Industry chatter is up a lot right now. In fact, we have seen an uptick in concerns webmasters have on the algorithm hits their sites have experienced in the search results. This may point to a possible Google algorithm update.
Here is an overview of the latest discussions on the topic from Webmaster World:
yollo03 6:02 pm on Apr 1, 2021
Something changed for sure, like all past updates, some will benefit and some will not. I will know in a few days where this is going, I was among those that didnt benefit from this. What I am noticing is that pages that ‘qualify’ for core web vitals are unstable, they keep rising and falling.
Something changed for sure, like all past updates, some will benefit and some will not. I will know in a few days where this is going, I was among those that didnt benefit from this. What I am noticing is that pages that ‘qualify’ for core web vitals are unstable, they keep rising and falling.
ichthyous 6:05 pm on Apr 1, 2021
A huge loss of USA and UK traffic…starting around 25% on March 15th and now it’s almost 50% traffic loss for both countries. Canada and Australia were also down from the 15th until yesterday…today they are up. Europe traffic never dropped much, and is up strongly today, especially Germany.
A huge loss of USA and UK traffic…starting around 25% on March 15th and now it’s almost 50% traffic loss for both countries. Canada and Australia were also down from the 15th until yesterday…today they are up. Europe traffic never dropped much, and is up strongly today, especially Germany.
ichthyous 6:05 pm on Apr 1, 2021
I saw a big drop on Feb 13th, then again on March 15th. I’ve lost 1/3 of my top three ranking terms in the last 3 months, most of that from Feb 13th onward. Only the same large corporate sites ranking now over and over.
I saw a big drop on Feb 13th, then again on March 15th. I’ve lost 1/3 of my top three ranking terms in the last 3 months, most of that from Feb 13th onward. Only the same large corporate sites ranking now over and over.
yollo03 7:45 pm on Apr 1, 2021
There was a glitch in the console that they fixed. Yesterday when I run a live test on any urls the page was tested on desktop and not smartphone. That was fixed today. I can only assume that whatever they did was done to the smartphone algorithms. So perhaps part (small one if my opinion) of the update is related to the core web vitals.
There was a glitch in the console that they fixed. Yesterday when I run a live test on any urls the page was tested on desktop and not smartphone. That was fixed today. I can only assume that whatever they did was done to the smartphone algorithms. So perhaps part (small one if my opinion) of the update is related to the core web vitals.
christianz 6:42 pm on Apr 1, 2021
Down ~4-5% compared to previous Thursday. Not promising start for April.
Down ~4-5% compared to previous Thursday. Not promising start for April.
webdev29 8:35 pm on Apr 1, 2021
an impressive +150% conversion by the 29th then huge traffic loss since the 30th march (-30% traffic). never saw a such drop since the ecommerce i’m monitoring is online (2013), hope they will fix-it, that’s clearly too uncommon to be a simple algorythm tuning from GG.
an impressive +150% conversion by the 29th then huge traffic loss since the 30th march (-30% traffic). never saw a such drop since the ecommerce i’m monitoring is online (2013), hope they will fix-it, that’s clearly too uncommon to be a simple algorythm tuning from GG.
Markedd 11:20 am on Apr 2, 2021
For those that think it’s a Core Vitals issue, it’s not. I monitor a few websites and they have horrendous scores, but still grow every day. Again, I noticed that they post at least once a day (or twice) and the type of articles is either a “How to do something” or guide to something. Heavy pages with lots of graphs and images (from other websites, including my own) seem to get hammered though, so I am not entirely sure what Google is up to (I doubt anybody knows).
For those that think it’s a Core Vitals issue, it’s not. I monitor a few websites and they have horrendous scores, but still grow every day. Again, I noticed that they post at least once a day (or twice) and the type of articles is either a “How to do something” or guide to something. Heavy pages with lots of graphs and images (from other websites, including my own) seem to get hammered though, so I am not entirely sure what Google is up to (I doubt anybody knows).
ichthyous 1:56 pm on Apr 2, 2021
I’m starting the day -75% in USA and -59% in UK traffic compared to a normal Friday…this is not a simple drop due to the holiday. I already had a sharp drop on Feb 13th which never improved, and then the second sharp drop on March 15th followed by an accelerated daily decline. I have lost 1/3 of my top three terms since the Feb 13th drop, mostly replaced by very large ecomm competitors, but not exclusively so.
I’m starting the day -75% in USA and -59% in UK traffic compared to a normal Friday…this is not a simple drop due to the holiday. I already had a sharp drop on Feb 13th which never improved, and then the second sharp drop on March 15th followed by an accelerated daily decline. I have lost 1/3 of my top three terms since the Feb 13th drop, mostly replaced by very large ecomm competitors, but not exclusively so.
RedBar 3:24 pm on Apr 2, 2021
I had a 63% Thursday which poor traffic until about 22.00 UK time and then the switch was flipped and I’ve had normal traffic across all sites until now and already at 61%And isn’t it strange, low traffic = low spam, higher traffic = more spam … Am I the only one?
I had a 63% Thursday which poor traffic until about 22.00 UK time and then the switch was flipped and I’ve had normal traffic across all sites until now and already at 61%And isn’t it strange, low traffic = low spam, higher traffic = more spam … Am I the only one?
Another Unconfirmed Update
This is yet another unconfirmed Google algorithm update, and they have yet to comment on any of the other recent updates that appear to have occurred during the month of March.
We will continue to observe the trends and keep you updated on further developments.
