Several SERP tracking tools indicate that Google might have updated its search ranking algorithm. While Google has not confirmed the update, many SEOs reported a serious drop in search traffic between June 28 and 29, 2023.
The SEO space is surprisingly quiet for an update of this magnitude. As someone suggested, SEOs might have missed the unconfirmed update because of the switch from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
What Are People Saying?
Barry Schwartz took to Twitter to discuss this unconfirmed update and was curious about Google’s confirmed updates becoming rare.
Google search ranking volatility is super heated again; where is that confirmed Google update already? https://t.co/JaYipUrQhu pic.twitter.com/Bbyt9ayFrb
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) June 29, 2023
Glenn Gabe, an SEO Expert, posted the analytics of some affected sites with their traffic declining.
Yep, there's even more volatility (adding to the crazy movement we have seen in May & now June). Digging in a bit reveals some big drops & surges for sites. Some of the drops I'm seeing make sense… the sites are terrible, the UX is horrendous, ads horrible, etc. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/Cel0yaTJMp
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) June 29, 2023
In follow-up tweets, Glenn Gabe suggested Google may be doing away with the massive Broad Core Updates we are more familiar with. In the future, Google may only release continuous updates with no start or end date, like the Helpful Content Update, which is intended to promote content written to searchers and not search engines.
I also explained in my SMX presentation that the future of broad core updates might be NO broad core updates. Imagine they continually run like the HCU with no marker for start or completion date? Not saying that's happening, but I could see that happen in the future. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/AuBEwcumuA
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) June 29, 2023
What’s Next – Dealing With This Update
As with most unconfirmed updates, it is hard to understand what this update is about and how it is related to previous and upcoming updates.
That said, if you notice traffic fluctuations on your site, you should monitor the affected pages with Rank Math’s Analytics so that you can understand how you are affected and begin working on recovering from it. You can refer to the below video for tips on recovering from a Google Algorithm update.
