8 tools to follow Google algorithm updates

In May 2020, Google released a major update, the second one of the year after the one from January.

Google updates its algorithms several times a year and thousand of changes are made to enhance the search results. For the large ones, like the “Core Updates”, Google will most likely confirm them, either on  in its official blog or on Twitter. However, most of the time, they are not.

For instance, the SEO community noticed important changes in search results back in October 2019, but Google did not communicate about it, which might be a bit confusing to understand what’s going on.

To spot those updates, SEOs look after the “SERP Volatility” and various free tools are available on the web to visualise the ranking changes.

What is SERP volatility?

Rankings in SERP (Search Engine Result Pages) change on regular basis.

Algorithms are constantly evaluating the webpages, search engines update their formulas, they increase or decrease the weight of the ranking criteria and therefore, it’s a common things to notice ups and downs on daily basis, for the keywords that you target or follow.

SERP volatility refers to a score that helps to understand the ranking fluctuations and to have an idea about how strong rankings changes are, for a particular date or period. Actually, major ranking algorithms can be roll-out during few days and have roll-back or adjustments, that’s why, sometimes high SERP volatilities can be observed for longer periods of time.

Many SEO software companies propose free tools that try to calculate this SERP volatility score and to compare it with the algorithm updates so that SEOs can better understand whether a traffic increase or loss correlates with an update, at a global scale.

Free SERP volatility tools

AccuRanker

Named “Google Grump”, AccuRanker is a Danish tools that allows you to follow the ranking fluctuations in Google since 2015 and as they say, “The grumpier the mood, the bigger the fluctuations in rankings”.

Main features:

• 7 countries, including US, UK, AU, NL, DK, DE and FR.
• Data for desktop and mobile search results.
• Daily updates since 2015, depending of the market.

URL : https://www.accuranker.com/grump

Advanced Web Ranking

As one of the leading SERP tracker in the industry, Advanced Web Ranking provides free SEO tools, including a complete Google Algorithm Changes tracker.

It includes 29 countries, which is the largest number of markets among the tools introduced in this article, and… you to check the volatility of search results in 🇭🇰 Google Hong Kong 🇭🇰.

Main features:

• 29 countries, including IN, HK, JP, SG and VN for the Asian markets.
• Possibility to compare data between the markets.
• Data for desktop and mobile search results.
• Possibility to compare the desktop VS mobile fluctuations.
• Daily updates since 2014, depending of the market.
• Google algorithm changes integration.
• Organic and universal search results filter.
• Day over day and week over week KPIs.

URL : https://www.advancedwebranking.com/google-algorithm-changes/

Algoroo

Sometimes, search results are bouncing like a kangaroo and the Australian SEO agency, Dejan SEO, knows that. Algoroo gives you a quick snapshot about the SERP volatility for Google.com and Google.com.au. It also includes examples about the most impacted webpages.

Main features:

• 2 countries, including US and AU.
• Data for desktop and mobile search results.
• Daily updates since 2017.
• Google algorithm changes integration.
• Weekly winners and losers integration.

URL : https://algoroo.com/

CognitiveSEO

CognitiveSEO Signals offers interesting possibilities to better understand the SERP volatility, based on 170 000 analysed keywords, especially thanks to the fluctuations per positions. That’s also the only tool in the list that includes data about local searches (US only).

Main features:

• 12 countries, including US, UK, AU, CA, DE, ES, FR, IN, IT, NL, RO, TR.
• Data for desktop and mobile search results, only for US, UK and at the global scale.
• Daily updates since 2017.
• Google algorithm changes integration.
• Local search data for the US market.
• Fluctuations per positions in search results.

URL : https://cognitiveseo.com/signals/

Mangools

While Mangools only offers 30 days data, the SERP volatility tool contains charts to analyse the fluctuations per positions and provides insights about the percentage of keywords with unchanged positions compared to the previous day. That’s the only tool in the list with such a feature.

Main features:

• Global results based on + 1 800 000 tracked keywords.
• Data for desktop and mobile search results.
• Possibility to compare the desktop VS mobile fluctuations.
• Daily updates for the last 30 days.
• Keywords with unchanged positions.
• Fluctuations per positions in search results.

