Google: Site Command Rankings Can Be Impacted By Core Updates

Jun 15, 2021 - 7:51 am 0 by

Google Site Command

I do a ton of site command searches, I do this to find content on specific sites, and I've noticed over the years is that the results I get from Google before and after a core update can be impacted for those site commands. So I asked Google if I am crazy for thinking this or if this makes sense. Gary Illyes from Google didn't say I was crazy.

Here was my question:

Gary Illyes from Google replied saying that while generic non query attached site commands are not really impacted by these updates, site commands with queries attached to them are. Here is his response:

(1) site: on its own isn't directly (it's using a different, disconnected ranking path)

(2) site:+query is affected (it's using the normal ranking path)

The first example is just a site command like, site:google.com and you want to see the pages returned, it can also be site:google.com/folder.

The second example is more like site:google.com [query goes here], like this:

click for full size

Over the years, I have seen some sites, often ones hit negatively by a core update, show less relevant results from the site query command.

I always wondered if it was about an indexing issues, but maybe it is more of a ranking issue? Maybe, maybe it is about a page or set of pages no longer have enough authority to rank, even though that page on that site may have been the most relevant page? I would have thought site command should relax those rules (or whatever you call them)_ because site commands are super restrictive. Sorry for the rambling, but hopefully you see where I am going with this?

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google

Google Search Bitcoin Charts Gone - It's A Bug (Now Fixed)

Feb 9, 2025 - 11:45 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 7, 2025

Feb 7, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility, Google Ads Quality Update, Google AI Overviews Updates & Other Search Engines

Feb 7, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Says People Know When Author Bios Are For SEO Purposes

Feb 7, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Keyword Planner New Auto-Organize Keywords To Ad Groups

Feb 7, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Reinstatements Now Include Case & 5 Upload Documents

Feb 7, 2025 - 7:31 am
Previous Story: Google Launches Search Console Insights After A Year Of Testing