It looks like there is a big Google search ranking algorithm rolling out now, on August 10th. This is not a confirmed update by Google, at least not yet. But the chatter since 2pm ET today has been really high within the SEO community. The rank checking tools have not yet updated, but I suspect the tools will show something tomorrow.
UPDATE at 11:55pm ET: Google has told me this was a glitch, a bug, and it should be resolved. There are more details and examples of this being a bug and being fixed over here.
To be honest, this reminds me of the old days of when Google would release Penguin or Panda updates. The chatter in the time period is off the scales. Either this is a massive Google search bug or Google pushed out something serious with its ranking algorithm in search.
This started maybe around 2pm ET but after 5pm ET SEOs began to really notice. Normally with Google updates, it takes time to fully roll out and more and more of you will take notice unless Google reverts something.
The comments on my post about this past weekend's update is now rumbling with comments about today. Here are some quotes from there:
HUUUUUGE MOVEMENTS Right now. I thought it was just me but checked all my competitors, things are going absolute bonkers right now. Websites from the 6/7th page are #1 on top competition search words right nowAbsolutely insane. What's happening right now?
I believe it's still in progress. Crazy movements here too. If it stays like this, I am wiped out.
Doesn't look like a "glitch", looks like a major update.Funny, right after everyone get an email about class action in regards Google+ they do this sh*t. Got to push everyone to PPC to cover the settlement I guess
I am seeing big fluctutations currently, big jumps on a desktop and big drops on a mobile for one of my sites in the UK. Strap in folks, this could get messy.
The WebmasterWorld forums is spiking with chatter as well:
Anyone seeing a significant decrease in traffic today ? French Websites
Yes a significant drop in traffic since Monday (ecommerce FR, Brand website)
I had a huge drop on Saturday, Sunday and this morning. Only now at lunch did I notice a significant improvement.Tourism, USA
Seems like a big update in progress here in Italy.Every niche I follow is messed up. Shops are gone, affiliate sites have disappeared, serps are full of Amazon, ebay and news sites.
wow insane big update here in Norway, never seen so big change.
What the hell is going on?Just noticed my articles have gone from page 1 to page 7+
Seems to have just happened in the past few hours! Quite a few of my competitors have all disappeared from the SERPs.
This morning, zero traffic. From lunch until now a very heavy traffic. Best pageview in such a short time since the creation of my website. Suddenly everything disappeared... Today G is crazy...
Serps are full of spam/cloaking/phising websites. Ecommerces and affiliate sites gone. Huge fluctuations in progress.
And Black Hat World has a spike in chatter:
Some of my white hat e-commerce sites seem to have taken a beating over the last three days. What's happening chaps?
Looks like a new big update is releasing
Is there a Google update these days again? Something crazy is going on first page in my search terms. Same for everyone?
Yes, definitely. Just saw one of my authority sites lost lots of rankings. Something big is coming or going on.
IMO, something big happening.
Damn wow. Here we go again. Huuuuge drops.
Something HUGE going on right now - did some checks about 30 mins ago, done them again and ALL top results have changed - like for SEO related searches ALL seo providers gone, it's backlinko and search engine land and the like at top. Done some other searches related to a client and there a wordpress blog something.wordpress.com on page 1 - but no businesses.Think this is a MASSIVE update - am in UK
This is batshit crazy... I'm seeing spammy sites with cloaker to Bitcoin offers on page 1 for really competive terms.
Big movements on my end too. Just happened in the last 3 hours.
holly molly, all my rankings are shaken up, hope this settles down, current results don't make sense.
Same here in Brazil.Big drops, even on official sites that "own" the keyword brand and were 1st for many years are now at the end of page one. The first results are garbage.....
My rankings basically got deleted. Like gone.I'll just go sleep now and when I wake up this will all be fine. Right?
Here are some folks on Twitter asking me:
@rustybrick there's an update per 10 Aug, seems like a big-impact update on SERP @seroundtable @sejournal
— Zev (@trezevoir) August 10, 2020
@rustybrick huge update going on in Italy and other European countries, seems like Google applied a filter to exclude affiliates and small shops from serps. 1st page made by amazon+ebay+news sites. Hope this is a test / bug.
— Matteo Giannone (@matteogiannone) August 10, 2020
Enormous, not seen anything like this before
— Ronnie Lawson-Jones (@Ronneh_) August 10, 2020
This has got to be a bug right? pic.twitter.com/EUzZLOwSID
— ミント (@minto_seo) August 10, 2020
Seems a bug to me, at least a [bad] test. Affiliate sites have disappeared from super competitive niches, ecommerce sites completely gone from local and long tail keywords. Crazy, insane.. What's going on @JohnMu ?
— Matteo Giannone (@matteogiannone) August 10, 2020
I agree. SERPs look totally nuts.
— Jim Malec (@JimMalec) August 10, 2020
It is a huge one.
— ni💤am (@ChaudharyNizam) August 10, 2020
Will the update be permanent? The rankings have changed a lot. This is an incredible update.
— alper tunga (@alpertungaakkus) August 10, 2020
First page is full of eBay, Amazon, Yell, for local keywords I am seeing inner pages with area in url rank well, brands not ranking for their own products, I have been monitoring one keyword in particular over the last hour and positions are jumping around constantly - in the UK
— SEO Hive (@seo_hive) August 10, 2020
Absolutely massive changes. Have not seen it on this magnitude before. Hopefully this simply needs a few days to fully roll out and settle down.
— Igor Avidon (@Igor_Avidon) August 10, 2020
Google Employee... pic.twitter.com/WPZFpyiaLt
— Georgey ☘ (@Georgey85) August 10, 2020
Oh good there’s a massive huge random google update @rustybrick @JohnMu https://t.co/1ltRNvTQff
— George Danny Murphy (@george_murphy) August 10, 2020
Seeing some crazy results. Branded terms have been slammed and I rank 7th for my own company name.
— Marty (@martyeigner3) August 10, 2020
Directories are all over page 1 at the moment my own prom related directory is smashing it at the moment :p
— SEO Hive (@seo_hive) August 10, 2020
This has to be a glitch. It looks like it's crawling and indexing the entire lot. Sites coming back but random pages, then it changes minutes later. Anyone else seeing that?
— Just Tom (@seotwentyone) August 10, 2020
Again, it is too soon to look at the rank checking tools but something big is going on.
Google has not confirmed any changes, yet. It might be a bug or it might be a new Google search ranking release or maybe something else.
I'll keep watching things overnight and if I see anything new, I will report back in the morning.
Hope you are all seeing positive signs.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Black Hat World.
Update: Here is John's tweet about the bug:
I don't have all the details yet, but it seems like this was a glitch on our side and has been fixed in the meantime.
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) August 11, 2020
If someone could fix the other 2020-issues, that would be great.
More details over here.
Update again: Here is what went wrong, at least, what we were told.
