Was There A Google Update Earlier This Week?

Starting around Monday, November 23rd, there has been some signals that Google was pushing out another Google search algorithm ranking update. But the chatter is almost non-existent while some of the tools show big changes. Here is what I see, but again, this seems like a very narrow update at best.

Just to be clear, Google has not confirmed any update and for Google to release a Google search update prior to Thanksgiving - well, that just seems wrong on so many levels. So I do not know if this is a real big Google update or if specific sites are just having issues.

Let's first start with the tracking tools, again, most of them show big swings.

Mozcast:

SERPMetrics:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Accuranker:

RankRanger:

Cognitive SEO:

SERPstat:

SEMRush:

Here is some of the limited chatter at WebmasterWorld:

Today's started strongly for a holiday week with lots of international traffic and some unusual trade enquiries.

Definitely something is broiling here in Europe

Semrush is reporting movements in the US and Europe. Something is happening? At least one page is now suddenly ranking better than ever. Weird

Edit: The page is now back to its original position.

Seeing some changes this morning in the UK. Seems to be holding over the past few hours. Relatively positive for a change.

Very few changes in my SERPs and surprisingly busy so far for a Thansgiving Eve ...

Seeing noticeable traffic changes since yesterday. President set, Thanksgiving holidays are the greatest opportunity to "hide" the update. So why not to roll it out?

Also received a few emails and tweets asking me about this:

Hey @rustybrick, are you seeing any wild fluctuations within SERP? I'm seeing some high-volatility: pic.twitter.com/QkeIKxYnqJ

— Taylor Kurtz (@RealTaylorKurtz) November 24, 2020

@rustybrick Seeing traffic drop since Monday.

— Mehul Solanki (@imehul1989) November 25, 2020

I have to say that this is unusual because the tools are really showing big changes but the SEO community is pretty calm. Maybe folks are already off for Thanksgiving week and not obsessing over it? I am not sure. I did ask a few folks who track a lot of sites and they said it seemed pretty calm.

Have you noticed big changes?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.