Site with no ads hit by Page Layout update?

[SimonHogg]

Hi there!

Can a site that has no ads on it be hit by Google's latest Page Layout update? Can it be hit for just one or two keywords?

My site (www.ink2paper.com) has a decline in Google organic traffic in early Feb so my suspicion is the Page Layout update. However I have no ads on the site.

Digging into GWMT I find that it is only one or 2 keywords that seems to have taken a dive, mainly [photo paper]. I used to get around 80 imps a day for this term. Then on 6 Feb it was down to 50; 7 Feb = 34; 8 Feb just 4 impressions! I got a spike back at usual levels on 10 & 11 Feb, but since then it has been back down to only 5 or so impressions a day.

[photographic paper] took a small hit at the start of February, but has nose dived since the start of April.

The homepage performs well for Google organic traffic - low bounce (22%) and good ecom conversion rate (14%) - although this is likely to be largely branded traffic. I feel my site is a 'good' result for the search term [photo paper], although there is always room for improvement of course!

Any suggestions as to why Google has stopped showing my site for these keywords? All help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Simon

[WilliamKammer]

I wouldn't attribute this to a page layout penalty.

Make sure to keep track of your rankings, so you can check to see if there was a dip in ranks that correlates with the dip in traffic. Keep in mind the ranks do fluctuate, especially if someone else is actively focuses on the terms.

This could very well be other people gaining ranks above you, or search volume being a little low for a bit. The data isn't large enough to determine trends. A few dozen impressions here and there could be anything. Take larger time-spans of data to determine trends to figure out why things are happening, but this isn't a display penalty in my opinion.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Unrelated to rankings, I would not be wanting the login URL to the site so easily accessible Simon. I would look to change this - it will be much better hidden from view.

As for what has happened, I would be very surprised if this was anything to do with page layout, but looking away from analytics, how are your positions in the SERPs? Are you seeing a drop of just a few places, or a number of pages?

-Andy

[SimonHogg]

Thanks William! Thanks Andy!

It is very easy to look to a Google update whenever something happens with traffic. On this occasion the Page Layout update times with a drop in ranking for these keywords - I've slipped off the bottom of page 1. Thanks for reminding me to look closer to home in the first instance - indeed it looks like the drop in rank is the more likely cause of the drop in traffic.

Andy - thanks for the point about the login link as well. Alas I inherited the site when I bought the company and it is not something that the makers of the platform want to change. I will drop them another line about it though.

Thanks for helping!

Cheers,
Simon

[Andy.Drinkwater]

No problem Simon - hope it all gets sorted

-Andy