SEARCHENGINES

Google Search Algorithm Ranking Volatility Around May 17th

Published

12 months ago

May 18, 2023

For the past couple of days or so, maybe starting as early as May 16, 2023 through today, May 18, 2023, I am seeing significant signs of another unconfirmed Google search ranking algorithm update.

I am seeing these signs both from SEO industry chatter across the forums and also based on the automated tracking tools. Some were a bit late to spot this volatility but I believe the bulk of it began on Tuesday, May 16th and then more noticed yesterday, Wednesday, May 17th and now we are still seeing it today, May 18th.

Just a reminder, we had a couple of unconfirmed updates recently, one around May 10th and the other around early May. Some are saying this reversed the ranking drops or increases they saw from those earlier updates.

SEO Chatter

Let’s start with the chatter, which the earliest I saw was rumblings starting late Monday night, May 15th but it picked up over the past couple of days in the WebmasterWorld forums:

After several days of extremely low traffic levels at 07.00 UK time this morning my global site suddenly had a few more page loads and then from 08.00 until 13.00 completely normal page views making it already +122% v my new average … No doubt that’s just killed it

Yesterday everything snapped right back into the old traffic pattern and all of the sections of my site which were down 40%-80% since Easter were back to their old levels. It seems to be holding thing morning, but USA and CA traffic has not fully recovered. Traffic from Europe, UK, and AU is roaring. This does coincide with higher ranking, but not a big move upward and certainly not enough to have caused this much higher traffic level.

With the reversion back to ‘normal’ traffic I have had my first new customer inquiry since May 5th! One cannot make a business on Google destroying your traffic for half the month. Let’s see how long this holds before going right back to the lower levels…
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For my global site Monday had a pre-April 2023 average day which made a gratifying change. Our UK hotel venue site was 100% average which for a Monday was good.
As a global business several years ago I combined all my country and region-specific sites under one umbrella site however, because of changing business conditions, my current thinking is to return them to how they were.
Has anyone else done this kind of reversal?

Something must have happend over the weekend. Starting on friday with worst day saturday and going on till today we see a significant drop in traffic. User engangment is nearly zero. Complete mismatch.

I am also seeing things starting to come back. Visibility and traffic are returning to normal levels after a very slow past couple of weeks.

That is just some of the chatter…

Google Tracking Tools

The tools started to pick up the Google ranking volatility also, here are some screenshots of those charts.

Advanced Web Rankings:

Are any of you noticing any big changes, especially reversals of the earlier unconfirmed updates this month?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

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SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: May 3, 2024

Published

6 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google got their cost down to generate AI answers in search by 80%. Google is interested in alternatives to hreflang. Google may recrawl URLs multiple times per day or per month. Google is testing custom search filter templates in search. Google AdSense removed its privacy policy as a placement for withdrawal of consent. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap. And deeply sad to report that passing of Mark Irvine.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google March Core Update Done, HCU Recoveries, Site Reputation Abuse & AI Topics

This week, we covered how the Google March 2024 core update finished back on April 19th, and Google forgot to tell us. I also posted the May 2024 Google webmaster report. Google said it’s still possible for sites to recover…

Google SGE AI Answers Now Cost 80% Less To Generate

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Google Search Tests Custom Filters & Templates

Google Search is testing custom filters and pre-define search filter templates. It appears you can save your custom filters and reuse those filters for future searches. This is showing up for a limited number of searchers.

Google Open To Alternative Ideas For Hreflang

Gary Illyes from Google said he has heard from the SEO industry that hreflang can be “annoying” and complex and confusing. So he is open to ideas on how to replace it and make it work for both small and really large websites.

Google Recrawls URLs At Different Rates: Multiple Times Per Day To Every Few Months

Google has to crawl the web to build its index for it to provide search results. And since webpages and documents get updated, Google needs to recrawl those URLs from time to time. Google will recrawl URLs at different rates, said John Mueller of Google.

