I am seeing some limited chatter around a possible Google search algorithm update around May 9th, maybe starting May 8th. The chatter and signals are not super high, like some other updates, but there is enough for me to bring this to your attention.
It honestly would surprise me if they released an update to the core ranking algorithm during Google I/O but hey, anything is possible.
Maybe it is related to the new evergreen GoogleBot that is now able to interact with a lot more types of web pages on the internet? Maybe its crawling abilities are able to now show up in the index in a more impactful way? Google did say it went live.
Here is some of the chatter from WebmasterWorld:
Anyone notice a change in traffic on the 9th or was it just me?
Me too. All day traffic become high at unusual times and fell during the regular time.
Seeing big fluctuations in serps. another update?
Yes, I am seeing the same thing since late yesterday evening, they seem to be going from bad to worse, I am suspecting something to do with links again. The reason I say this is because I have one PBN that after the August update shot to page one for several keywords (and remained there). In April, it went to page 4-5 and as of yesterday its been climbing back up, now sitting on page 1 again as it was before.
The tracking tools from the tool providers don't show this as a big update on their end - but there is enough chatter, in my opinion, to warrant a post. Here are screen shots of the tracking tools, maybe they will show more fluctuations tomorrow?
Check your rankings, analytics and keywords and let us know if you are seeing changes?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Update: Google says no update.
