More Volatility Reported Following Rumoured Google Update
04, Nov 2021
Craig UptonRumours are circulating of a possible Google search algorithm update at the tail-end of October. The supposed update took place on October 26, after which a number of disgruntled SEOs took to the web to voice their concerns.
Several major tracking tools indicated high levels of volatility around this date, seemingly confirmed in the complaints of webmasters who saw their rankings plummet.
WebmasterWorld was as usual the focal point for many looking to share their experiences with the wider community.
One website owner reported a series of traffic drops over the course of six consecutive days, with no signs of improvement whatsoever.
“My traffic dropped every day this week…every day lower than the previous one in a straight line for 6 days so far. My ranking has lost all the ground it gained and back to where it started.”
Others indicated having initially seen an increase in traffic, only for the whole thing to be reversed.
“Same thing, traffic lower every day, several days in a row. Before that it was bumped up somewhat for about 2-3 days and now its fully reversed after several days of declines and may end up lower than before.
“Semrush sensor surprisingly flat during all of this. Maybe its because rankings don’t change much and it was Google temporarily reducing Google spam (for technical reasons like in middle of update) in SERPS before gradually reintroducing it back to previous levels or even more (they always want more Google spam). Just speculating.”
Meanwhile, there were those who simply accepted the inevitability of Google’s habits of taking the entire SEO landscape unaware.
“Traffic was higher and more stable for a while, until today. A jump up in rank is coinciding with a big drop in traffic from all English language countries. Search down 25% at 3pm and direct down 38%. I am not bothering to spend time investigating whether it’s because of page layout or # of ads on the page…Google will do what it’s going to do and so will I.” As usual, no official word from Google on whether a major update did indeed take place, along with its motivations for the update if so.
