I am seeing signs again of yet another weekend search ranking update from Google Search. Again, this is unconfirmed and it is hard to tell what this is from. It might be the tail-end of the Google link spam update, which is not fully done rolling out, even as of Friday. Or it might be something new.
I am seeing chatter, even over the weekend, in the various forums. And I am seeing big fluctuations and volatility reported from the tracking tools, virtually all of them are showing big swings yesterday, Saturday, August 14th. The chatter started to pick up a bit on Friday and through Saturday.
Again, Google's Danny Sullivan told me on Friday the link spam update was not done yet but should be done soon. So I do wonder if this is related:
Every time you ask, it gets longer :)
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 13, 2021
Seriously, no, it's not done yet. I expect not much longer, though.
Google Update Chatter
Here is some of the chatter from WebmasterWorld:
Yes, we also notice some drop in our health niche client
After 3 days of normal traffic with lots of sales, we got hit yesterday in the evening again ( -50%).
Very big drop today.
A 32% drop in USA traffic from 8am this morning, but search and direct traffic appear normal. It appears to be coming from lower traffic via referral links and social media. Perhaps people are just out enjoying their summer Saturday. Sales have been awful this entire summer...non-existent really, and also hearing that it's quiet from friends in other niches not related to mine.
Looks like a major update is being rolled out, good luck everyone
Ugh huge drop - hoping it's just turbulance.
everything down again, especially sales
But like with every update Google makes, not everyone is seeing it. But there is nice levels of chatter for me to check the tracking tools to see if they see an update - and they do.
Tracking Tools
Mozcast is showing hot weather:
Semrush was pretty high on Saturday:
I know it is Sunday when I am reporting this but I figured since I am going on a family vacation this week, I get it live ASAP.
Have you seen ranking and traffic changes that are out of the norm for this weekend?
Glenn Gabe added some charts:
I've shared a # of exs of sites seeing a lot of volatility in late July/early Aug (like 8/1). Now that the link spam update is ending, I checked those sites & I'm definitely seeing addl volatility for some (even reversing course). Maybe it was the link spam update after all... pic.twitter.com/EIq7hSOxzn
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) August 15, 2021
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
