I am seeing some early signs of yet another Google Search ranking algorithm update - it is early but the chatter is kicking up and some of the tools are already picking up on the fluctuations and tremors in the search results. Yes, we had some quiet this week but it was super busy the past couple of months.
The last unconfirmed update we reported on was on March 11th that in my opinion lasted through March 14th or so. But then it died down and it was quiet for the past five days, which is unusual for Google in 2021. All of 2021 has been insanely busy in terms of ranking fluctuations.
First, let me share some of the new chatter WebmasterWorld:
Noticing some odd behaviour on competitive keywords at the moment. Keywords are going from page 1 or 2 to not ranking, and remaining there for at least a few days, despite consistently ranking page 2+ for a year. Other keywords unaffected, just a few specific keywords. Some gradually recover, others haven't started to yet (but it may be too soon).
Anyone else seeing big variance again today? In fact this whole week has been crazy for traffic changes - hot and cold day in day out
So the indexation of said URL seems to be back to normal. Absolutely bizarre. Frightening that they can take away a page like that for a full day. At least I can get back to business as usual.
There are also complaints being sent to me over the past 24-hours or so of indexing issues, which may be unrelated to this.
The tools are starting to show signs of changes in the search results - bigger changes than the rest of the week.
I'll check back through the weekend but we are due a core update soon, no?
Just to catch you up to speed, there was some update, unconfirmed again, this past weekend and then we reported unconfirmed Google updates on January 7th and 8th, January 12th, January 27th, February 8th, February 17th, February 20th, February 24th and 25th, February 26th and 27th, March 2nd and 3rd and then again this weekend, March 6th & 7th or so and March 11th. Let's not forget the launch of passage indexing on February 10th.
Are you noticing any changes today in a big way?
FYI, John Mueller of Google with his fun tweets:
(Also, I'm not aware of anything launching around search ranking; just having a bit of fun)
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) March 19, 2021
I think your thought falls into the "we make changes all the time" area. Sometimes small changes can have a big effect, true. I'm sure (& hope) we launched a bunch of changes this week, but I'm not aware of anything big enough that would cause people to see strong fluctuations.
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) March 19, 2021
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
