We are picking up some chatter that there may have been a Google algorithm update on Martin Luther King Day – January 16, 2017. Some webmasters have reported noticeable swings in their rankings and traffic starting on Monday.
The chart below show that there was an uptick in ranking fluctuations, according to RankRanger. As you can see, there were some spikes in the Risk Level in the days in and around Martin Luther King Day.
According to a few webmasters in the forum we linked to above, traffic and ranking changes for their websites started to happen on the day in question. It could always be a coincidence, but there are other algorithm trackers (MozCast, AccuRanker) that are showing fluctuations as well.
This would not be the first time that Google has rolled an updated out around a holiday. We have seen them roll out updates in the past around Christmas (Pigeon 2014, Panda #23), Halloween (RankBrain Announcement), Fourth of July (Multi-Week Update) and May Day back in 2010. So this would fit into their modus operandi.
We continuously track and analyze our client’s rankings and organic traffic at our agency and have yet to pick up any fluctuations that would cause a red flag on our end. We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will update accordingly.
If you are looking for an SEO or Paid Search agency to keep your business up to date on these search landscape changes, drop us an email – we would love to have a conversation with you.
Source Links: SEO Round Table
