SEARCHENGINES

Google Search Algorithm Ranking Update Volatility

Published

11 months ago

June 6, 2023

It has actually been a couple of weeks since we last reported on a Google search ranking update, May 22/23rd, so it has been a while. But I am seeing new signs of another unconfirmed Google search algorithm ranking update today, around June 6th.

I am seeing both a spike in chatter within the SEO community and many of the tools are showing volatility today, June 6th.

As a reminder, we had reported on four previous unconfirmed Google Search ranking updates; one around May 22/23rd, then around May 17t, then on May 10th and the other around early May. There were some other signs of an update between but honestly, I did not cover it because not all the marks I track hit on those.

SEO Chatter

The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread and new comments over here started to pick up the changes. Here are some quotes from the SEO community on what they are seeing this morning:

Once again, a huge increase in traffic all day Sunday and Monday. Eight new high-budget customer inquiries were submitted from my website and also phone calls in less than 18 hours from across the USA, Europe, and Dubai. That’s after two weeks of almost no inquiries at all. If this pattern holds, it will be over by tomorrow, and then 10-14 more days of complete silence. Is anyone else seeing a huge increase of real traffic in the last 48 hours or so.

I was going to say this before, but every update you have ichthyous mirrors my own exactly. My site is a content-based blog, however. So yes, Sunday and Monday a jump in traffic from Google after a long ten days or so where it was suppressed. The ten days or so was also the longest stretch in a while where Google did not turn the taps back on. Usually, the throttled traffic had a daily rhythm to it.

Same here, I see inquiries again and some conversions. Traffic is increasing a bit (not yet covering the loss from last month but I’ll take it).
I have exactly the same pattern as you ichthyous, I had a 2 weeks of complete silence, nothing, no email, no conversion attempt (abandon cart). Totally dead. And since 1st of June started to come back little by little.
Advertisement

Today, again, the fluctuation is very high; every refresh is changing the SERP rankings. No next page links bug also coming often. My websites are dancing 1st page, 2nd page no proper traffic today

Something happening today, right? Currently, only 3 of the trackers are showing volatility, but seeing some chatter on forums in Japanese and Spanish… but not seeing anything in the English language… yet. Personally, my G traffic is down at least 55% in the last 16 hours… ?

Today, again, the fluctuation is very high; every refresh is changing the SERP rankings. No next page links bug also coming often. My websites are dancing 1st page, 2nd page no proper traffic today

Thank you for confirming it’s not just me seeing fluctuations and SERP anomalies, but sorry to hear you’re also not getting proper traffic.

Google Tracking Tools

Here is what the tools are showing and Mozcast, Algoroo and SERPstat might be one of the few picking it up.

Mozcast:

RankRanger (this should heat up in a couple of hours):

Semrush:

SERPmetrics:

Advanced Web Rankings:

So it seems things are heating up a bit this morning, and we will continue to track it over the coming days…

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Up Next

Google Ads Sync Columns & Segments Across MCC Accounts

Don't Miss

Google Ads Advertiser Console Is Down

SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 17, 2024

Published

12 hours ago

April 18, 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.

The Google March core update still is causing volatility and it is deepening. Google may make changes to the crawl stats report in Search Console. Google Search Console now shows unused ownership tokens. Google Maps will drop the review drafts. Google Add added generative AI for image generate for Demand Gen campaigns. Google Search is testing more sitelinks designs.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Deepening Google Core Ranking Volatility Hits Yesterday & Today

I know we just reported on more volatility this Monday, possibly related to the Google March 2024 core update, but we are seeing even more volatility over the past 24 hours related to this update. This volatility shows deepening movement for those who were hit, which is incredibly sad in many cases.

Google Search Console Adds Unused Ownership Tokens

Google Search Console has a new security feature under user and permission management to help you manage your unused ownership tokens. Basically, it helps you manage who has permissions to your Search Console profiles and who should not, maybe some legacy verifications.

Google: Should We Explain The Crawl Stats Report in Search Console

Martin Splitt from Google posted a one-line question asking, “Should we do something to explain the crawl stats report in GSC?” This was posted on Mastodon, which has a small audience, but the responses were pretty good.

New Google Ads AI Generated Image Tool For Demand Gen Campaigns

Google Ads announced that Demand Gen campaigns are getting generative AI tools to create image assets. This is rolling out to advertisers around the world in English with more languages to come later this year, Google said.

Google Tests Horizontal Lines For Sitelinks & People Also Ask

Google Search is testing horizontal lines under the sitelinks and the people also ask elements in the search results. This is a long horizontal line that goes across the while search result snippet.

Google Maps No Longer Will Support Draft Reviews

Google Maps will soon stop supporting drafting reviews for local business listings and Google Business Profiles. Google said that starting July 16, 2024, review drafts will no longer be supported.

Doogler In Google Play Area

Some of you love photos of dogs, so here is another one of a Doogler, a Google dog, in a play area, at the Google office. This was shared by the Life at Google Twitter account.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 16, 2024

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 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 will fight the site reputation abuse spam both algorithmically and with manual actions. Google is testing thumbs-up and down in product carousels. Google Ads similar product carousel is being tested. Google Search updated its image documentation. Google AdSense has a new ad format named ad intents.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Will Fight Site Reputation Abuse Spam Both With Manual Actions & Algorithms

Google’s new spam algorithm update also introduced new spam policies including the upcoming site reputation abuse policy that won’t go into effect until May 2024. Google has confirmed it will fight site reputation abuse spam using both manual actions (humans) and algorithms (machines).