Google AdSense Has Removed Privacy Policy As Place To Withdraw Consent

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The Industry Mourns The Loss Of Mark Irvine – Brilliant & Giving Search Marketer

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Google Gradient Canopy Signage

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Other Great Search Threads:

I like to think of these (artificial, impossible, philosophical) questions as “if I added X to a page, would it be better for Y?” Would adding SD to a page make it rank higher? No. Might it rank differently? Maybe – SD enables some search features, but th, John Mueller on X

Small Google doc change, they restructured the Product structured data documentation, Barry Schwartz on X

AdSense Earnings and Observations – May 2024, WebmasterWorld

I hope it’s not just technically well-made :-). There have been some interesting takes in the space, I’m sure someone will find a model that works for clients, users, search & is profitable., John Mueller on X

Once you launch a new campaign (and you already have a Conversion Tracking in place) Google will always re-direct you towards the Google Tag Setup with instructions how to implement it. Have you seen it too?, Thomas Eccel on X

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Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

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SEARCHENGINES

Google Interested In Hreflang Alternatives

Published

1 day ago

May 3, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Gary Illyes from Google said he has heard from the SEO industry that hreflang can be “annoying” and complex and confusing. So he is open to ideas on how to replace it and make it work for both small and really large websites.

He wrote this on LinkedIn saying, “Things I’ve learned and heard in Sofia at the SERPConf event.” He said one of those is that “hreflang is annoying.”

Gary wrote, “I don’t disagree,” that I guess he understands why SEOs and creators find it annoying.

So he said that he open to new ideas. He wrote, “I’m still very open to coming up with something less annoying, but it needs to work for small sites and mammoths as well, while delivering at least the same amount of information.”

So if you have ideas, let Gary know, he wrote, “Ping if you have ideas.”

You can use hreflang to tell Google about the variations of your content. This helps Google understand the various pages and how they are localized variations of the same content. But the implementation can be confusing and detailed, why he said it can be annoying. Several years ago, John Mueller said hreflang can be the most complex aspect in SEO.

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: May 1, 2024

Published

2 days ago

May 2, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google Ads posted its first feature announcement in over two months, it is on PMax updates. Bing Webmaster Tools fixed a notification bug. Google SGE renamed its AI overviews to AI Answer. Most SEOs have not filled in the Google March 2024 core update feedback form. A Google search for flag GIFs can lead to Nazi flags.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Ads Posts First New Feature Announcement In Two Months – PMax Updates

Google Ads has posted its first new features announcement in its help section in over two months. This was to announce several Performance Max campaigns features, which we will get into below. But like I reported earlier, Google has not posted anything in this section for two months prior to posting this new announcement.

Googling “Flag GIF” Leads To Nazi Flags In Google Search

If you search for [flag GIF] on Google, click on the “waiving” refinement, you are taken to images of Nazi flags. I waited a full week to report on this, a full week from when Google acknowledged the issue and it is still an issue.

Bing Webmaster Tools Notifications & Insights Bug Fixed

Fabrice Canel from Microsoft confirmed Microsoft has fixed a bug with Bing Webmaster Tools showing inaccurate and/or irrelevant notifications in the notifications and insights section. Fabrice wrote, “Happy to report that the fix has been implemented and the issue should now be resolved for your site and all sites once data is refreshed.”

Google SGE AI Overviews Has A New Title – AI Answer

Google is now labeling or using the title of its SGE, Search Generative Experience, “AI Answer.” This replaces the title “AI Overviews” and “Al overviews are experimental.” This change happened on Monday, I believe.

Most SEOs Did Not Send Feedback To Google On The March 2024 Core Update

Google opened up its feedback form after it announced the Google March 2024 core update was completed and it seems most SEOs did not send Google feedback. Why? Maybe because many don’t believe Google will use that feedback to help them? Maybe because SEOs don’t want to share specifics with Google?

Sundar Pichai 20 Year Google Anniversary

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