SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update – Unconfirmed

It has been a full nine days since I last reported about a Google Search ranking algorithm update and now I am seeing signs of another one starting yesterday, August 3rd through today, August 4th.
Both the chatter within the SEO industry spiked and we saw some of the third-party Google tracking tools show a spike in volatility yesterday.
Now, while we are all expecting a confirmed update soon, right now, we have not received one – yet.
We’ve had very heated volatility since the last confirmed update, which was the April 2023 reviews update. The last core update was the March 2023 core update. So we are due some updates, and many suspect we will see the helpful content update, which we didn’t have since the December 2022 helpful content update.
Just to catch you up, we last reported about an unconfirmed Google update July 26th, July 17th/18th and then again July 12th/13th, then around July 6th or 8th and then on June 28th and 29th and then again June 23rd then on June 19th we reported about ongoing heated volatility with Google Search. We also reported on an update on June 14th, one around June 14th and ongoing, then June 6th then around May 22/23rd, then around May 17t, then on May 10th and the other around early May.
SEO Chatter
Here is some of the SEO chatter I see both at WebmasterWorld and in the comments area on this site:
After a few days of high traffic, apparently the drop will be big today.
Had a good week of good traffic like you guys and the deep started yesterday.
Lots of testing and rotation going on every day with the SERPs. Today I am -67% in USA traffic and -70% to my home page. Main landing pages are -60% one day this week and then up the next. UK traffic disappears one day, strong the next. UAE -50% the entire week.
My ranking went down, it’s a downward trend, but if I can ride of zombie traffic why not.
Search traffic is -30% today at 1:30pm. Most of that is just lower USA traffic. UAE has also been down by half for almost a week.
Completely dead across all sites for me this morning, in fact that dead I had to check my server was up and running, our hotel venue site had a 6 hour peiod with zero traffic … Xmas Day looks posiitively busy compared to this!
Massive drop on clicks and impressions on Google search console reports of Search results, discover and Google news after 26th July onwards. This drop has been seen on desktop view while in mobile domain its has been increased. Anyone facing this issue?
Big drops for me after months of going back and updating older content and making some ground on competitors. Now been replaced with sites that haven’t updated thin content pages for months, and of course, the serial link buyers.
So that is some of the chatter.
Google Tracking Tools
Here is what the tracking tools are now showing:
Some of the tools have yet to update today, so I will come back later and refresh these charts.
What are you all seeing?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2023

Hanukkah (aka Chanukah) starts this coming Thursday night, December 7th. Google has added its Hanukkah decorations to the Google Search results interface to celebrate. Google does this every year and I expect to see the same rollout in the coming weeks for Christmas and Kawanzaa but for now, since Chanukah is in the coming days, we have the Hanukkah decorations live at Google Search.
Here is a screenshot of the Chanukah decorations as they look like on the mobile search results.
You can see it yourself by searching on Google for [chanukah], [hanukkah], but not yet [חֲנוּכָּה] or other spelling variations yet but it should soon. It looks better on mobile than it does on desktop results.
To see the past, the 2023 decorations, 2021 decorations, 2020 Chanukah decorations, 2019 Google holiday decorations, the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and so on.
Happy Chanukah, everyone!
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Pay Accepted Icons In Google Search Results

Google seems to be testing a Google Pay Accepted label or icon in the Google search results. This label has the super G logo followed by the words “Pay accepted” words next to search result snippets that support Google Pay and notate such in their structured data.
This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani who shared some screenshots of this on X – here is one:
Here are some more screenshots:
Here is test and without test window for same query. pic.twitter.com/n9cYWBOsro
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) October 20, 2023
Brodie Clark also posted some screenshots after on X:
In continuation from the test from October, Google is now testing out a new Google Pay label associated with organic results. Last month, Google was testing Pay Accepted text, with this month changing it to Pay encrypted checkout. More details: https://t.co/MvFNoPmMDR pic.twitter.com/WDVVc4RbTO
— SERPs Up 🌊 (@SERPalerts) November 30, 2023
I tried to replicate this but I came up short.
This is not the first time Google had similar icons like this in its search results.
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived

Typically, Google Discover shows content that is less than a day old, but it can show content that is weeks, months, or even years old. However, typically, Google will show more recent content in the Discover feed. Well, that may have changed with the new Google follow feature.
Glenn Gabe, who is a very active Google Discover user, noticed that since the Follow feature rolled out, he has been seeing content that is weeks and months old way more often than before the follow feature rolled out. Glenn wrote on X that “this could also be playing a role. i.e. Google isn’t providing as much recent content, but instead, focusing on providing targeted content based on the topics you are following.”
It makes sense that if you follow a specific topic and if Google Discover only shows the most authoritative types of content, it might be hard for Google to find new content on that topic. So it does make sense that Google may show older content more often for that specific topic you follow.
Here are screenshots Glenn shared:
Have you noticed this in your Discover feed?
Forum discussion at X.
-
SOCIAL5 days ago
Musk regrets controversial post but won’t bow to advertiser ‘blackmail’
-
SEO6 days ago
SEO Salary Survey 2023 [Industry Research]
-
MARKETING6 days ago
Revolutionizing Auto Retail: The Game-Changing Partnership Between Amazon and Hyundai
-
SEO5 days ago
A Year Of AI Developments From OpenAI
-
SEO3 days ago
GPT Store Set To Launch In 2024 After ‘Unexpected’ Delays
-
SEARCHENGINES6 days ago
Most SEOs Believe Google’s November Core & Reviews Updates Will Complete In December
-
PPC5 days ago
5 Quick Tips to Increase Referral Traffic
-
PPC6 days ago
Facebook Ads Benchmarks for 2024: NEW Data + Insights for Your Industry