"Google May 2020 Core Update" affecting your xF Forum?

djbaxter said:
The Ads people and the Algorithm people are separate departments who don't even talk to each other, not to mention that would be a ridiculous move for Google to make given the scrutiny it's already under in multiple countries.
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you know google has 4 search ads on the first page and mostly top first pages are sites that occasionally run search ads... trust me I'm talking about what i did ... before... and worked..
 
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I also have an associated SEO question regarding renaming threads.

When you rename a thread, it does a 301 permanent redirect from the old URL to the new one, the URL changes but the forum handles the redirect for you based on the thread id. Therefore, renaming a thread shouldn't have any real impact right?

I often rename badly named threads to be more descriptive of what they really represent and I was just curious if people had issues at all with this? The 301 redirect should not affect any page rank according to everything I've read.

I'm about to change the titles of the top 50 threads on my forum as part of a huge re-organization and I'm concerned.
 
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Anomandaris said:
I also have an associated SEO question regarding renaming threads.

When you rename a thread, it does a 301 permanent redirect from the old URL to the new one, the URL changes but the forum handles the redirect for you based on the thread id. Therefore, renaming a thread shouldn't have any real impact right?

I often rename badly named threads to be more descriptive of what they really represent and I was just curious if people had issues at all with this? The 301 redirect should not affect any page rank according to everything I've read.

I'm about to change the titles of the top 50 threads on my forum as part of a huge re-organization and I'm concerned.
Click to expand...

I'm very sure that renaming threads to something relevant to the topic is going to improve your SEO. It hadn't even occurred to me that this caused 301s, but that makes sense and is not going to have any negative effect IMO.

It's ironic though that this question is buried as an off topic post - I'm sure if you had made a new thread with a relevant titile it would get a better chance of being seen and answered by people, finding it both via search engines and the xenforo search
 
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This actually began back in April with the subsequent additional core update setting many sites back in flux again. It's still going on so the best advice is just sit back and wait until it all falls out:

searchengineland.com

Google's May 2020 core update was big and broad, search data tools show

This update was an "absolute monster" said Mordy Oberstein from RankRanger.
searchengineland.com searchengineland.com

www.seroundtable.com

Examples Of Sites Impacted By The Google May 2020 Core Update

Yesterday we reported that the Google May 2020 core update is rolling out and we already felt that this Google search algorithm update may be a big one. Well, based on just about 30 or so hours, I am seeing tons of site owners complaining about huge ranking drops in the past 24 hours or so.
www.seroundtable.com www.seroundtable.com

Google Search Algorithm Updates : Search Engine Roundtable

The most comprehensive and detailed list of Google search ranking algorithm updates ever. See all the confirmed and unconfirmed Google algorithm updates here.
www.seroundtable.com www.seroundtable.com

www.localsearchforum.com

Local Algorithm Update in April 2020? | Google Algorithm Discussions

Hello, have you also noticed the results rotation in the service industry? Yesterday I noticed jumps in many locations.
www.localsearchforum.com www.localsearchforum.com

www.mariehaynes.com

An intensive analysis of the May 2020 Google Core Update by MHC - Marie Haynes

Marie Haynes Consulting's full analysis of Google's May 2020 core update including intial theories, methodolgy, and client improvements.
www.mariehaynes.com www.mariehaynes.com
 
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My page position average has improved.

How do you lose 40% of impressions and clicks, with an improved page position?

Bizarre
 
Mine is a General and Politics forum in a small country.
Logically I should be at the top of the first page.
Google puts me on page 2 one day and page 7 the next.
I think they are censoring all politics
I dont like wasting my time on the Search Engine Optimisation
Four other search engines have me at the top of page 1 (with no work)
Google (and Youtube) can kiss my ...(fill in the blanks)
 
That is not how it works. There are websites which are around for decades. They have accumulated a lot of backlinks and have thousands or millions of visitors each month. They will be ahead of everyone. Your newly created forum will not have that kind of weight.
 
www.seroundtable.com

Google: Ask Yourself If Your Site Is The Best Result

A site owner said that after getting hit by a core update in March 2019, he is going to have to shut down his site. John Mueller of Google responded to that saying "I recommend taking a look at the top queries & top pages from before & after a change, and asking yourself if your site is really...
www.seroundtable.com www.seroundtable.com

A site owner said that after getting hit by a core update in March 2019, he is going to have to shut down his site. John Mueller of Google responded to that saying "I recommend taking a look at the top queries & top pages from before & after a change, and asking yourself if your site is really the best result for those."

It is hard for a site owner to think about their own site like this. Trust me I know. Is your site, the site you spend your time, money and resources on day in and day out, not the best site for a relevant query... It is hard to look at your own site and say that your own site is not the best for a specific query. But sometimes the answer is subjective and it is hard for you to be objective about your own site.

John Mueller did add "sometimes sites get a lot of irrelevant traffic, so absolute numbers can be misleading." Meaning, sometimes the traffic you are getting is not all that relevant and thus is not quality traffic. So losing that traffic might not be all that bad?
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Hi all,

My XenForo forum 276 000 threads & 1 800 000 posts has been impacted a lot... a very bad way :-(
A decrease around 20% of the traffic coming from Google since the 11th of May (in France).
Between 10% (business day) and 25% (week-end) depending on the day.
My site is mainly used during business day.

I never had a so bad impact following a Google algorithm change.

Pffffff....

David
 
That's not really the question.
The fact is : "XenForo was good for long tail SEO for my forum"
And following this Google algorithm update it is ON SHORT TERM no more the case.
And it is both frustrating and annoying :(
 
DavidXLD said:
That's not really the question.
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For Google and for people using Google search, that is exactly the question.

I understand that it is frustrating for site owners but that is the reality of search. What you need to do now as a site owner is find ways to make your site one of the best answers to the question posed in the search query. That is the key. If you don't do that or are unable to do that, you will just continue to fall behind.

Google has a blog/newsletter series called "Think Like Google". That's what we all need to do these days.
 
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