Google SERP Dancing Possible June 2008

Google SERP Dancing Possible June 2008

According to Webmasters World Google SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) are returning fewer results for specific queries, pointing to possible Google SERPs update. The speculations for such changes are that, it may be due to the quality control practices employed by Google, or it can also be a human-error.

Another concern is cache related, where the cache date is current but the cache pages are about one to three months old. In some cases, cache pages aren't being displayed at all. Such as in case of google.co.uk, users are experiencing ranking changes (increased ranks), that is being attributed to the quantity of links rather than quality of links. Some reports suggest that a lot of irrelevant information is being displayed in the first page of Google SERP, information that is in no way related to search query.

Let us see what the Webmasters at the 'Webmaster World' have to say about this possible update:

“I've wondered too as to why some search terms are affected more than others and some result pages are changing around while other barely move.

Has anyone seen any relationship between how popular a search the term is and how much movement is going on?

As to when it will end I don't think we can predict as nothing quite like this has gone on before”

“I don’t know if anybody has reported this or they could be doing some major testing in my areas.

I’m seeing some dramatic across the board cuts for returned results for many keywords in my areas. Many keywords that once returned 850-950 results are now showing only 600-725 returned results. First page though is showing about the same amount of returned results as before which is somewhat deceptive. I had a feeling this was right around the corner. They’re applying more and more of the quality control features of Adwords to the natural results.”

“I see this pattern too. It might be the result of the "human editorial army" as well as the automated quality measures.“

“Has anybody seen where cache dates may be 1-3 months old but the page showing in the cache is current? This is taking into account that the new cache date could show up shortly but doesn't.”

“ I'm noticing the rapid rise of a few sites in the google.co.uk serps. On investigation using Yahoo site-explorer it looks like shear volume of backlinks of any quality trumps a lower number of quality links. Whoever has been playing with the UK geo filter recently seems to have turned off the "high quality" bit of the algorithm. Thus creating a field day for webmasters who exploit the low pay rates of 3rd World SEOs.

Since it is generally agreed that being linked to (except in certain extreme situations) cannot harm your site should we all be paying someone $200 to get 400 links from dodgy directories?”

Well, these unexpected changes definitely have unmistakable similarities with SERP updates. However, as of now, it would be wise to just wait for Google's response.