What is Google SERP Volatility and How to Respond

You may be reading this because your website has suddenly lost rankings due to Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) volatility. Don’t stress – in this post, we’ll explain what SERP volatility is, how to narrow down what's causing it, how to respond to it, and what tools you can use to prevent lost Google search rankings from happening again.

Google SERP volatility, also called ranking volatility, refers to the unpredictability of rankings on Google Search Engine Results Pages, which is influenced by different algorithmic factors that can change regularly.

Did you know that the most recent Google algorithm ‘core’ update occurred in November 2023? It impacted the value Google places on ‘review pages’, such as tech review blogs. As a result, if you publish review-based content, you may have seen increased volatility in your keyword rankings – a drop in rankings can literally occur overnight.

If you are currently suffering from a loss of rankings, do not stress. There are many steps you can take to recover and even improve upon your previous position, as well as stand you in good stead to combat search engine volatility in the future.

If a specific search query (the string of words entered into the Google search bar) is not providing users with the most relevant possible results, Google will diversify the organic listings in order to test whether the user is being shown the best content.

Example: If users continually bounce back and forth between the sites on the SERP, Google identifies this as ‘the user not finding what they want’ and proactively reorganises the search results page, hoping that the user will find what they are seeking more efficiently.

Solution: Ensure the right pages on your site are ranking for the right terms. Your page should also focus on user experience (UX) to boost user retention and include clear CTAs to encourage further engagement.

Is your site and its content considered helpful? Following Google’s Helpful Content Updates, there has been noticeable search engine volatility. Stay updated with Google’s core algorithm updates to verify your site is playing by Google’s rulebook.

Example: Your site has lost rankings and visits following a Helpful Content Update.

Solution: Assess your content alongside Google’s recommendations. Consider re-optimising your content that has lost visibility to make it as valuable as possible to your users.

Even the most SEO-friendly site can be affected by Google ranking volatility if the site has poor indexing. If your pages aren’t indexed, they can't be crawled by Google and are therefore inaccessible to users on the web.

Example: You have recently migrated your site, given your site a design makeover, and added a bunch of fresh content, only to lose rankings for your target audience.

Solution: Use the Google Search Console’s (GSC) ‘page index’ feature to check how many pages are indexed and identify which ones aren't. Here, you can also identify reasons why pages aren't indexed and then ‘request indexing’ to get your page crawled and indexed by Google.

Important note: Sift through your top-ranking pages and check that the URLs don't have a “no index” tag in the HTML code – this tag may have been accidentally left behind by a developer. You should also check that 404 URLs are properly redirected to a healthy page.

Google runs A/B tests on its own SERP parameters to see if any small modifications they make to SERPs improve user experience. This means that during certain time periods, Google is actively re-evaluating what appears in SERP results, leading to volatility. This is especially true for search terms related to a trending topic.

Example: You have a blog site focusing on the development of AI, and your articles have not been ranking as well as they had previously. Google is overwhelmed with new articles written about AI and is now testing which results users want to see first.

Solution: You should monitor your site analytics, for example, via GSC or (GA4), and prepare for unpredictable rankings for the next few months or less. During this time, research your competitors, focus on content value, and start modelling your content around what Google is favouring.

Google issues a penalty, also known as a manual action, when a human reviewer determines that your page, pages, or site does not follow their guidelines and, specifically, their spam policies. A manual action will result in your site not appearing in Google searches at all. If your site still ranks when you search your exact brand name, the penalty is less severe than one which de-indexes your entire site.

Example: There has been a new Google update, and your site has had almost a dead stop of traffic, and you can't find any of the products, services or blogs related to your site.

Solution: Log into GSC, navigate to ‘Security’ and then to ‘Manual Actions’. Here, you will find a list of any penalties received and a description of why you received them. Once you have reviewed any penalties and fixed the issues on your site, you can request for the penalty to be removed, and your site should be live soon after.

