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Unconfirmed Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update April 13th & 14th

Published

3 years ago

April 15, 2022

There seems to have been another Google search ranking algorithm update, which is unconfirmed by Google right now, that started Wednesday, April 13th and trailed into Thursday, April 14th. I am seeing both chatter within the SEO forums and some of the tools are showing the volatility as well.

As a reminder, the last confirmed update was the March 2022 Product Reviews Update and that just ended on April 11th. There was another update on March 18th that did not get confirmed. Also one on March 11th and March 4th.

So what are we seeing with this April 13th and April 14th unconfirmed Google update?

SEO Chatter

I am seeing SEO chatter and discussions in the ongoing WebmasterWorld starting in this date range. Some are noticing some really big traffic swings with their sites, specifically related to their organic Google Search traffic. Here is what SEOs are saying:

Big drop yesterday into this morning.
Can’t be coincidental I noticed all that spam in my sector last night.

Yesterday a big increase in traffic across the board…USA, UK, search, direct. Today, right back down again. USA down 60% at 1pm. Search -28%, my home page is -47%. Clearly Google is now implementing a massive, on the fly theft of traffic via shifting overstuffed page layouts.
I am seeing a roughly ‘one day on, two days off’ pattern which leaves much of the week a write-off. This is while my ranking has mysteriously recovered much of what it lost last year…one year after the big declines started. Can’t wait to see what June will bring.
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I am not seeing the spam you all are seeing at all. The problem in my niche is that Google has decided that informational “how-to” articles should be the only thing that ranks now for many searches. They have decided the intent and that’s that. Even worse when you factor in that the first organic listing is far, far down the page after all of the other excerpts, boxes, videos, tweets, etc that google is inserting on the page. Any site with commercial intent is being forced to pay.

After yesterday’s one day 49% increase in USA traffic, today a 54% drop in USA traffic by 6:30pm. Anyone care to wager whether USA traffic will suddenly shoot upward this evening? This is the new norm…forget being found in the USA market during daytime hours most days of the week. Soon, every day of the week and at all hours.