While it's highly unlikely that Google would push through an algorithm change on Memorial Day, there has been a spike in conversation in the SEO community and third-party Google search tracking tools have shown volatility. Sure, Memorial Day can be an unusually quiet day for traffic, which is understandable, but there does seem to be more activity than usual.
So, have Google search rankings been updated over Memorial Day weekend? Before I do, let me share what I'm seeing.
Just to let you know, Google rankings fluctuated around May 22, May 16, May 9, May 3, and April 25. Prior to that, the March 2024 Core Update began on March 5 and ended 45 days later on April 19. It's been a busy month.
SEO Chatter
The WebmasterWorld chat started on Sunday, May 26th, and continued into yesterday. Here are some of the comments made on the forum:
Wow, traffic to my site's home page is down 70% this weekend. It's normal for traffic to drop over a holiday weekend, but it shouldn't be down 70%…what does this mean?
It's been a very bad weekend for my global sites – 60% yesterday, 40% after 20 hours today, and I expect tomorrow to be similarly low.
The UK hotel site closed yesterday after a very slow start but today as expected was very busy with food and live music.
What a strange weekend. Traffic from Google plummeted on Saturday, then increased substantially on Sunday, and so far today we've had an hour of heavy traffic, then an hour of next to no traffic, and this has been going on since 6am. I've given up trying to figure it out.
I too am feeling a bit down again over the weekend. Down and down and down and down. No one knows why. Slowly but surely I am coming to terms with the fact that there is no future in this topic anymore. 🙁
Ah, there's life after Google. Traffic increased +140% overnight. Almost back to normal. I think some new articles have gone viral, but Google was at -20%. So not a single bit of this traffic increase came from Google. Awesome! After months and weeks of steady declines, it's now increasing. I'll try to keep it up from now on.
Traffic was back to normal today, which was a bit of a surprise.
It's a holiday weekend in the UK so I went out for a beer last night and it was a real shock, some pubs were already closed and some that are usually really busy were completely deserted… Did all of those supposed 20 million car movements happen last night?
I also saw some chatter on this site:
I thought Google wouldn't do anything on Memorial Day, but apparently rankings are shuffling now in my niche. In fact it was super quiet for a few days with barely any change in rankings. But now it's started again. This is awful. I don't know why rankings are shuffling so much every day. I read the theory here and it seems right. Maybe it's A/B testing. Who knows?
Anyone else noticing any changes this weekend?
Glenn Gabe also noticed the change, writing, “Add May 26th to your list. I'm seeing ranking spikes across sites I have access to that were also impacted by the March core update.”
After the March Core Update was released, we saw some crazy volatility. For example, May 3rd saw a big move, with many sites fully recovering from the March Core Update. But then we saw a ton of volatility on May 6th, May 8th, May 11th, and May 22nd. Now, add May 26th to the list too. … pic.twitter.com/CRlTH9Ap7Z
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) May 27, 2024
more:
Hello FollowThe fuss over Google updates has caused huge swings in results in India.
— Dinesh Singh (@kumarsinghdk) May 27, 2024
Google Tracking Tools
As you can see, most of these tools are really hot and have shown big fluctuations in Google rankings over the past week.
Semrush:
Similar websites:
Advanced Web Ranking:
Mozcast:
SERP Metrics:
Acculancar:
Mangool:
Wincher:
SERP Stats:
Cognitive SEO:
Algorithm:
What did you all watch this weekend?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.