If you have published lots of content, such as blog posts, service pages or product pages, with similar headings and keywords, your content may be cannibalising. In other words, you are sending mixed signals to Google about what content you want to be ranked when a specific term is searched, causing your content to compete against itself.

Example: You experienced a drop in rankings after adding a new item that is similar to one your business offers already, but with extra features, and you have all the content indexed. However, you notice a decrease in rankings. If you sell women’s shoes online and want to add men’s shoes to your collection, you will risk cannibalising your pages if you simply title your ‘men’s shoes’ page as just ‘shoes’.

Solution: Ensure the target keywords used in your pages’ titles, headings, URLs, and on-page copy are unique.

• There are too many on-page ads, causing users to leave the site quickly due to bombardment. Although not due to SERP volatility, this could explain why you have lost many users in a short period of time.

• Competitors are taking your place. It's unlikely that a competitor is causing a mass of lost rankings, but they sure can contribute to it if they have built up their domain authority or started publishing better content than you.

• Your site has been hacked. Although rare, site hacks can happen. Once inside your site, hackers can infect it with harmful code and spam links leading your site to be penalised by Google.

• You have disavowed a ‘high quality’ backlink. This can negatively impact your ‘domain authority’, resulting in Google perceiving your site as being less authoritative. Although it’s not directly linked to SERP volatility, you can mistake a good link for a bad one if you don’t actively investigate the site linking to your page. In many circumstances, one link is better than none, but this largely depends on the quality of the site that is linking to you.

It is quite normal for your rankings to fluctuate slightly. However, by following the tips below, you are less likely to be impacted by dramatic volatility:

• Stay up-to-date on algorithm changes

Keeping up-to-date with algorithm shifts will allow you to foresee any possible impact that change might have on your site’s performance. You can read about the most recent Google algorithm updates or follow the Google Search Liaison ‘X’ page to get updated right away.

• Technical SEO

An easily overlooked aspect of SEO that Google takes seriously is ‘Technical SEO’, which refers to the behind-the-scenes work that is involved with making your site discoverable. Technical SEO involves optimising page speed, page hierarchy, internal linking, crawlability, broken links and more. Ensure you are keeping tight control of your site and optimising it on a regular basis to reduce the likelihood of lost rankings.

• Optimise for mobile

Over 55% of website traffic comes from mobile devices; for this reason, Google introduced its ‘mobile first’ indexing in September 2020. This means your site and its entire contents must be optimised for mobile users; it must load fast, be easy to use, and be designed to function effectively on a mobile device.

• Identify areas of ‘low quality’ with a site audit

All of the top SEO analytical tools offer a ‘site audit’ function. With these, you can identify and break down the pain points of your site, such as broken links or thin content. If you don’t have access to these paid tools, you can use and manually audit your site with their recommendations.

• Regularly analyse your data

Regularly dissecting your data will help you to reveal any pages or keywords that have lost rankings, and understand why this has happened. For example, a new update may have rendered a piece of content outdated, you may have lost one or two high-quality backlinks, or you may have picked up a backlink from a dodgy site.

There are a few tools you can use to stay on top of search engine volatility. The most user-friendly is the SEMRush Sensor volatility tool. You can view the latest Google updates, compare domains and seize the moment to outperform your rivals.

Other tools that help you monitor search engine volatility and your keyword performance include Ahrefs, Moz and SEMrush. These are all paid services offering a holistic view of your site’s performance. Some marketing agencies offer a ‘free site audit’, which could help identify pain points. You can also use Google Search Console for free to collect some traffic, visibility, CTR and search term data.

Fear not; if Google SERP volatility has caused a loss of rankings, you can use our tips to troubleshoot the issue. What’s more, you can rest assured knowing that it's not for some unfound reason that you have lost rankings - there is always a cause and effect in place; you just need to know what to look for which can take a bit of digging.

If you are suffering from the impacts of Google ranking volatility, our team of SEO specialists is here to help. Get in touch with our team, and we’ll help you get to the bottom of the problem as quickly as possible.