Google Continues Rolling Out Out Ranking Updates Amid a Global Pandemic

Google Algorithm Update Causes Noticeable Ranking Fluctuations

We may be in the midst of a global pandemic, but that hasn’t slowed Google from continuing to roll out algorithm updates that cause search rankings to flutter. Based on reported ranking fluctuations along with some industry chatter, a Google algorithm update may have rolled out within the past week or so, according to Search Engine Round Table. It’s hard to tell what the full impact of this update has been, as chatter within the SEO community was overshadowed by a Google Analytics issue that occurred around the same time. Plus, as always, Google has remained tight-lipped, neither confirming nor denying that such an update has even taken place. However, it’s fair to say an update did, in fact, occur based on the following charts from various tracking tools. Source: SEMRush Source: Algoroo Source: Cognitive SEO To give you an even better idea of how this supposed update is affecting those within the industry, here’s a look at a few snippets taken from the forum over at WebmasterWorld: “Woke up today to a total google reshuffle in my niche…extreme ranking loss and lots of low quality (spam link) sites ranking high.” “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a quick re-shuffle and shuffle back to ordinary. I was nowhere in top 100 for any of my highest keywords and now strongest ones are back in top 10 as before.” “Yup seen a few obvious spam sites rising. One link I saw rise out of no where redirects to a #*$! site and if you look at the google cache of the page it is some stolen page with the content words just jumbled (it doesn’t make sense anymore). Not sure how Google cannot still detect these types of sites.” “Google tanked the rankings for nearly all search terms. Feels like the whole domain has been punished for some random reason. Unfortunately, it has not recovered rankings yet like StoneSolid’s did. Depressing.” As you can see, it doesn’t appear this update has been too volatile compared previous updates, but it definitely has had a noticeable effect. In the absence of actual advice from the big guy upstairs, AKA Google, there isn’t anything actionable you can do to offset the impact of this update, except continue to produce quality content and track any ranking fluctuations. So, in the meantime, sit tight and keep an eye on your rankings until things bounce back.

Tags - In The News, algorithm update, google algorithm, Google update, marketing during a pandemic