As you all know, Google launched a new algorithm update on December 1st named the December 2021 product reviews update. Since then, the tracking tools have been off the charts showing insane levels of volatility and that volatility has continued through the weekend. The chatter is not as insane, when comparing what we are seeing with the tools.
If you need to learn more about this update and what it targets, how to recover and so on, then read this story. This story is just about the volatility we are seeing since the update.
Let's start by sharing what the automated Google search tracking tools are picking up, and they are picking up a lot.
Semrush is at core update levels for a few days in a row:
RankRanger as well:
Accuranker - you are seeing this:
It honestly seems way more impactful than the original April product reviews update - but it is hard to say.
The chatter is more limited with this core update, at least in terms of SEO forums. This is what I found on WebmasterWorld and there are dozens of sporadic threads on BlackHatWorld - so it is hard to consolidate all those threads:
It is friday and we see a big drop again (-45% so far). And since yesterday google sends emails with the option for google ads to find new customers. Ha good joke.
Big drop in average position starting Monday
Not seeing any noticeable SERPs changes however global site averaging -25% in PVs this week, a couple of UK local sites -50%, even the pub / hotel site is down even though we have live music tonight and tomorrow ... this will be interesting.
Here too... -50% or more...
My traffic is higher again today...it's been higher for perhaps 10 days now. However my ranking is stuck in neutral and not improving much and zero new inquiries since Monday...zero. So despite much better traffic, no sales.Google briefly returned my ranking for my important "place name" searches on the 26th-28th and my traffic surged and I saw a big influx of customer inquiries. Then off again and not one inquiry this entire week, let alone a conversion.
25% down
UK traffic down 53% today...first time UK has been down in a while. UK traffic tends to drop on Saturdays but not 53%. Anyone else seeing this?
Huge drop in traffic today...USA -50%, UK -41%, AU -50% and almost no traffic from Western Europe at all. Instead mostly visits from E. European countries. Anyone else seeing this today?
Glenn Gabe has been following sites that were impacted by the original product reviews update and is seeing big changes. Here are some of his tweets where he showed this:
And here are some examples of drops in visibility based on the Dec Product Reviews Update. Note, these are sites that saw impact during the April Product Reviews Update (either surging or dropping then). I'll keep posting to this thread as I have more data to show. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/QTpDTmugLB
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 3, 2021
More from the Dec Product Reviews Update. If you're a big publisher & have a section for reviews, Google can find them. Here is trending for just the reviews content for a large publisher along w/specific query drops. And notice the bump w/the Nov core update for the section... pic.twitter.com/fFyLydOO7U
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 3, 2021
Here are some ranking changes for those sites. Some rankings jumping from page 5+ to page 1. When Google reevaluates quality for a site overall, or specific sections of content, this can happen (again like broad core updates). The holiday season just got brighter for the winners. pic.twitter.com/YN4TtaFsEl
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 5, 2021
And to see what this looks like on the url-level for sites positively impacted, here are some charts from GSC. Big surges right when the December Product Reviews Update rolls out. It's still early, but this is clearly a great sign for this site (which is up big-time overall...) pic.twitter.com/T1hn7bKYol
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 5, 2021
And here is my favorite surge so far. How is that for an increase right during the holiday shopping season as consumers are searching for reviews of products? Santa Google was good to them. Ho ho ho. :) pic.twitter.com/2lic8ZBKoR
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 6, 2021
Mordy Oberstein from Semrush shared some early analysis, we will have more later but here:
Again, keep in mind this is really early on and hard to pinpoint bec even within a vertical some keywords are more or less relevant to this specific update.
— Mordy Oberstein (@MordyOberstein) December 3, 2021
Lily Ray:
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) December 6, 2021
I will be honest, I am surprised the tools are so high. It is all related to this product reviews update? Hard to say but this is the update Google confirmed and it is rare for Google to confirm updates these days.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
