We just had some Google algorithm update a week ago potentially targeting spammy links I believe. And now a week later, around February 7th, yesterday, it seems there was another algorithm update. This update doesn't seem specific to links or spam but rather just a normal unconfirmed Google update where ranking changes shift based on something changing at Google.
I do not believe it is related to the mobile bug because most of the automated tracking tools only track desktop search.
There is some chatter, the chatter in the SEO community is not YET that hot but it might heat up throughout the day as people check their analytics and tools.
An ongoing WebmasterWorld thread has these posts:
SERPs movements again in our vertical. We're seeing some recoveries from previous penguin casualties and some domain crowding. Spam STILL having a huge positive impact.
Yesterday (Tue 7th) I saw a huge spike in organic traffic, ~30% over avg, and 18% increase from previous record day in November. It's a Canadian financial-related site. Increases from both Google.ca as well as other search engines/
Here is a post on Twitter that even caught Gary Illyes attention:
@vladrpt ack
— Gary Illyes ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (@methode) February 8, 2017
And here are the tracking tools showing changes on the 7th, note Mozcast is well behind in terms of tracking so this might be related to the link spam update we covered last week?
Have you noticed any changes over the past 24 hours?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
