Google rankings are swinging harder again today
Google has still not announced anything, so nobody knows yet what is causing the movement.
Google search results are "more heated today", Barry Schwartz reports. That follows an unconfirmed ranking update over the previous 24 hours, which itself followed a heated Saturday. Google has not announced an update, so nobody knows yet what is behind the movement.
This is the same run of turbulence we covered earlier. The pattern has not changed. Rankings move, trackers light up, and Google stays quiet.
What unconfirmed means here
Google normally names its big changes, like a core update (a broad change to how Google decides which pages rank). An unconfirmed update is when the people who watch search all day see positions shifting but Google has not said a word. Sometimes Google confirms one later. Sometimes it never does.
So the honest answer on cause is that there is not one yet. Nothing in what Schwartz posted points to a reason, a target, or a type of site being hit.
What to do if your traffic dipped
Wait. Unconfirmed movement often settles back over a few days, and the worst thing you can do is rewrite pages, delete content or change your site structure in a panic, then have the ranking return on its own and lose track of what actually worked.
If you want to do something useful in the meantime, open Google Search Console, click Performance, and set the date range to compare the last 7 days with the previous 7 days. Sort by page. That tells you whether one page slipped or the whole site did, and you will want that record later whether or not Google confirms anything.
Also keep in mind that rank trackers have been shaky lately, so a drop on a dashboard is not proof of a drop in the real results. Check Search Console clicks and impressions before you believe a tool.
Who this affects
Everybody with a site that gets traffic from Google, but it does not demand action from anybody. Small sites with few keywords tend to see the biggest percentage swings simply because there is less to average out, which can make ordinary movement look dramatic.
If your numbers are flat, you do not need to do anything at all. If they moved, note the date, keep publishing the work you had planned, and give it a week before you react.
Unconfirmed Google Search ranking update hits over the past 24 hours after a heated Saturday Google update
Be the person who already knew
One email a day. Under three minutes. You will hear about a Google change before it shows up in your traffic.