Google Search Ranking Volatility: A Brief Calm Before It Spiked Again

Google search ranking volatility has spiked again after a brief period of stability in chatter within the SEO industry.

Over the past 24 hours, SEO webmasters have been abuzz about reports of massive changes in search rankings. This is just a few days after we saw a brief period of calm following a spike in Google search ranking volatility, a tranquility that, unfortunately, did not last for long.

A Roller Coaster of Volatility

It’s been an extremely volatile couple of weeks on Google results for search. When it appeared that things were getting settled then the volatility spiked once more. If you’ve been keeping track of Google ranking updates you’ve probably observed the pattern of stability, followed by abrupt changes, which left many SEO professionals rushing to analyse the latest changes.

To recap: The core update for June 2025 began on June 30, and was finished on Thursday, the 17th of July, but after the update was completed, the volatility of ranking continued to increase. Although the June 2025 core update didn’t appear to cause massive changes at first, however, things began to increase in intensity after July 2nd. 

As of July 10, a few SEOs had reported partial recovery from previous updates, which included the essential and useful updates to content, although the recovery wasn’t widespread. Despite the fact that the main core update was officially completed, the volatility was heated throughout and it still has not calmed down even two weeks later.

Tracking the Volatility: Third-Party Tools Report

When looking at data from third-party tracking software, these past few days have seen a little relief, as rankings appeared to be stabilizing. But, this peace was not long-lasting. 

In the past couple of days, the volatility increased yet again, further proving the unpredictability we’ve come to anticipate from the Google algorithm.

Semrush:

SimilarWeb:

Wincher:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Mozcast:

Cognitive SEO:

Accuranker:

Mangools:

Data For SEO:

SERPstat:

Sistrix:

Algoroo:

Wiredboard’s Aggregator of Tools – this report shows the aggregate of the tools above and plots them on one chart:

This pattern of fluctuations appears to be a common motif, which makes it difficult for SEOs to keep the same pace. The question is: are we currently in the middle of several updates that are happening concurrently, or was it the result of a primary update?

SEO Chatter

Here is the SEO chatter from this site and WebmasterWorld:

Well my traffic is from France mostly (95%), I am saying only what I have seen in first few days of August compared to July.

I said that I lost all Google traffic that was gained in the June 2025 Core Update.

Today (as of right now) we’re seeing a drop of ca. 40% compared to both yesterday and one week ago. Traffic is globally diversified, so this can’t be a local effect like “school holidays just started”. Doesn’t seem to be anything technical on our end, server responds normally. If this persists, this would be the largest sudden shift we’ve seen in about a decade.

Same here, search is -39% this morning. Started with a big downturn in UK traffic late yesterday and now a huge 50% drop in USA traffic this morn. Notice how the traffic just stops cold for hours at a time? From 2am to 10:30am so far traffic has just gone to almost nothing….highly manipulated to say the least!

Very big drop -50%. Started yesterday at 12AM.

It’s the same at my shop. Since yesterday dropped by 46%. Otherwise, it’s exactly the same as Martin just wrote.

On my news site, it’s exactly the opposite. Since Saturday, it has seen record visitor numbers (and advertising revenue). News traffic has skyrocketed. Let’s see how long it lasts.

Same here. Fresh new acceleration in traffic decline.

Slower than normal views today. Ghost town feeling is back. Probably AB testing or tweaking.

Interesting, today I just had a pretty large boost in traffic, after I looked more closely, I see that it was mainly bot traffic. Probably why I got so many clicks yet not a single sale!

Traffic from Google Discover is totally dead on my site (in EU). Yesterday was also a nightmare.

What’s Next for SEOs?

At present, it is evident that the Google search rankings landscape is in flux and there are no signs of a sustained time. Although there is some evidence of recovery particularly for those affected by previous updates, the entire picture is not yet clear.

If you are keeping track of rankings it’s crucial to remain alert and keep using different tools to monitor fluctuations. With volatility still high, the next few weeks could bring more surprises, hopefully, some clarity will emerge soon.

Forum discussion is available at WebmasterWorld.