It seems that Google may have implemented yet another search engine ranking algorithm update, just one day after the latest October 2022 Spam Update. On October 22, 2022, many SEO professionals noticed huge swings in search rankings, as reported by SERoundtable.
At that point, this is merely speculation, as there have been no official announcements, nor has it been listed on the Google Search Central website. So if it’s not an update, what could be the likely cause of these changes in Google rankings that web admins are experiencing?
There have been speculations that the Google Spam Update was not fully rolled out when the announcement of completion was made, said Barry Swartz of SERoundtable.
Another reason could be that the tools used to track rankings were slightly delayed and weren’t reflecting accurately in reports, or perhaps the effects of the spam update were only truly felt the day after completion.
The October 2022 Spam Update, announced on October 18, 2022, only took four days to complete and was released globally in all languages. Its main aim is to target phishing sites looking to retrieve users’ sensitive information or implement malware.
Most sites shouldn’t have much to worry about; however, if you are concerned about the security of your site, you may want to take a look at upping those security measures, as it could decrease your rankings or lead to certain pages being deindexed.
No matter the reason, these ranking reports have caused quite some confusion among SEOs, and we are still determining the actual cause of the reports this past weekend.
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