I'm late to report on this, but I thought I'd document it in case anyone noticed some volatility or changes in the rankings around May 3rd and May 4th. This is not a confirmed update to Google search rankings, but there are indications that an update was coming last Friday.
In fact, I almost missed reporting on this until I saw Glenn Gabe share the data he was tracking. Looking into it, around May 3rd and 4th he noticed a spike in chatter within the SEO community.
There are many tools that are relatively calm around May 3rd and 4th.
SEO chat
Click here for Glenn's post X So he said: “Are you affected by the March Core Update? Check your stats again today. We saw a drop in sites on May 3rd after a spike in the March Core Update. I checked many sites. And yes, I think we will see a big change from May 3rd.
Here is the full post with images:
I heard from another site owner that they've seen big changes after taking a big hit in March. See the visibility trends below. I also looked at Discover's GSC stats and they spiked like crazy with this swing (after flattening out with the March core update). Then something happened again… pic.twitter.com/NYuirdsONe
— Glenn Gabe (@glengabe) May 6, 2024
WebmasterWorld saw a small spike in chat on May 4th, but also had chats on May 3rd.
Something is happening again. Traffic decreased and sales from Google traffic stopped completely.
We can confirm this for Germany. I talked to some shops before, but today they are all dead.
I think something is wrong. The traffic has decreased by 80% in the last 24 hours, but there is no change or change. Something very strange is happening right now.
We also see some strange indicators.
Huge and disastrous drop since this morning…zero traffic so far from 8am to 10:30am and suddenly no ranking keywords. Since these “updates” ended, traffic in the US and Canada has been terrible, but traffic in the UK, Germany, UAE, and most other countries around the world is much higher. Google has decided that US traffic is much more profitable and most valuable, so it will disappear. We have agreed to rebuild using another platform, but that would be a very long, slow, and painful process.
Based on the unreliable GA, the traffic is again very week-to-week.
All of your converting keyword traffic, including brand terms, has been replaced by zombies.
This weekend is terrible…my homepage at 1pm this morning is -66%. Yesterday's traffic was significantly reduced overall. Today is just as bad, if not worse. This weekend is graduation, so some of it has to do with the end of school, but not all of it. The number of impressions has now trended downward for three consecutive months compared to the same three months in 2023 (solid line).
Google destroyed my traffic in the last 72 hours
Glenn, my site also crashed on May 3rd after spiking in the March core update 🤯 , well, that happens a lot in the Google world.
— Ruben (@rubentalks) May 6, 2024
So there was some chatter, but it expanded more over the weekend.
Google tracking tools
Most of the tools are very calm and there is no official Google update that was supposed to happen on May 3rd. But Google always pushes unverified updates.
Here's what the tool shows:
Similar web:
Semrush:
Advanced web ranking:
Moz cast:
SERP metrics:
Accurunker:
Mangool:
Wincher:
SERPstat:
Algoroo:
Cognitive SEO:
So, did anyone notice any changes in the rankings around May 3rd and 4th?
Forum discussions at WebmasterWorld and X.