Google’s Weekend Ranking Bug is causing concern among webmasters and publishers as it mysteriously removes select generic top-level domains (gTLDs) from its search engine results pages (SERPs) exclusively during weekends, only to restore them on Mondays. In this article, we will delve into the details of this intriguing issue, examining its impact and potential causes.
The Mystery of Weekend Disappearances
Numerous discussions on Google support forums have shed light on a peculiar bug within Google’s algorithm. This bug specifically targets certain gTLDs, causing them to vanish entirely from Google’s SERPs over the weekends. Notably, these domains are unable to rank even for their own site names during this period.
The issue first gained attention when Olesia Korobka (@Giridja) shared her findings on Twitter. It appears that this problem predominantly affects a subset of gTLDs known as ICANN-era generic top-level domains, such as .academy, .car, and .care.
One of the individuals who reported this issue even provided a graph depicting a consistent pattern of traffic crashing every weekend, only to rebound on Mondays. This pattern has been ongoing since November, raising questions about its underlying causes.
Quality Issue or Cyclical Phenomenon?
One might initially assume that the weekend decline in traffic is a common occurrence. After all, weekends often witness reduced online activity. However, the Google Weekend Ranking Bug isn’t just about reduced traffic; it involves a complete de-indexing of websites, including their names. What makes it even more intriguing is that this phenomenon seems to target specific kinds of gTLDs.
This is not a typical weekend traffic fluctuation but a systematic issue that deserves a closer look.
Evidence of the Bug
To understand the scale of this problem, the person who initially reported it compiled a list of 14 URLs to other support threads related to gTLDs experiencing similar issues. Astonishingly, nine out of these 14 threads, accounting for 64%, originated in January 2024. The earliest reported instance dates back to November 24, 2023.
While this may not represent an exhaustive list of support threads, it is certainly noteworthy that so many users are encountering the same pattern of weekend de-indexing, particularly among specific keyword gTLDs.
Real-Life Reports
Let’s take a closer look at some real-life reports from website owners affected by the Google Weekend Ranking Bug:
From 1/3/2024, a publisher with a .consulting gTLD reported:
“Our company website seems to be disappearing from Google search engine results every couple of days, resulting in a significant loss of traffic. None of our web pages are showing up on Google during these periods, and we’re struggling to understand the root cause of this recurrent issue.”
From late December, another publisher with a .club gTLD shared a screenshot:
“Traffic drops every weekend. Since 2 weeks, our traffic started dropping down every weekend. It’s not so much the drop – less traffic on the weekend is normal. It’s the context that is very strange: we noticed that pages from our site don’t show up for keywords they normally rank for very well. This includes our brand name; the site disappears from the SERPs around Friday and is back on Sunday/Monday.”
From January 5, 2024:
“My site loses its position on the Google results page several days a week! After November 22, 2023, this site: (redacted for privacy) lost its position on SERP for a few days and came back to normal on November 22! This happened on December 7 and back to normal on December 11 again(!) and repeated 4 more times until now! During this, I checked all probabilities like: There are no issues on manual actions and security issues report. There are no critical issues on any report on GSC. Also in URL Inspection (Google index and live test) report, (redacted for privacy) is on Google and also available to Google. This site was performing well about 2 years before this problem and reached 60k clicks in 28 days! Notice that when this problem happened, ‘sitemap read’ list is empty, but I’m not sure if this is the issue or not.”
From January 5, 2024, a publisher with a .care gTLD shared:
“100% the same problem – also other German and international cases. As you said: experts are ignoring the fact of the site’s periodic return to its previous positions and that sites of no better quality replace the site that dropped out.”
There’s another report from January 8, 2024, concerning the .life gTLD:
“Randomly daily index/de-index our site + impact on Business profile. From the end of November, we experience a strange result in our Performances report, it’s not a seasonal drop. We don’t have any issues in Manual actions nor in Security issues, indexing looks normal.”
These firsthand accounts paint a vivid picture of the challenges faced by website owners dealing with the Google Weekend Ranking Bug.
Possible Causes and Comparisons
To better understand this issue, it’s worth noting that it bears some similarities to a historical problem known as the “Legacy Domain Penalty.” In the early days of Google, domains could become stuck in a ranking loop, getting de-indexed for extended periods due to past spam-related issues. However, Google never officially acknowledged this problem until much later.
John Mueller from Google commented on the Legacy Domain Penalty, highlighting that it involved sites considered “absolutely terrible” by Google’s algorithms. While the gTLD weekend rank crashing shows similarities, it appears to affect keyword gTLD domains that have no apparent history of spam. Moreover, it doesn’t resemble a typical quality issue, as Google’s response to quality issues differs from the observed behavior.
Is It a Bug in Google's Systems?
The most plausible explanation for the Google Weekend Ranking Bug is that it could be a bug within Google’s systems. This bug may have been introduced into their algorithms around the end of November, unintentionally causing this disruptive behavior. The fact that it primarily affects keyword gTLD domains adds to the mystery.
As webmasters and publishers continue to grapple with this issue, it remains crucial for Google to investigate and address the bug promptly to ensure the stability of its search results.
Conclusion
The Google Weekend Ranking Bug is a perplexing phenomenon that has left website owners and SEO experts puzzled. This bug’s selective targeting of specific gTLDs during weekends, resulting in complete de-indexing, raises concerns about its impact on affected websites’ visibility and traffic.
Webmasters affected by this issue eagerly await a resolution from Google, hoping to regain stable rankings and put an end to the weekend vanishing act. As the situation unfolds, it is essential for website owners to monitor their rankings and report any unusual patterns to contribute to a swift resolution of this intriguing bug.
For now, the mystery of the Google Weekend Ranking Bug continues, leaving the SEO community with more questions than answers.
