Google Search Algorithm Update Starting On August 22

There is new chatter and signals that there may be a Google search algorithm update starting around Wednesday, August 22nd and continuing throughout today. The chatter is not as significant within the SEO community as with the Google Medic Update but many of the tools are showing signs of an Google update too.

It is not clear if this is a tweak or change to the August 1st update  named the Medic update or if this is something brand new and unrelated to core search. Google has not yet commented on it and I am not sure if they would comment. I know they were asked by some SEOs already.

Here is some of the chatter in the ongoing WebmasterWorld thread starting last night through this morning (there as very limited chatter on the 22nd):

Big ole drop today. Could just be because of the niche I’m in but worthy of note.

Next big hit. This took away another 30%, so we are down from google organics traffic by 70%.

Anyone seeing a shake up?

I am working on 4 websites and all four websites direct traffic drop huge anyone let me know, what happen to please.

I’m seeing results change again on the hour.

The rest of the chatter I am seeing are talking about the tools showing changes in Google but not complaining about their own rankings or client rankings. The black hat forums are pretty quiet but that doesn’t mean there was not an update. Which is a huge distinction in my opinion.

Here are some of the tools that track these updates:

I should note that Dejan, Algoroo, says this is bigger than the Medic Update based on their metrics. But based on what I am currently seeing, I do not believe so – not yet at least.