Data providers: Google August 2024 core update was very volatile

Google’s August 2024 core update started on Aug. 15, 2024, and completed 19 days later on Sept. 3, 2024. Early on, we saw some signs of life for sites hit by the infamous September 2023 helpful content update. But honestly, most of those sites did not see enough traffic rebound to make a difference.

While the August core update felt really big for us, Google told us the March 2024 core update was its largest core update ever.

Ranking bug. The first four or so days of the August core update also included a big search ranking bug that was fixed four days later. You should disregard any movement you saw during those first four days or so. You should compare your rankings and traffic from Google this week. Going forward, compare to the weeks prior to the release of the August core update.

So this is a big caveat with all this data. So much so that Moz was unable to send us data or a statement because it was unable to separate out the ranking bug from the core update, a spokesperson told me.

Data providers on the Google August 2024 core update

Similarweb. SimilarWeb’s SERP Seismometer reported a massive spike in SERP ranking fluctuations, as you can see from this chart:

The August 2024 update showed an average fluctuation level of 4.48 in global ranking changes, according to Sistrix. “This represents the highest fluctuation level observed since 2021,” Shay Harel from Similarweb told me.

Here is a chart showing that — you will notice that the March 2024 core update is missing, as they did not run the numbers for that update.

Then, when you compare the ranking fluctuations in the top three, five, and 10 results for the November 2023 and August 2024 updates, Similarweb showed that the top three and top five results showed similar levels of ranking fluctuations between updates. The August update exhibited substantially lower levels of fluctuations in the top 10 results.

Similarweb also broke it down by niche/industry, showing the retail space experienced the highest fluctuations in the top three results, while the health niche had the lowest. “This trend continued when examining the top five results, with health maintaining the lowest fluctuation levels. However, all four niches showed similar fluctuation levels in the top ten results,” Shay Harel told us.

Here is that chart:

Semrush. Semrush also reported incredibly heated volatility with the August 2024 core update. In fact, “the peak volatility seen with the August update was significantly higher than back in March,” according to Mordy Oberstein who put this data together for Semrush. Note, Mordy did our March 2024 core update analysis a few months back. But when you break it down, “in terms of the severity of the movement the March and August updates are seemingly in the same range,” Oberstein added.

The peak volatility leading up to the August 2024 core update was more than double the volatility leading up to the March 2024 core update. When looking at the data for August, everything was already incredibly heated with the Google Search rankings.

Here is the Semrush Sensor tool over the August 2024 core update:

“In terms of the ‘dramaticness‘ of the ranking movement, the average positions gained was 2.66 and lost 2.63,” Oberstein told us. “That’s very close to what we saw in March, which has the average gain and loss at 2.3 positions,” he added. Plus, the percentage of new URLs that previously ranked beyond position 20 is also very similar to the March update, the data showed.

When you look at the peak volatility, the August update was significantly higher than the March update. But again, keep in mind that the starting volatility was higher. Here is that chart:

But when you look at the rank volatility change comparison by niche when comparing March to August, you actually see less volatility during the update for some verticals compared to the baseline period.

Here is a chart showing the average gain and loss by niche or industry.

Then we have this chart that shows the percentage of new URLs that previously ranked beyond position 20, which is also very similar to the March 2024 core update.

Sistrix. Sistrix posted its lists of the biggest winners and losers during the August 2024 Google Core update. Here are those lists:

Other tools. There are a lot of Google search ranking volatility tools. Here is what they looked like after the core update finished rolling out and over the course of the update:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Cognitive SEO:

Algoroo:

SERPmetrics:

SERPstat:

Accuranker:

Mangools:

Wincher:

Mozcast:

Data For SEO:

Other information. As we covered before, we saw some movement for the first time with some (not all) sites hit by that update. a recent poll I ran showed that most who took the poll were negatively impacted by the last core update:

• 44% said My Rankings/Traffic Are Down (total votes 1,583).
• 27% said My Rankings/Traffic Are Up (total votes 993).
• 29% said No Change (total votes 1,038).

Overall, it seems like we saw some recoveries from the September 2023 helpful content update for a few sites and limited recoveries. Most sites did not see significant or meaningful recoveries, from what we can tell. And even more sites saw even more declines or just stayed the same.

I should note, the volatility in the Google Search results has not calmed down. We are seeing all sorts of movement, even through today.

What Google said about the August core update. John Mueller, Search Advocate at Google, wrote when the update was originally released.

• “Today, we launched our August 2024 core update to Google Search. This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.”

Google said this update aims to promote useful content from small and independent publishers after Google listened to feedback it received since the release of the March 2024 core update.

Mueller added:

• “This latest update takes into account the feedback we’ve heard from some creators and others over the past few months. As always, we aim to connect people with a range of high quality sites, including ‘small’ or ‘“’independent’ sites that are creating useful, original content on relevant searches. This is an area we’ll continue to address in future updates.”

“This August 2024 core update “aims to better capture improvements that sites may have made, so we can continue to surface the best of the web,” Mueller added.

Guidance updated. Google posted several updates to its help page about core updates, including more in-depth guidance for those who may see changes after an update.

Previous core updates. The previous core update — the March 2024 core update — was the largest core update, according to Google. It started March 5, 2024 and completed 45 days later on April 19, 2024.

Here’s a timeline and our coverage of recent core updates:

• The March 2024 core update was on March 5th and ended on April 19.
• The November 2023 core update was on November 2nd and ended on November 28.
• The October 2023 core update was on October 5th and ended on October 19
• The August 2023 core update was on August 22nd and ended on September 7.
• The March 2023 core update was on March 15th and ended on March 28th.
• The September 2022 broad core update was less impactful than previous core updates and finished on Sept. 26.
• The May 2022 broad core update was a significant and fast update.
• The November 2021 core update 
• The July 2021 core update.
• The June 2021 core update, which was slow to roll out but a big one.

What to do if you are hit. Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. Google has not really given much new advice here.

• There aren’t specific actions to take to recover. A negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages.
• Google has offered a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update.
• Google said you can see a bit of a recovery between core updates but the biggest change would be after another core update.

In short, write helpful content for people and not to rank in search engines.

• “There’s nothing new or special that creators need to do for this update as long as they’ve been making satisfying content meant for people. For those that might not be ranking as well, we strongly encourage reading our creating helpful, reliable, people-first content help page,” Google said previously.

More on Google updates

You can read more of our coverage in Search Engine Land’s Google Algorithm Updates history.

Why we care. While the data above shows how sites in general are doing with the last core update, it does not represent how your individual site did with the update. If your site was hit by this past update, it can be devastating. If you were hit by previous updates and so no improvement with this update, then again, devastating once again. But some sites saw big improvements.

We hope you saw improvements.