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Google Search Algorithm Update Tremors & Instability All Week

Published

2 years ago

May 24, 2022

So last Monday, we reported about a Google search ranking algorithm update that touched down on May 16th – the 6 month or so anniversary of the last confirmed Google broad core update. Well, that unconfirmed Google update continued on throughout the rest of the week through today, I updated that story a bit to reflect that.

That story now has over 150 comments with complaints about the ongoing tremors and instability of the search rankings in Google Search. The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread, despite the site going through a migration and having some connectivity issues, also has a lot of chatter throughout the week.

Honestly, whatever was pushed out last Monday, May 16th, certainly felt like a broad core update. But of course, it was not a broad core update – Google would have confirmed if it pushed out a broad core update – right? We are due, very due, a broad core update from Google. The last broad core update we had was on November 17, 2021 – which was 6 months and one week ago. We expect these broad core updates every 3-6 months and today is the 6 month mark.

There is a higher than normal number of complaints from affiliate sites about ranking drops. But again, hard to say if this is just impacting affiliate sites, I highly doubt it.

As a reminder, we had many more core-like unconfirmed updates including that May 16th and ongoing update and the Mother’s Day update, the May 1st update, April 20 and 21st update, April 18th update, April 13th and 14th and another update on March 18th both did not get confirmed by Google. Also one on March 11th and March 4th and so on. The last confirmed update was March 2022 Product Reviews Update and that ended on April 11th.

SEO Chatter

He is the recent (past day or so) chatter I am seeing in the WebmasterWorld forums over the past 24-hours or so:

Last week was solid for me showing gains across my platform. Saturday was the lowest day which is normal. Ive kept an eye on Semrush sensor and over the last week with higher volatility things performed better.
Today the sensor shows a 5.2 and the last day we had a rating this close was on April 27. There have been no announced core updates as of late and we all know there is something that should happen soon. We’ve all been expecting it. I cannot help but feel like we are seeing the calm before the storm.
I have noticed G playing with a lot of alternative keywords over the last few weeks. Things I normally have never rated for now showing a lot of various alternates. It has been pulling from every category I have testing. This is different from running the more tried and true given query and pages I am used to seeing.
Impression volumes have been higher this week as well due to this exploratory push G has put the platform through. Actual traffic has not changed much despite this. I shall wait and see what comes of it all.

Unusually low traffic for me at the moment, more precisely since UK time 20.00 Sunday night until about 09.00 today, current traffic, 13.30 UK time, seems to be back to normal.
Anyone else have12-13 hours of much lower than usual traffic?

I’ve had more like 96,360 hours of much lower than usual traffic.

Yes, USA traffic is -53% today at 12:30pm. Home page is -63%. Total search -13% so of course it’s all coming from lower USA results, with traffic from India, Bangladesh, Russia, Nigeria, Pakistan, all zooming along.

I have had roughly a 20% increase in traffic on Sunday and today will also be about the same. Impression increase as well to match. This though comes after three or so weeks of near identical stats.

Traffic has been hammered since 28th of march! Worst part is google also limited my AdSense ads since March since working on facebook and Youtube traffic, which is 20% of my traffic! You get hit for working social it seems. Not sure why SEOS say social signals, my social facebook/youtube (24k followers facebook, 3k subs on youtube) is awesome but I haven’t seen it help the site SEO ranking wise, ever!

Also, the comments on this site, in the May 16th post, are off the charts – so scan through those.

Google Tracking Tools

The tracking tools, all of them, are showing spikes throughout May 16th through this week. Some tools picked it up more than others and some are showing a bigger lift today. Here are screenshots from those tools:

Semrush:

SERPmetrics:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Accuranker:

SERPstat:

RankRanger is mostly calm now:

Mozcast – also is calm:

So while this may not be a broad core update – there were some signs of a Google update that felt like a broad core update rollout.

Did you notice a lot of volatility the past week and maybe something up-ticking today?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Source: www.seroundtable.com

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 17, 2024

Published

5 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.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 16, 2024

Published

1 day 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:

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 15, 2024

Published

2 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.