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Google I/O Search Algorithm Ranking Update?

Published

2 years ago

May 12, 2023

Google I/O Search Algorithm Ranking Update

I am seeing signs of another Google search algorithm ranking update touching down over the past couple of days, which is why I am naming it the Google I/O Search Algorithm Ranking Update. This is not confirmed by Google but both SEO chatter and the automated tracking tools all show signs of an update.

The update seems to have started the same day Google I/O kicked off, on May 10th and continued through May 11th. It is not as heavy and volatile as the early May Google ranking update, also which was unconfirmed, but it does appear to be a lot of volatility.

This is not related to the upcoming new helpful content update and also not related to the all new Google Search Generative Experience.

Let me show you what I am seeing so far.

Google Tracking Tools

Again, it is not as heated as the last unconfirmed update but it is not calm. You can see the past few days, compared to the early May dates and then prior to see the change. We seem to be in very volatile time, don’t we?

Advanced Web Rankings:

SEO Chatter

There is also a significant amount of chatter from within the SEO industry at WebmasterWorld starting around May 10th. Here is some of that chatter:

Today again something is going on with the fluctuations and tremors I can see on SERP. Has anyone noticed the same today. In the morning SERP results are different and in the afternoon different and in the evening again come back to the morning positions. I don’t know what’s happening but this much volatility is not good for traffic

Huge drop this morning. And together AdSense in constant decline. Since April drop by 50% in earnings, and now in may, drop by 75%. April and may are being stormy..

An extraordinary drop so far today across all sites I run, even the hotel venue which is definitely something I’m not used to!

I’m seeing strong traffic from the UK almost every day…it’s USA traffic that has vanished. Some days UK is 2/3 of my US traffic…insane. I suspect Google is hitting us all where it hurts to force people into running ads. Perhaps they haven’t realized that most of us have already tried it at least once and realize that the traffic from Google ads isn’t worth paying for, so I don’t think it’s going to motivate many businesses…only the clueless ones.

Traffic off a cliff over the past couple of days.

My much lower traffic levels have continued into Thursday.
Global site -33% v my new recent average, that is -73.4% v 2 years ago!
Hotel venue -50% v recent months’ average.
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Yesterday traffic seemed to snap back to normal for most of the day, and then it dropped in the late eve. This morning USA traffic is -75% at 10am. Search is -22% and direct is -28%. So much for almost one day of traffic. I haven’t had a new inquiry on my site since May 5th…almost a week. I have however been inundated with SPAM emails and calls all week.

Big movements in my niche. I am tracking some of my competitors, some took a nosedive today, ranking slashed by as much as 50%. Whatever is being rolled out, it will probably stabilize in the next few days.

Seing drops as well, mostly in the US, can see as well position ranking with huge CTR changes, I don’t see that huge CTR changes usually, I would say Google is changing layout for ads again, or putting more and more.

Also, some comments in the older story over here:

Traffic went back to normal levels for a few days but seems a bit lower today. In general. Anyone else noticing that pattern?

Slight improvement on some of my websites… hope this trend will last :(( it did recover before for a while but dropped again… not much hope to be honest

Todays traffic -65% for my website. as compared to the traffic which is the busiest day for my niche.

And some tweets:

@rustybrick Is there something going on with Google, I’m seeing a fair bit of fluctuations (in UK) and few trackers show some odd stuff too.
— Gregory Painter (@Gregory_Painter) May 12, 2023