Small Google Algorithm Update Around January 12, 2021?

I know I just reported about an unconfirmed Google ranking algorithm update around January 7th and 8th but I think I am seeing signs of another one that started to get noticed January 12th or maybe the day before. I am seeing both chatter at the SEO forums and the some of the tools are picking up fluctuations.

Note, sometimes Google will confirm algorithm changes months later and we can use these unconfirmed updates as reference points. Such as when Google said sub-topics system launched in mid-November and we can look back at what unconfirmed updates we saw around then.

Here is the chatter at WebmasterWorld:

Well, that was nice while it lasted. Can see the downward trend emerging again after a few days of more stable behaviours.

Significant drop in Discover traffic.

Last two days were fine but traffic today is unusually lower than what I’d expect on a Sunday aka the highest traffic day of the week.

Very low on Saturday and Sunday, but it seems to be coming back today. Discover started showing a week old news stories again and CTR dropped.

There is certainly no single rule for every niche. On my side, since christmas, I have received a huge amount of traffic since I started my main site.

Today, in the week when "things start to return to normal", I am having the biggest drop since I started this main site.

Pretty dramatic plunge in traffic here out of nowhere since late yesterday.

Traffic started drying up yesterday early evening UK time out of nowhere after a strong run of traffic for a week. Back to normal-ish this morning but concerning because its very unpredictable right now, has been since start of Jan for us.

Also in BlackHatWorld:

Hi Digital Marketers, in last two days, I lost 50% traffic and ranking going down. There is any google update ?

Yes gone yesterday.

Mine are steady. Although I can see some changes in the serps

Not a big update it seems. May be a minor update. Not affected as of now

yes there but not getting affected by this normal minor update you can consider this

And here are the charts from the tracking tools.

RankRanger:

SEMRush:

Cognitive SEO:

SERPMetrics:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Accuranker:

Algoroo:

SERPStat:

SERPwoo:

Mozcast:

I'll check in on these tools later on in the day to see if they update to show more changes in Google Search.

I hope you all did okay with this unconfirmed smallish Google ranking update.

And no, this is not a SMITH update.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & BlackHatWorld.