Google Search Ranking Volatility & Shuffles This Weekend

Google will not, refused to, calm down, and the ranking volatility, the shuffling of the search results, remains constant. This weekend, probably starting on Friday, September 27th, through the whole weekend, we are seeing even more signs of movement and volatility.

This time, the WebmasterWorld forums are quietish but the chatter here in our comments area spiked up over the weekend. Of course, the tools are still very heated.

So are we having another unconfirmed Google Search ranking update or adjustment – probably?

As a reminder, the Google August 2024 core update started on August 15th and officially completed on September 3rd. But it was still super volatile the day after it completed and also weeks after it completed and it has not cooled.

We saw big signals on and around September 6th, September 10th or so and maybe around September 14th. We also saw movement around September 18th, last weekend and Septmeber 25th. Now it is kicking up again this past weekend again.

SEO Chatter

Let’s start with the chatter within our comments area here. Here are some quotes:

Something big seems to have happened in the past 24 hours again.

Seems like we can expect more extreme volatility in the last 2 days of Q3.

Also, 3 more days and this shuffling/volatility will be the longest ever recorded.

I’ve noticed this too and damn then for giving me hope again because I’m seeing increases and positive indicators in the last 30 hours. I know, I know it’s insane to expect anything permanently good from G-evil g-reedle, but I can’t help it. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment … and G is a glutton for punishing!

My posts don’t show up even when I search for the keyword + my sites name. And I have lost my favicon.

Since the initial bump from the August core update, traffic has been gradually sliding downward. Not good.

Yesterday I told you my traffic is up ~15% for the last 48 hours and – because of this fact – the weekend will become terrible. And here we are: It’s Saturday and my traffic dropped >50%, starting at 2 PM (CET).

2 days of growth, completely undone today. Make up your mind Google!

I’m in. Today there was a big decline, the traffic is currently as bad as it was before the update in August. What really annoyed me: Today there was an important topic in my area, we were the first to publish an article, countless others copied it, and my article cannot be found.

Sharp drop in traffic on September 27 7PM GMT. All or most of the drop is concentrated in US traffic. Just like last week, drop begins on Friday and fully manifests starting with Saturday.

It’s like the Google’s money squeezing team is working Monday to Friday and when they have a new squeezing idea/feature ready, they launch it on Friday and let it roll out over weekend.

That is just some of the comments there.

Glenn Gabe documented a number of sites that saw big swings this weekend, starting on Friday:

More about the reversals on 9/27: Also worth noting, there were HCU(X) sites that surged with the August core update that then started dropping back down with the post-Aug core update volatility. I’ll be check the numbers in detail soon, but I’m *not* seeing those reverse course… pic.twitter.com/7lGMNdEhdZ

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) September 30, 2024