Google started to roll out the Google September 2023 Helpful Content Update last Thursday afternoon and I’ve been seeing mixed signals about how strong and widespread this update is. There are definitely site owners and SEOs claiming some of their sites were hit hard but the tracking tools are reporting relatively calm weather since the update started.
The chatter is pretty heated in the various forums however I am not seeing much talk on Twitter of this update. The weird thing is the chatter is not matching up with the tracking tools.
Since we are now over five days since it started rolling out, I wanted to cover what I am seeing.
Again, there is a lot chatter and SEOs are claiming traffic drops (or gains) from Google Search after this began rolling out. But again, most of those tracking tools have been pretty calm.
Many are reporting drops in traffic and visibility from 40% to upwards of 80% after being hit by this helpful content update.
SEO Chatter
Let’s look at what the chatter is showing in the WebmasterWorld forums and the comments here. The chatter did slowly start up a day after the update was announced.
That is just some, a sampling, of the chatter.
Google Tracking Tools
Most of the tools are showing incredibly low volatility now, which is very out of characteristic based on what we’ve been tracking for the past several months. This is just super weird based on the chatter I am seeing within the industry. I’ve updated these charts at 6am ET on Thursday, September 21st:
Sistrix sent me some charts saying they are just noticing the first movements from this helpful content update:
Glenn Gabe is also tracking this super closely early on was also not seeing big shifts but things may have changed in the past 24 hours:
This morning he noticed big changes:
This feels like a weird update.
What are you all seeing?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
