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March 11th Google Search Ranking Update Weirdness

Published

3 years ago

March 17, 2022

For the past few days I have been debating if I should cover what may have been a Google search ranking update that ticked off on Friday March 11th. There was super unusual update like chatter in the WebmasterWorld forums but the automated tracking tools showed nothing – nada.

So I waited and waited and it seems like whatever happened on March 11th that went through the weekend, may have reverted itself on Monday, March 14th. Like I said, I was on the verge of reporting a possible unconfirmed Google update but held back.

Now, what I am asking, is if you saw some really weird Google update like patterns for the sites you track on Friday, March 11th and then it flip back on Monday, March 14th?

SEO Chatter

Let me first start by sharing the chatter I saw over the past few days, starting off on Friday, March 11th. Again, keep in mind, this chatter looks just like what you’d expect to see from the SEO forums during a Google update. But it didn’t last and something seemed to revert over time.

Absolutely massive 30% drop in search and 41% drop in direct traffic by 5:30pm today. USA -43%, UK -53%, even India is down -36% and that is never down. Anyone else seeing this?

The massive traffic drop continues….down 60% for both USA and UK at 11:30am. Search is down 51%. My ranking is heading higher across the board for the last week

Drop since Thursday.

My global site’s traffic was well down on Friday at 71%, Saturday was average and Sunday well above average resulting in the first 13 days at 100% !.!.! Today has started well with a notable increase in Eastern European traffic and realworld enquiries have started again.

UK-focussed sites are generally on average with the busiest one actually at 106.5% at the moment and, interestingly, it is also trading much higher than usual for this time of year. This is a traditional B&M business not an online trader.

15% downturn at the weekend; looks like it started on 10th/11th (UK informational site with lots of UGC as well as editorial)

So I then followed up the other day to ask about the status and most said it was a weird blip on Friday?

For me yes, Monday was 100.3% which is higher than a regular Monday but obviously within my weekday average.

I’m not seeing much movement within my established / evergreen website SERPs however new pages and especially so new sites seem to be almost impossible to gain any traction whatsoever and this has been on-going for far too long.

They’re not sandboxed simply kept behind to force ad sales IMHO.

Yes it lasted almost 2 days but now back to normal. Search traffic is much higher and direct is lower now…something definitely happened.

On my side, only today I see a big drop. The last weekend was of good gains. But today it all came crashing down.

Anyway, you can probably see why I held off on covering this.

Google Tracking Tools

So with this weird chatter, as I shared above, combined with the tools showing unusually lower volatility than ever before – like really low levels of movement – it just seemed weird and unusual. Can low volatility be a sign of an update? Probably not.

Here are some of the charts I track, notice the 11th forward, how calm everything is trending.

Semrush:

RankRanger:

Cognitive SEO:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Mozcast:

Accuranker:

So what do you think happened?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

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Related Topics:11th Google March Ranking Search update Weirdness

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Daily Search Forum Recap: September 17, 2024

Published

16 hours ago

September 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.

There are complaints about the Google Indexing API not working but I suspect it is working as Google planned. Google is testing sticky headers for ads and search results. Google is testing swipeable dots for carousels. Google Local Service Ads tests viewed X hours/minutes ago. Google is testing an expanded version of discussions and forums.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

The Google Indexing API Not Working For Some Or Indexing Issues…

There are complaints in the Black Hat SEO World forums that the Google Indexing API is not working. Some are saying Google is returning a call saying all is good but when it comes to indexing the content, it is not happening.

Google Tests Sticky Headers For Ads & Results

Google is testing that new large ad and organic label headers design but this time having the header stick to the top as you scroll.

Google Search Tests Swipeable Dots For Carousels

Google is testing a new interface in the search results to help searchers know they can swipe over a carousel to see more options. Google is placing swipeable dots at the bottom of some search boxes.

Google Tests Expanded & More Discussions and Forums Results

If you didn’t have enough Reddit and forum results in your Google Search results page, well, now Google is testing showing even more in the Discussions and Forums box. Generally, Google shows a short snippet of maybe three results, now Google is letting you expand them to see even more.

Google Local Service Ads Shows You Viewed X Minutes/Hours Ago

Google is testing showing the last time you viewed an ad, a Google Local Service Ad, by adding a label with those details. In this case, Google is showing “You viewed 15 minutes ago” next to this ad.

