Last night, Google confirmed a bug with the Google October 2023 core update that impacted Discover traffic for "some sites." The bug was started on October 5th and lasted through October 31st.
Google wrote, "On October 5, we found a bug with how our October 2023 core update was applied to Discover. As of October 31, we fixed the bug. Some sites may see an increase in Discover-related traffic, as a result of this bug fix." Google only posted this news last night at around 5:30 pm ET.
Google posted on X, "We found a bug with how our Oct. 2023 core update was applied to Discover, which has now been corrected. Some sites may see an increase in Discover-related traffic, as a result. Start and end time for this issue is now on the Search Status Dashboard."
Yes, Google core updates have a big impact on your Google Discover traffic, we've know that for years.
The funny thing is I did receive an unusual amount of complaints about Discover traffic issues after this core update. I chalked it up to the update hurt those sites and not that there was a bug. I was wrong, but can you blame me?
In any event, let me know if your Google Discover traffic returns to normal levels (if there is a "normal" for Discover) for your sites. Also, many of you who were hit by the core update will probably see lower levels of Discover traffic. But if the core update did not hit your site, hopefully you will see your Discover traffic return.
Here are some of the responses from the community:
Worth noting: *Some* and not *All*. :) Time will tell. Discover dropping if a site is negatively impacted by a broad core update is not uncommon. I'm eager to see how this changes things based on the sites that reached out after Discover heavily dropped. https://t.co/nJdkgWXdRN
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 2, 2023
I actually said profanities out loud.
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 1, 2023
Yes, just started to get discover traffic again since yesteday. It was down to 0 after the core update.
— Simon (Niche site | SEO) (@SimonNicheSEO) November 1, 2023
@googlesearchc @JohnMu @searchliaison
— Kenichi Suzuki💫鈴木謙一 (@suzukik) November 1, 2023
Did any sites experience, not an increase but a **drop** in traffic from Discover as a result of the issue?https://t.co/9FMzX6Et1z
After seeing so much Discover talk on here recently, this is interesting! So many people getting huge boost whereas I went from averaging 1500 impressions a day to 60!!! https://t.co/sholKndOic
— Mel Boyden🌿 (@MelBoyden) November 1, 2023
Tracking Tools On October 31st Core Update Fix
These tracking tools do not track Google Discover fluctuations or volatility but it seems like they are now spiking after whatever fix Google pushed out the other day. I am not sure why and it may be unrelated to this fix but here is what the tools show:
Forum discussion at X, Black Hat World and WebmasterWorld.
Update: Now a new core update, didn't expect that:
Today we released the November 2023 core update. We'll update our ranking release history page when the rollout is complete: https://t.co/hgjEkfpbA2
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) November 2, 2023
Related to this, we’ve posted a Q&A on Google Search updates as a refresher about how updates work: https://t.co/N5p3KsJ0ta
More on this tomorrow...
