Not Panda: Google Confirms Another Core Search Algorithm Update

The Google update from yesterday was a core ranking change, something Google does throughout the year. This was not Panda-, Penguin- or HTTPS-related.

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Yesterday, I reported on some SEO chatter around a possible Google update. Google has confirmed with us that this was an update to the core search algorithm and nothing related to the Panda algorithm that we are expecting to see updated shortly. In addition, Google told us to expect core search algorithm updates in the future as they continue to work on making search quality better.

Google sent us this statement:

This is not a Panda update. As you know, we’re always making improvements to our search algorithms and the web is constantly evolving. We’re going to continue to work on improvements across the board.

This echoes a similar statement Google sent us back with what we coined the Google Quality Update, so I wouldn’t be surprised if what some of the SEO community noticed was around changes to that core search algorithm from May 1st.

The interesting part is that many of the automated tracking tools such as Mozcast showed huge spikes in terms of changes happening in the Google search results. Initially Dr. Pete Meyers thought that maybe the HTTPS algorithm was updated and given more weight, but Gary Illyes from Google said on Twitter that this was not the case. I suspect the reason so many tools showed a spike this week was related to the number one Google search result, Wikipedia, changing all its URLs to go HTTPS this week, which ultimately changed so many 1-5 Google search results, causing the tools to spike.

So from what we know, this was not Panda, not HTTPS and also not Penguin. It was simply a normal Google core search update where Google won’t give us any details on.

Gary Illyes from Google even added that to Twitter this morning:


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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