As I hinted to in my SEO video recap on Friday, we saw some early signing of an unconfirmed Google Search ranking algorithm update starting Friday, August 18th, and it went into Saturday, August 19th.
It has actually been a while since I reported on one of these updates. The last time I reported on one was the August 3rd and 4th unconfirmed Google update. It seems things calmed a bit over the past few weeks across the toolset and the industry chatter.
But on Friday, August 18th, it got heated and we saw some of the Google search tracking tools and the SEO industry chatter spike upwards.
While we are all expecting a confirmed update soon, right now, we have not received one - yet. The summer is almost over, some schools are back in session already (not my kids) and we have not had a confirmed Google update since the April 2023 reviews update. The last core update was the March 2023 core update. So we are due some updates, and many suspect we will see the helpful content update, which we didn't have since the December 2022 helpful content update.
To catch you up, we last reported about an unconfirmed Google updateon August 3rd and 4th, July 26th, July 17th/18th and then again July 12th/13th, then around July 6th or 8th and then on June 28th and 29th and then again June 23rd then on June 19th we reported about ongoing heated volatility with Google Search. We also reported on an update on June 14th, one around June 14th and ongoing, then June 6th then around May 22/23rd, then around May 17t, then on May 10th and the other around early May.
SEO Chatter
Here is some of the chatter I spotted on Friday and over the weekend in the WebmasterWorld, BlackHatWorld and the comments area here:
I have seen the same things on my keywords are up and down day by day. Also, I lost 40% of traffic from July 29. Actually, I don't know what is happening here.
Is this update penalizing AI content?
Today there is no freaking human clicking ads organic! Nothing!
Traffic has been sky high for the last two days...like someone flipped the switch on. No more mysterious drops in USA traffic for hours at a time etc. This definitely has something to do with schools being back in session (I get a ton of edu traffic). But I am also seeing a lot of inquiries, so lets hope it keeps up for a while at least.
I have very strong traffic today...+30% USA, +24% search, +19% direct. I'm sure it cannot last at this pace.
This has been the worst ever, the past several weeks no traffic, then indexing issues, and then my new articles are indexed and then now again no more indexing. Whats going on? two days ago I posted two articles I copy and pasted the link in search and its indexed, now I posted three articles brand new and its been 10 hours and they still are not indexed even though google search says they are. :( my traffic is 3 visits an hour.
Almost 30% increases in search traffic for three days running now...including from USA, shocking! #enjoyingitwhileitlasts
Something seems to be happening...For the past 24 hours there has been some crazy shuffling.
Google Tracking Tools
Here is what the tracking tools are now showing:
When the indented results themselves drop out (i.e. the ones below the "parent" result), they don't take a non-indented spot on page one -- the return to their original position, which is often on page 2+. That can have a substantial impact on ranking flux.
— Dr. Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) August 24, 2023
A possible unreported Google algo change over the weekend was reported by @rustybrick. Our @seoClarity Rank Fluctuation tracker (from all of our millions of US keywords) shows a new peak starting Thur and cresting Saturday. pic.twitter.com/gyEVXpimeI
— Mark Traphagen 🏳️🌈 (they/them) (@marktraphagen) August 22, 2023
What are you all seeing?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
