I have been continuing to update the May 9th Google ranking volatility story, but it is super unusual to see such heated volatility for such a long period within the Google Search rankings. This continued Google search ranking update of sorts kicked off with May 3rd but then spiked with May 9th and has really not let up much since.
Both the SEO chatter within the SEO communities and the third-party tracking tools have been super high over the past week. I am not sure if the AI Overviews or new web filter is causing this, I highly doubt it. I just suspect it is ongoing ranking data refreshes and maybe some unconfirmed Google ranking changes that we are seeing.
As a reminder, the March 2024 core update started on March 5th and ended on April 19th, 45 days later. We then reported on ranking fluctuations both before April 25th (thinking it was the core update still) and also on May 3rd and also more ranking volatility on May 9th and it has not let up.
Google Tracking Tools
As you can see, most of these tools have been super heated and showing a lot of Google ranking volatility over the past week.
SEO Chatter
And the chatter has been continuously heated over the past week as well. Here is what some are saying in the WebmasterWorld forums and over here in the comments on this site over the past day or so:
Drop Today!
Another increase in traffic today for me from several different countries with a big increase in average page views per visitor and similar to Monday's ... Unusual.
Looking at 50% drop in last 3 days. Anyone on the same boat ?
After some gains from the core update, we're seeing a slight reversal with whatever happened on the 9th, which is a shame. Still trying to recover.
Very bad situation, traffic drop, adsense drop... All drop.
Traffic looks even worse today. I have no idea if it's because of these changes or what not. I don't even care man.
That is only a sampling of the comments about ranking fluctuations over the past day.
What are you all seeing?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Update: May 17th still super heated:
Google search ranking volatility still super heated through today - story updated at https://t.co/tFuaStE6Yp pic.twitter.com/EaGQZfwDqT
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) May 17, 2024
Update: May 20th - we have calming over the past few days:
Google search ranking volatility has continued to calm over the past few days - story from last week at https://t.co/tFuaStE6Yp https://t.co/xkIfQKllEB pic.twitter.com/f9kP4aXHR0
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) May 20, 2024
