Google Says Site Command + Query Rankings Can Be Impacted By Core Updates But Site Command On Its Own Won’t

This is not something I knew before so adding it here. When using site: search if no query is passed Google does not use their regular ranking algorithms to process those results.

Gary Illyes from Google said that while generic non query attached site commands are not really impacted by core updates, site commands with queries attached to them are. Here is his response:

(1) site: on its own isn’t directly (it’s using a different, disconnected ranking path)

(2) site:+query is affected (it’s using the normal ranking path)

· site: on its own isn't directly (it's using a different, disconnected ranking path)
· site:+query is affected (it's using the normal ranking path)

— Gary 鯨理／경리 Illyes (@methode) June 14, 2021