Rank tracking tools reported repeated volatility through October. Their own measurements show Google has been feeding them wrong results, so some of those drops never happened.
Dominic Coutts
If a ranking report scared you this autumn, check Search Console before acting on it. It may not be real.
What happened
Tracking tools flagged 4 unconfirmed ranking spikes in October. Google confirmed none of them. Meanwhile AccuRanker found Google changed how it treats automated rank checking on 23 October, and the share of results pages served to trackers with the wrong results tripled the next day.
Other vendors report the same problem. Ahrefs puts it at 5% to 20% of pages depending on the provider, and Nozzle measured 8% since mid September.
What it means for you
Rank trackers check Google automatically, and Google has been getting better at spotting and misleading them. Some of the drops in ranking reports since late September never happened in the results real people saw.
What to do
- Treat a one day drop that reverses, or every competitor vanishing at once, as bad data until proven otherwise.
- Use Search Console for dates and movement, as it reflects what real searchers saw.
- Ask your agency or tool provider whether reports since late September have been corrected.
AccuRanker
A loud headline with little behind it. Carry on.
More signals
Get a focused review of how your business is found, where competitors win attention, and what to change to generate more of the right enquiries. You leave with a plan you can act on, whether we do the work that follows or not.