As you know, Google started to rollout the November 2021 Core Update yesterday, November 17th at around 11am ET. Below is a recap of the early chatter and data we are seeing on this update less than 24 hours after it started rolling out. Keep in mind, we expect to see more over the next several days but I wanted to share some of the early reports on the impact of this update.
There is a lot of recent chatter so far, mostly about the timing of this update but some are already reporting traffic changes, big ones, on their sites or client sites. I'll sum up what I see in the forums and on social below in regards to what we are seeing. Also the tracking tools, many are showing big changes already - not all are - but many are.
SEO Chatter On November 2021 Core Update
It is super early to see chatter right now, I mean, you can pick up hourly changes and some are. But for news sites like this, doing that is not a good idea - this site is spiking because of the Google update news - so you can't use charts to say I saw a lift on news sites. You need to watch those sites over numerous weeks...
But for normal sites that are not news driven, you should be able to see traffic changes quickly, if you take out any seasonality or other outliers.
We have threads at WebmasterWorld, BlackHatWorld, Google Search Central Forums, comments here on this site and others. Here is are some quotes from those threads based on this new update:
Ok, so the core update is officially being deployed. On our side, our turnover (ecommerce) has collapsed to the point where our ads budget is more important than our revenues ! 80% loss ATM ...
usa here. rollout day 1 seems fairly slow and uneventful (not complaining). agree or disagree?
I can see why it's quiet here -- there is not much volatility in the SERPs, at least not yet, and not throughout the day. However, with our specific KWs and site, there was quite a bit of volatility throughout the day
Seems like this one is with a late / slow rollout.Absolutely nothing of note yet!
SEMrush 9.2 in UK today (was only 6.0 yesterday). Brace yourselves!
10% down today compared to Last Week...
Huge drop today. I can only wait for the progress of this update...
Seems big.
I am noticing one thing very distinctively. All the spam and bot traffic that the Spam update disposed, suddenly they are coming back. Some of my sites are flooded with Chinese bot like traffic since the last the couple of hours.
130% increase after the Spam Update was over - 10 Nov. 10x decrease in overall traffic since yesterday afternoon compared to what it should be. However, can't measure it right at this moment, I need the weekend to get a better picture. But this kind of drop never happened before. It's true that yesterday and today are pretty much "dead" days for me, but it feels like something bad is about to happen. It's just weird.
I am dancing like crazy
Couple of my sites are smashed. Others are unaffected.
See big movements across my sites, mostly positive, keeping fingers crossed
Seems big - I'm down a lot.
Add me to the list of those down 30% as well. Well, at least for my biggest site. My other sites seem relatively unaffected.
About 30 percent less since 10 AM (Germany). Still moving...
So far, the chatter is somewhat limited on ranking disruption. The most chatter is on the timing of this release, which I went into in detail in my story yesterday.
Tracking Tools On November 2021 Core Update
Semrush is reporting a 9.3 - which is super high:
Accuranker is high as well:
Advanced Web Rankings is the highest it can go:
Mozcast is reporting high temps:
SERPmetrics is trending up:
Algoroo is trending up:
Cognitive SEO is currently calm:
Are you noticing anything? Want to share charts, category of site, and more details in the comments or the threads I linked to below?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, BlackHatWorld and Google Search Central Forums.
Update: Here are some early charts from Glenn Gabe and others:
And here are some surges I'm seeing across verticals and countries. As with other broad core updates, there's a lot of movement... and some huge drops and surges. I'm also seeing quite a bit of reversal from the spectacular summer of broad core updates. I'll share more soon. pic.twitter.com/5OyjQZu09p
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 19, 2021
I'm also seeing surges/drops with e-commerce retailers (right before Thanksgiving weekend). For this *giant* e-commerce retailer, this initial drop could signal a big, big problem for them. They dropped w/the Dec 2020 core update, surged w/July 2021 core update & now is dropping. pic.twitter.com/cvuH4WWD5X
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 19, 2021
Continuing my thread about the November 2021 broad core update, there's been a focus on e-commerce (for good reason), but don't forget about the coupons niche. It's a critical time of year for those sites, and there is quite a bit of movement there. Here are some drops/surges: pic.twitter.com/X0Kx8IVJbF
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 20, 2021
Ah, the gray area of Google's algorithms. A maddening place to live. Site surges during Dec 2020 core update, gets hammered by the July 2021 core update and now is starting to surge back with the November 2021 core update (but not back to where it was). So volatile... pic.twitter.com/AFPkCzEH44
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 21, 2021
More on the November 2021 broad core update: This health site (which also contains an affiliate section with reviews) has surged over the past year big-time. Really started with the June/July core updates and now a big jump with the November 2021 core update. Very interesting ex: pic.twitter.com/niIps0xLwk
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 21, 2021
More from the November broad core update. I'm seeing a lot of reversals/corrections based on the June & July core updates. Could be an important reason that Google decided to push this update BEFORE the biggest shopping weekend of the year. Things can change, but worth noting. pic.twitter.com/lk82340jWN
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 22, 2021
@rustybrick love the Videos you create. Our site is getting whacked. We were averaging 3800+/visits per day, now we are at 500/day (if that). Hoping the rollout isn’t complete and we recover a bit.
— Drew Cheneler (@werdchenellia) November 21, 2021
Just to add some flare: pic.twitter.com/slPjRHGuoI
— Drew Cheneler (@werdchenellia) November 22, 2021
Some more details on the November Google core update from @sistrix, including an intruiging visibility 'switch' on an Italian news site where their news domain suffered but their dictionary subdomain got boosted.https://t.co/J1T4hBPZ3O pic.twitter.com/892b7Dw0tB
— Barry Adams 📰 (@badams) November 22, 2021
Heads up: the core update started kicking in more noticeably on Saturday & Sunday for a few of our clients: pic.twitter.com/gZ7DNRdD3X
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 22, 2021
Also seeing some sites with losses.
— Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) November 22, 2021
Again, it's still early. The update is just a few days old and still rolling out. pic.twitter.com/Kjak5AK29W
Update 2: We also published a poll on what SEOs are seeing, see that over here.
And I published at Search Engine Land Google's November 2021 core update hit fast and hard; here is what the data providers saw.
Update 3: We are seeing a lot of tremors on Thanksgiving - good timing Google.
