So after reporting a Google update on May 1st, then waiting and watching the community over the weekend to say – oh boy, there was a Google update rolling out over Friday through the weekend – we then had Google tell us there was no update. I used a Panda bear giving an evil stare because most of us knew something changed.

And Google, after a bunch of arm twisting, finally gave me/us confirmation, which I posted on Search Engine Land.

Google told us this was not an update for web spam, but a normal Google core search quality update. That is what I said earlier but I didn’t have it on record. I assumed it wasn’t related to Panda, Penguin or core spam, but rather a normal Google search core algorithm update and it was.

I am not sure exactly why Google wouldn’t confirm it back then but now they are and hopefully in the future they will as well. So the 10% of you that call me out as a traffic whore (or whatever you call me) for being the first to report on any possible update – I am sorry.

If you saw a change in traffic starting around May 1st, you are 100% not going crazy, Google made an update that was more noticeable than previous core search updates.

John Mueller actually addressed this in a Google+ Hangout yesterday after Google sent out official confirmation. He said at the 35:30 mark:

You can listen to the whole thing over here:

Glad we got confirmation.

Forum discussion at Google+ & WebmasterWorld.