It was reported yesterday that there was chatter in SEO world that there was a possible Google update that was released that morning. It was finally confirmed by Google that there was indeed an update to the core search algorithm, and not to the Panda algorithm that some where expected to see updated shortly. We can expect future core search algorithm updates as Google continues to work on making their search quality better.
Google sent us this statement:
This is not a Panda update. As you know, we’re always making improvements to our search algorithms and the web is constantly evolving. We’re going to continue to work on improvements across the board.
According to a number of automated tracking tools, such as Mozcast, there were huge spikes that were shown to go completely off the charts when it comes to the changes happening int he Google search results. Dr Pete Meyers believed that the HTTPS algorithm had been updated and was given more weight, but according to Google’s Gary Illyes on Twitter, this isn’t the case. Barry Schwartz suspects that the reason that all of these tools are showing a spike this week was because of Wikipedia, which is the number one Google search result, who changed all of their URLs to go HTTPS this week. Because of this seemingly small change, it was enough to cause the spike, as so many 1 to 5 Google search results where changed.