SEO Temperature Rising

Updated January 13, 2023

Lots of SERP Changes

SEO forums are talking about changes occurring in organic search. We’ve seen a lot of updates to Google’s algorithm in the first quarter already. Let’s take a peek at what could be behind the rising SEO temperature.

Mozcast at 89 Degrees

This SEO weather report is a handy index. The higher the temperature, the more changes it detects in organic search. We started off the week at a comfortable 60 degrees. We’ve spiked into the 80’s for the last several days. Mozcast breaks the SEO weather into five severity levels:

• Sunny – few if any SERP changes detected; SEO is sailing along
• Cloudy – some changes detected; potentially small tweaks to the algorithm rolling out
• Partly Cloudy/Sunny – more changes detected; SEO weather may be blowing in
• Rain – a significant number of URLs are experiencing drops in organic ranking
• Lightning Storms – a major SEO storm usually attributed to big algorithmic changes like Penguin 3.0

Other Indicators

We often see indicators of SEO temperature changes in Webmaster Tools. By reviewing Search Queries, you can see how often your website appeared in search (all positions in SERP). If you use White Hat SEO techniques, you may still see fluctuations but any peaks or valleys are typically short-lived. If your traffic doesn’t recover, it’s a signal you need to dig into the data further.

Don’t Obsess Over the SEO Temperature

If your job depends upon SEO metrics, it makes sense to keep informed. If you are using Grey Hat techniques, I really suggest that you mend your ways. It’s just a matter of time before you get caught.

When you use White Hat SEO strategies, there’s no need to obsess over the numbers. Blips happen. Building organic visibility is a gradual process. What’s more important is an uptrend. And that takes time. I recommend looking at a bigger picture, ideally where you comparing at least two data points, before making any rash changes.

Is the sun shining on your website?

photo credit – top: Nathan Siemers
photo credit – body: Juliana Coutinho