Update: This is now confirmed by Google. See below...
It looks like there is a big update just starting to happen in the Google search results this morning. It is super early but based on the initial chatter I am seeing within the SEO community, this one might be a very big one. It is so early that most of the tracking tools aren't even picking it up yet. But the chatter within the community looks to me that this might be a big Google search update.
Why big? Just based on the number of posts and what they are saying within a short time period. It can be some weird Google bug or it can be a new algorithm update that is causing a shift in the core rankings in Google.
SEOs at Black Hat World and WebmasterWorld are currently discussing it, mostly as of this morning. Here is what they are saying:
Yes, Seen in last 3-4 hours, 20-30% decline in traffic.
Yes, my main site has lost pretty much all page 1 rankings, game over.
Huge drop in ranking in the past 24 hours, wow! Its not a speed issue, site loads on average less than 3 seconds. Is anyone else noticing a drop in ranking? Biggest drop I had for more than a year.
My site's traffic is down from 50k to 35k in last 24 hours with majors changes across all positions. Frop #1 to god knows where.My last site (controlled by seo company, not me) was killed post march update, went from generating 80k revenue per month to peanuts. After this non sense drop in last 24 hours, I am done.
My competitors are using pop ups, pop unders, ads on click and other garbage while I have zero adsense ads, zero annoying ads or anything.
I am also seeing folks on Twitter and other areas complaining about rankings. I am not sure if this is targeting some spam tactic, a bug, or feature or something else.
Currently, the only tools showing real changes are:
Here are some of the other tools that might be delayed or not picking up on these changes:
Again, this is super early but it seems big to me. Check your analytics and let me know what you see throughout the day.
Forum discussion at Black Hat World and WebmasterWorld.
Update: This is now confirmed:
This week we released a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. Our guidance about such updates remains the same as in March, as we covered here: https://t.co/uPlEdSLHoX
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) August 1, 2018
Yes. I can confirm. See here: https://t.co/32yCe3pTF7
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 1, 2018
Update 2: Since Google won't share what you should do to recover from this update (if you were negatively hit) - I am going to do a deep dive on the data. Please complete the survey I made over here and tell your friends to do so too. The more data I can collect, the better chances I have of finding a pattern on the sites impacted.
Update 3: Here is a story summarizing everything Google has said about this update and what many SEOs are saying about this update 24 hours later.
Update 4: The algorithm update will take some time to calm down and will lead into next week:
A few days. Say by middle of next week, should be fully rolled out.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 3, 2018
Update 5: On August 6th, Monday, I am seeing signs that the algorithm rollout is slowing down. Also, some are seeing an impact in local search rankings as well.
Update 6: I reviewed a ton of sites and I am naming it the Google Medic Update - it had a huge impact on the health/medical space - more at this page.