URL : https://mangools.com/insights/serp

Mozcast

Normal people look after the weather forecast before leaving home, SEOs keep an eye on the Mozcast, the SERP volatility tracker offered by the iconic SEO firm, Moz. And the Mozcast says, “The hotter and stormier the weather, the more Google’s rankings changed”.

Main features:

• Global results based.
• Daily updates for the last 30 days.

URL : https://moz.com/mozcast/

Rank Ranger

The Rank Risk Index provided by Rank Ranger analyses +10 000 domains and keywords on daily basis and offers data for both mobile and desktop results. Main features:

• Global results based.
• Data for desktop and mobile search results.
• Possibility to compare the desktop VS mobile fluctuations.
• Daily updates for the last 90 days.

URL : https://www.rankranger.com/rank-risk-index

SEMrush

SEMrush Sensor is one of the most detailed in the market, especially regarding the features it offers. It includes options to get data per industries and per types of results. If you have subscribed to SEMrush, you can also compare the data to your own website rankings, and then, better understand the impact of the algorithms changes. SEMrush Sensor is the only tool that has data for 🇨🇳 Baidu 🇨🇳.

Main features:

• 9 countries, including US, UK, DE, IT, ES, FR, AU, JP and CN (Baidu).
• Data for desktop and mobile search results.
• Daily updates for the last 30 days
• Monitoring of the ranking fluctuations for 25 industries.
• Ranking changes per SERP features.
• Listing of Google algorithm changes for the last 30 days.
• Integration of personal project (if you have an active SEMrush subscription).
• Weekly winners and losers integration.

URL : https://www.semrush.com/sensor/

FAQ about the algorithm changes

If you’re curious about the algorithm updates, here are some insights that might be of interest.

Why does Google update its algorithms?

Google uses various algorithms and filters to scan and to score the relevancy of the webpages. They are not perfect and the firm makes thousand of changes every year to improve its algorithms, so that they can propose better results when you research something.

One of the main goal of Google is to fight against the spam by preventing malicious digital marketers to manipulate the rankings. As a consequence, when Google releases a new algorithm, a new filter or a large update, search results become more volatile than usual, and more ranking movements can be observed.

What are the main Google algorithms I should know?

One of the most well-known algorithm is called “PageRank”. Google uses it to estimate how strong a webpage is, based on the links (internal and external) it receives. Other types of algorithms and updates became famous in the SEO community due to their large impacts on search results, such as:

• Google Panda : Against low-quality content. Released in 2011, integration to the core algorithm in 2016.
• Google Penguin : Against spammy link techniques. Released in 2012, integration to the core algorithm in 2016.
• Google Hummingbird : Better understanding of the search queries (. Released in 2013. 
• RankBrain : Better understanding of the search intent. Released in 2015.
• BERT : Better understanding of the search queries (Natural Language Processing and context). Released in 2019. 

How to follow Google algorithm updates?

First of all, note that not all the updates or new filters are confirmed by Google.

• If Google confirms an algorithm update or a new filter, like the Core Update from May 2020, BERT, Google Penguin or Google Panda, the firm will most likely announce it on Twitter or in the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog.
• If Google does not confirm it, articles will be published in the major SEO blogs.

If you’re interested to know more about the Google algorithm updates :

• You can read the Google Algorithm timelines from Moz and Search Engine Journal.
• SEO By The SEA will give you more technical insights about Google patents and its algorithms.
• You can follow the main Twitter from Google, @searchliaison, @googlewmc, or from some key employees like @dannysullivan or @JohnMu to get the latest SEO news.
• Google’s official blog for webmasters is also helpful with few articles published each months.
• Search Engine Land or Search Engine Roundtable are other good resources to follow the trends.

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With thousand of yearly changes and new algorithms being released on regular basis, the industry tend to say that SEO is always changing. While it’s true that algorithms are evolving and that the weight of the criteria are re-evaluated, the strategy is the same since 15 years.

Create great (SEO-friendly) content about a given topic, make sure it can be properly indexed and get backlinks 🙃.

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