P
Karen Huelsmann
07/09/2014 02:57 pm
Google likes to do updates on the Holidays, when were not around. Checking things when I came back to work and I noticed doing a manual backlink check: link:http://www.domain.com in Google that different backlinks are being picked up. Some competitors have more and some have less. Also, mozcast shows high for Saturday, July 5.
Parthiban Raja
07/09/2014 03:56 pm
Wow!, My organic traffic of my blog dramatically increased, Thank you Google for this update..
ALC
07/09/2014 06:15 pm
I figured something happened, which is frustrating because for all of June and up until the last couple days I had felt like I was making some serious progress only to see traffic drop off for the last few days. I was hoping it was just an anomaly because of the holiday and summer season, but I really don't think I could drop that much because of the season or the July forth holiday.
Salar
07/10/2014 06:38 pm
same problem with my site... now what we have to do? to make our site traffic good..?? any idea about that
ALC
07/11/2014 04:11 am
Actually I am not sure now. I just saw some of my traffic comeback today, not all, but not quite as bad as the last few. I say just sit on it through the weekend at the very least , if not another week. This threw me for a loop a bit though because every time google did this it benefited me, it didn't hurt. I went through all my analytics looking at dates and the numbers did show a slight drop when a change was made followed by a slow increase that continued on and gave me an overall pick up of around 20% more than before it happened.
Sophia Moors
07/15/2014 05:28 am
yes...it's true
Mahesh Gupta
07/21/2014 08:06 am
I have also dramatic change in My organic traffic .....But i think Google always do best !!!
Mahesh Gupta
07/21/2014 08:10 am
oh yes... i m also feel and pleasure with my client website>>!
Mike Bull
07/21/2014 02:21 pm
Hi - has anyone seen traffic return since dropping off on june 28?
Mike Bull
07/21/2014 02:40 pm
In addition to my question below, I am also wondering if anyone has lost traffic to a website which does not have a blog
Mike Bull
07/21/2014 02:42 pm
Hi ALC .... has the traffic continued to return?
ctmartin
07/21/2014 11:36 pm
I have seen a huge drop the week after July 5... about 60% of my traffic. Not a backlink issue, and no blog involved.
Faim Uddin
07/22/2014 04:35 am
Nothing Happened with my blog traffic.. No UP No DOWN...
ALC
07/24/2014 02:43 am
Actually it has. I would also say if you haven't checked your google analytics admin. panel in a good long while you might want to check that. In my case I got a message about a week ago that 2 pages came up missing tracking info. I found the entire code had changed at some point. So that might have been part of my loss and I didn't catch it until I got that notice a week or two later.