Yahoo Buildings Sign

Here is a super exciting photo of the sign outside of the Yahoo! campus. It has arrows to which Yahoo building number is in which direction. I can’t remember the last time I was at a Yahoo office…

Other Great Search Threads:

Google Ads issue with offline conversion imports, Barry Schwartz on X

I don’t have additional details or a timeline to provide at this time., AdsLiaison on X

A few months after we covered the South Africa badge, Google covered it just now, Barry Schwartz on X

Google removed the poll about using Gemini for SEO purposes – wow, Barry Schwartz on X

Perplexity is back up. We’ll learn how to handle spikes in usage better., Aravind Srinivas on X

When working with large-scale sites, a question I’m often asked is: “Does our page indexing report look alright to you?” My response to this is generally that it looks fine on the surface, but only further digging into the reasons, Brodie Clark on X

Planting more trees is not a ranking factor., John Mueller on Reddit

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.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: September 16, 2024

Published

2 days ago

September 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.

Saturday night, Google had a major search bug with its Google Android app. I posted a bunch of resources around the US vs Google monopoly trial. Google updated its crawler documentation in a big way. Google posted new local review restrictions and enforcements. Google is asking how you will use Gemini and AI for SEO. Google is testing a recent posts carousel in Google Search.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Search App Stopped Working Saturday Night

The Google Search App stopped working last night (Saturday night) for a few hours. Google was quick to fix it in the middle of the night but by then, hundreds, if not, thousands of complaints flooded the support forums and social media.

Google Updates Google Crawlers & Fetchers Docs With Affects & Snippets

Google has completely reorganized its crawlers and user-triggered fetchers documentation. It used to be all on one page and now it is in several pages. Most of the changes were just moving content around but Google did add sections for what product each crawler affects, and added a robots.txt snippet for each crawler to demonstrate how to use the user agent tokens.

Google Reviews Restrictions For Business Profile Policy Violations

Google has posted a new document about the way Google may apply restrictions to your Google Business Profiles over review or other policy violations. In the document, Google wrote that it takes “take fake and/or incentivized reviews and ratings on businesses very seriously.”

Google US DOJ Trial Exhibit Files, Documents & Responses

As many of you know, Google is now in court over its monopoly ruling by the Department of Justice before the court rules on the remedy for such a ruling. The ruling may not come for a year or so, and Google will be in court for some time.

Google Search Tests Recent Posts Carousel

Google Search is testing a new recent posts carousel in the desktop and mobile search results. This carousel can show YouTube videos, TikTok videos, Reddit or other “hidden gems” of sorts.

Google Asks On Social If You Will Use Gemini AI For SEO

In one of the more disassociated social posts Google has made in a while, Google’s Small Business account posted a poll asking if you will use Gemini, Google’s AI models, to help with your SEO, to help boost your search rankings.

Sheds Inside The Google

Google likes to put outdoor things, inside its office. Here are outdoor sheds that are inside the Google London office. It seems they are uses as coat rooms, called cloakrooms?

Other Great Search Threads:

I found out today what happens when google deletes a vertical you’re using | NAP, Categories, Dashboard Data, Local Search Forum

The Digital Advertising Alliance has new standards for CTV, using its “Ad Choices” opt-out framework. Ad Choices has been a near-total failure and it’s effectively a fiction. Most consumers don’t understand AdChoices (the DAA, Greg Sterling on X

This is a friendly reminder to make sure automatic asset creation is turned off for Google search ad campagins, Nate Louis on X

This is not new. A social security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) may be required to complete verification. This information will be deleted and will not be stored after comple, AdsLiaison on X

Heads-up: There’s been a lot of chatter about crazy swings in rankings AFTER the August core update. I am now picking up some wild reversals, surges, and drops post-August core update. And a lot of that seems tied to the tremors I re, Glenn Gabe on X

More about forums, hidden gems, and recent adjustments: Here’s another example of a forum that surged with the hidden gems update in the fall of 2023, but has seen adjustments in the spring of 2024 (right after the March core update ende, Glenn Gabe on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

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Google Search App Stopped Working For A Few Hours Last Night

Published

3 days ago

September 16, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

The Google Search App stopped working last night for a few hours. Google was quick to fix it in the middle of the night but by then, hundreds, if not, thousands of complaints flooded the support forums and social media.

This impacted a “large number of users searching on the Google app on Android,” Google confirmed. When they loaded the Google Search App or any of its widgets, a message would pop up that says “Google keeps stopping.”

Here is one of many screenshots I saw in the Google Search Support forums:

The issue started at about midnight last night and lasted for a few hours until it was resolved.

You can see the non stop complaints in the Google Search Support forums about the issue if you scroll down to that time frame. There is also this massive Reddit thread with complaints.

9to5Google was the only other site reporting on this issue, as far as I can tell.

Google wrote:

There’s an ongoing issue with serving in Google Search that’s affecting a large number of users searching on the Google app on Android. We’re working on identifying the root cause. Next update will be within 12 hours.

That was given a timestamp at 2:07 AM ET but I believe the issue started a couple of hours prior.

Google said the issue was fully resolved at 4:11 AM ET.

If you noticed a dip in your Android traffic from Google between that time, this may be why.

Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help and Reddit.

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