Google Search Tests Thumbs Up/Down Buttons In Product Grid Results

Google launched the style recommendations with thumbs up and down buttons not long ago after testing it in January. Now Google is showing this thumbs up and down buttons in the product grid search results, so Google can see what you like or dislike and then show you more products that you do like.

Google Ads “Similar Product” Carousel

Google has a similar products section and carousel for Google Ads sponsored listings. We have seen similar products and similar shopping related results from the organic / free listings but now I am seeing examples of a search ad carousel for “similar products.”

Clarification: Google Search Supports Images Referenced From src Attribute

Google has clarified in its image search help documentation that images are only extracted from the src attribute of img tags in Google Search. This is not new, but Google decided to update its documentation based on some questions it received about the topic.

Google AdSense New Ad Intents Formats – Links & Anchors In Content

Google AdSense announced a new auto ads format named “Ad intents.” Ad intents places links and anchors showing organic search results with ads into existing text and pages on your site related to your content. Yea, it takes your content, and hyperlinks it to the Google search results.

3-Wheel Tricycle At Google

Google’s Ann Arbor office has this 3-wheel tricycle that some Googlers have used over the years to get around the office. This one looks like the hot pink Huffy brand. I spotted this recently on Instagram but the photo is from 2016.

Other Great Search Threads:

I don’t have an update to share at this time, but you should continue to use classic GMC for rules and supplemental feed support. Here’s how to switch back if needed, AdsLiaison on X

In this case, I’ve been introducing a new metric; “likelihood to get search traffic” to see what we should add to XML sitemaps. Some pages might do incredibly well on other metrics, but simply, Joost de Valk on X

It does have a title, and it loads a HTML page – so this seems normal. The JavaScript doesn’t seem to be loading well, so if you’re the site owner, I’d suggest reading ou, John Mueller on X

News! Google Ads removed in some accounts the possibility to hover over a daily budget to edit it. You need to hover now and then click on “Edit budget”. Why changing things to less user-friendly ones, Thomas Eccel on X

The time has come! Registration for the Zürich Product Experts Summit has now opened for eligible PEs in Europe. Virtual registration will follow in May. Check your inboxes and the KB for more details., Google’s Product Experts Program on X

When I want to add positive search terms as exact match, I first add them quickly as broad, then bulk switch them over to exact match. lately I’ve been getting this error and the only way I can switch the keywords is by using Ads Editor., Greg on X

Yeah, quantity says nothing about quality and even less about user value or business value. Sometimes the solution to a “crawl budget problem” is not to make the server faster & search engines, John Mueller on X

Which the best method to link to the alternative language of a website, WebmasterWorld

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 15, 2024

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 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.

There was more Google core update volatility over the weekend. Google defended its statements about forums ranking for almost everything. Google responded to The Verge’s printer article mocking its search results. Google AdSense publishers are seeing really big earnings drops. Google crawl budget is allocated on the hostname level. Google threatened California over its new proposed link tax bill with pulling investments and its news results from the state.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Weekend Google Core Ranking Volatility Taxing Site Owners

As I mentioned briefly in my Friday video recap, I was starting to see renewed chatter on Friday morning around more Google search ranking volatility. I spotted some renewed chatter that lead through Friday, into Saturday and today. So I figured I’d cover it and share some of what SEOs are saying over the weekend.

Google Responds To The Verge Mocking Its Search Rankings For Best Printer

Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of the Verge posted a new article with the intent to both rank for [best printer] in Google Search, as well as mock Google for how he can game Google’s search rankings using AI-generated content, while throwing in some affiliate links. Google’s John Mueller responded saying, “People seem to really enjoy it.”

Google Goes On Defensive On Its Search Quality & Forum Results Statements

Recently, we covered some of Google’s rationale for ranking forums like Reddit and Quora so well in the Discussion and Forums box for many queries. Just a few days ago, we covered how I was sad to see Google ranking some dangerous and potentially harmful forum threads for health-related queries.

Google Threatens California: Tests Removing Links To Publishers & Pauses Investments

On Friday, Google responded to a pending bill in the California state legislature, the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), that would require Google to pay a link tax to publishers by testing removing links to California based publishers and pausing investments in news publishers within the state.

Google Crawl Budget Is Allocated By Hostname

Google gives every hostname its own allocated crawl budget. So that means each domain, subdomain, etc has its own unique crawl budget.

Google AdSense Publishers Reporting Huge RPM Earnings Drops

Many Google AdSense publishers have been reporting massive declines in their earnings and RPMs (page revenue per thousand impressions) since late February. This comes a couple of weeks after we reported the switch from CPC to CPM bidding in AdSense did not have a negative revenue result for publishers.

Google Android Figurine Display Case

At the Google Chicago office they have dozens of Android figurines on display in this glass display case. I guess they all have a name and are labeled with details. I found this image on Instagram.