Update: The following day was even more active pushing Algoroo into red. This is now considered a major update with impact greater than Penguin 3.
Algoroo is showing a very active day in Google’s search results today. At 2.45 roos this is the most volatile day since the newsworthy content update back in June last year. Today is bigger than https update (December 2015), hacked page update (October 2015), localisation tweak (September 2015) and Panda 4.2.
There are some indicators that this might be a localisation-related update. We’ve checked a few results which contribute to Algoroo’s volatility index and noticed a very different landscape for a number of queries. Some of the results are completely out while some new players are in the first page of results.
We’re investigating further and will report back with any new findings.
Snippet Changes
There was a significant change for a number of our SERP snippets, now with an expanded version which switches on and off, likely a test. Here’s an example:
Before Update
After Update
The behaviour was also observed by one of our readers from the USA:
I did a search for “link building” and showed a longer desc. for the first result and 1 & 2 had organic extensions. https://t.co/O1MTUUlSIc
— Jesse McDonald (@jesseseogeek) January 9, 2016
It’s unclear whether extended snippets were part of the current update or a result of prior tweak.
Global Impact
Webmasters from around the world are reporting scattered roll-out of this update which seems to be affecting some regions more than others.
@dr_pete @randfish @dejanseo SEO weather in Germany today is boiling hot, too. pic.twitter.com/98ArlfEfwT
— Stefan Kohl (@KohlStefan) January 9, 2016
@Marie_Haynes @dejanseo Hi Marie I’m seeing some changes here in the UK! — Andy1st Driving (@andy1stdriving) January 9, 2016
@richardbaxter @carlhendy @dejanseo The SEO weather in Germany is at 35,5 degree today. Same peak as penguin 2.0 had in the past… — Maximilian (@Guy_Max) January 9, 2016
@dejanseo @richardbaxter SERP Watch flux by analysed country showing interesting differences today too pic.twitter.com/csdfRFtTbT
— Dawn Anderson (@dawnieando) January 9, 2016
Penguin-Like Behaviour
Upon investigating some of the newcomers in Google’s search results there is evidence that extreme anchor text manipulation got rewarded in this round. Historically, this doesn’t last long and the next iteration is expected to sort any rouge results out. More significantly, this looks like Penguin behaviour.
Test Update: Hidden Content
