On February 7, it appears that there was a Google algorithm change that adjusted how many sites rank, both bad and good. Ever since this apparent change happened, Barry Schwartz kept tracking the update since Feb. 8. As time went on, more and more webmasters and SEOs seemed to notice the changes in ranking at Google.
It appears to be unrelated to the unconfirmed link algorithm change from earlier in February. Instead, the new update seems to be more related to Panda, based on such things as content and site quality, versus link factors.
The update has not been confirmed by Google and wouldn’t comment on what webmasters and SEOs have noticed over the last week in the search results. Because of this, it’s impossible to confirm if this is a content quality shift, link quality change, or something else. But what ever is going on, SEOs and webmasters have certainly noticed these ranking changes, through looking at ranking reports on their traffic from Google in their analytics, or using any tracking tools that track visibility and other means.
There were other tracking tools, such as RankRanger, Accuranker and Mozcast, among others, all showed evidence that something happened on February 7.
What ever happened on that day, it was significant enough to have Barry reach out to Google for comment. Until there’s anymore updates on the situation, he’ll continue to track closely within the industry.