Did anybody else get "Google Instant Slapped"?

13 replies
  • SEO
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I logged in to my google analytics account and noticed a few of my sites traffic dropped significantly over the last few days. These sites were ranked #1 for the exact phrase search, and still are, BUT these phrases are apparently now censored (or for whatever reason, NOT showing up anymore) from the Google Instant results.

Each of these 3-word phrases were the top listing once the first two words were typed in - now they won't even appear if you continue to type out the full phrase.

WTF Google?

This is my first time noticing a change in Google's instant search results feature - straight up not showing this phrase anymore when i know it gets good volume searches.

Has this ever happened to you? Does Google constantly change the instant results listings?

#google instant slapped
  • Profile picture of the author Rita012
    Are the sites still indexed in Google?
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Google Instant hurt a lot of long tail sites, unfortunately.
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidCutter
    @Rita012 - yes, definitely still indexed and still #1 for the full search phrase.

    They essentially stopped showing the keyword phrase in their instant results, which was previously the FIRST choice just below the two-word "short tail" of my 3-word long tail.

    The historical monthly search volume for the exact match phrase has always been consistent over the last 12 months, one of the highest just below the 2-word variation, which is probably why it was the top choice in the instant results....so I know the people didn't just stop searching for it....

    BUT I think now that people have people have been mentally trained on their instant results function, and now that the phrase has been removed from that, the search volume has likely been cut by at least 75% (in my opinion, based on my traffic stats). I always figured that Google Instant hurt longer tail keywords with less volume that probably weren't showing in their instant results, but to go from #1 to not even showing when you continue typing the full phrase just sucks.

    I am really hoping they eventually add those phrases back into their instant results, but I could have just lost almost all value out of 2 of my niche sites unless I can retool them for another variation (but they are exact match domains for the original phrase!)

    ....guess I gotta crank out some more sites!
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  • Profile picture of the author AVLopez
    I wish you the best of luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Shakd
    Nope, I have been IM'ing for about 5 months now, really getting into the grind, and I have not noticed any DROP in rankings. I believe Content is King, did anything by that means change recently with your sites? like an automation, or add-on of and DUP non-unique posts/articles?

    Cheers,
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  • Profile picture of the author InitialEffort
    I thought this was old news, am I missing something here? Long tails certainly do work, it's just some of the 4-5-6 word long tails that are more difficult now.
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    • Profile picture of the author DavidCutter
      Originally Posted by InitialEffort View Post

      I thought this was old news, am I missing something here? Long tails certainly do work, it's just some of the 4-5-6 word long tails that are more difficult now.
      Thanks for the response, but I'm not sure you read my post. I'll repost the key points....
      ===========from original post============

      Each of these 3-word phrases were the top listing once the first two words were typed in - now they won't even appear if you continue to type out the full phrase.

      This is my first time noticing a change in Google's instant search results feature - straight up not showing this phrase anymore when i know it gets good volume searches.

      Has this ever happened to you? Does Google constantly change the instant results listings?
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  • Profile picture of the author Inner Athlete
    Maybe give it a few days and see if it's still the same?
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi DavidCutter,

      I would suspect that the drop you are seeing have as much or more to do with the keyword dropping out of the Autocomplete list rather than the Instant Results feature which seems to draw from the Autocomplete dataset.

      If your targeted keyword doesn't meet a certain threshold of search volume it will not appear in the Autocomplete list and as result it will not appear in the Instant Results either. It may have had enough volume last month but with a new dataset it may have not quite reached that threshold of search volume.

      There are other situations that could cause your keyword to not appear in Autocomplete, but the most likely is that other phrases had more volume in the latest data export.
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      • Profile picture of the author DavidCutter
        Don - you are right about the terminology - thanks for correcting me on that and clarifying for others. The term was dropped from the autocomplete, and therefore the instant results as the screen is literaly blank until you hit enter (if you are already on a search results page) after typing in all the letters of the 3rd word in the phrase. I'm thinking they are censoring the results - perhaps pulled certain "controversial" words from showing (nothing x-rated or curse words).

        I have the monthly volumes from the past 12 months and it was always the highest search phrase that included the main 2 words - so I would bet that is not the reason, although the search volume (and therefore traffic) the last week or so has been about 10% of what it was every week for months before that. I think this has to do with web users being trained to use the autocomplete / instant results.

        My real question was whether people have experienced such censorship/removal from the autocomplete / instant results - which essentially kills organic traffic for that term. I was hoping to sell that site this month, but now the traffic volume will look like crap, comparatively speaking.

        Off topic - but speaking of search volume - what's the deal with the Google keyword tool not showing the previous 12 months search volume anymore, and only showing the 12 month average? Does anyone know where this information can be found? All I can get is the average, which doesn't show seasonality or the ability to spot rising trends.

        Thanks again.

        David


        Originally Posted by dburk View Post

        Hi DavidCutter,

        I would suspect that the drop you are seeing have as much or more to do with the keyword dropping out of the Autocomplete list rather than the Instant Results feature which seems to draw from the Autocomplete dataset.

        If your targeted keyword doesn't meet a certain threshold of search volume it will not appear in the Autocomplete list and as result it will not appear in the Instant Results either. It may have had enough volume last month but with a new dataset it may have not quite reached that threshold of search volume.

        There are other situations that could cause your keyword to not appear in Autocomplete, but the most likely is that other phrases had more volume in the latest data export.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterkailo
    You should feel lucky that you were slapped to lower rankings instead of getting de-indexed. All my AdSense sites got de-indexed
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  • Profile picture of the author quintonboyer
    Looking at all these Google slap and ban, I am no longer relying much on Google even though it is THE KING.
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  • Profile picture of the author jazbo
    Google is not dumb. Instant is a way of shaping searchers destinations and therefore maximising traffic to high CPC SERPs. If you owned Google wouldnt you manipulate it the same?
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