MozCast Google Algorithm Review – May 2018

It’s time for the MozCast wrap-up for May! Last month, we predicted that Google might “cool off” after the flurry of updates we saw at the beginning of 2018. Did we indeed see calmer weather throughout this merry month?

Our friends over at MozCast put together 1,000 keywords that help track when Google tweaks its algorithm, Hummingbird. Every day on Twitter, Moz reports the temperature and outlook based on how well these keywords perform…or drop. The higher the temperature, the more likely it is that changes are taking place at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. The cooler it is, the better!

How “hot” was it in May 2018, according to MozCast?

The average temperature for May was a balmy 85.52°—nearly 7 degrees cooler than April’s 92.2°! Looking at the MozCast, it seems that Google is letting its algorithmic updates sink in for a few days before tinkering with anything else:

May 1 – 85° rainy
May 2 – 85° rainy
May 3 – 91° stormy
May 4 – 82° rainy
May 5 – 81° rainy
May 6 – 79° cloudy
May 7 – 80° cloudy
May 8 – 80° rainy
May 9 – 89° rainy
May 10 – 96° stormy
May 11 – 83° rainy
May 12 – 83° rainy
May 13 – 80° rainy
May 14 – 82° rainy
May 15 – 93° stormy
May 16 – 90° stormy
May 17 – 83° rainy
May 18 – 82° rainy
May 19 – 78° cloudy
May 20 – 78° cloudy
May 21 – 79° cloudy
May 22 – 85° rainy
May 23 – 107° stormy
May 24 – 105° stormy
May 25 – 101° stormy
May 26 – 79° cloudy
May 27 – 77° cloudy
May 28 – 78° cloudy
May 29 – 94° stormy
May 30 – 83° rainy
May 31 – 83° rainy

Storm index: 8 days
Storm index change from April: -8 days

Stop the presses! We saw an unprecedented “cloudy” day on May 6^th, the first one in 2018. The fine weather continued up again on May 19^th and May 26^th; three separate spats of calm in the midst of who-knows-what-Google-is-doing. There were some changes afoot, because May 23^rd spiked up at 107° – and led to three hot, stormy days in the midst of the cloudy wonderland!

Overall, there was less lightning and thunder roiling in the skies in May, and we do believe this trend will continue into June. The weather outside may be heating up, but Google’s search engineers are staying cool.

How “grumpy” was Google in May 2018, according to AccuRanker?

Now, we head over to AccuRanker, another search engine watchdog that has a different metric for Google’s moods on a global scale. Instead of temperature, Accuranker’s “Grump” shows algorithm changes on his face. (It’s all in the mouth – see above.) “Google is fuming today as rankings fluctuate at high velocity – it’s likely an algorithm update is taking place.”

But the Grump wasn’t maddened by May-fever. Though he never reached his “chilled” level, his “furious” only flared up 25% of the month. That’s much better than the high dudgeon he reached in February and March. Continuing April’s trend of calmer moods, he’s clearly been getting help with that anger problem…and Google has been stepping off the accelerator when it comes to updates.

Days of fury: 8
Change of fury since April: -1

How “high” did Google SERPs bounce around May 2018, according to Algoroo?

Algoroo, our last stop for the Google search engine flux index, monitors the up-and-down movement of 17,000 keywords. Anything yellow is considered “high roo” and shows more volatility behind the scenes.

Our only bounce in the rankings came on May 24^th, with a high roo of 2.55 reported. Immediately after that, the volatility flat-lined, dropping to near the lowest we’ve seen. In the image below, we included the long-term graph that shows the kangaroo’s tracks. That little section all the way to the right? Much lower than anything since late 2014!

Days of high roo: 1
High roo change index since April: -3

Conclusion: June is lookin’ cool

MozCast and its fellow Google-watchers seem to agree: though some algorithmic movement is still taking place, Google is easing off on the throttle. Changes to the formula seem fewer, and when changes do take place, they’re less violent. However, we don’t know when a big update is right around the corner, because Google doesn’t share its inner workings with the general public.

Regardless of what happens, you should be able to relax a bit about algorithmic updates and focus your efforts on gaining Page One the organic way: through solid, white-hat SEO. To ask questions about legal internet marketing for your firm, please give us a call at (323) 254-1510.