There may have been another Google Search ranking algorithm tweak around October 28th or so. I am seeing some rumblings both within the SEO community chatter and the third-party Google tracking tools. It seems some are noticing big search ranking swings around October 28th.

Did you notice ranking movement? Was there a Google search ranking update?

The last time I reported on Google ranking volatility was between October 15th to 17th and then on October 7/8th and to be honest, there has been a lot less chatter since Google turned off the ability to see 100 results per page and the tools began to recalibrate. But that being said, SEOs can tell, outside of these tools, when there is a ranking adjustment and it seems there was a significant one around October 16th.

SEO Chatter

Here is some of the chatter from WebmasterWorld:

An extreme drop in UK traffic today, down 42%. It has been down 42% all day as if UK traffic just completely halted. Anyone else seeing that?

Google traffic is down since Friday, and Sunday was really worse.

Whatever Google is doing right now, it's not normal. Google News is hardly being updated anymore. My news site is still in Discover, but only for an hour at most, after which traffic drops off completely. Almost nothing comes in via normal search because it's totally messed up. The headline box shows everything except news on that specific topic and articles that are weeks old. Of course, Search Console is also down, so you can't check your ranking properly, and as expected, the AI overview focuses on large publishers. Let's see how long we small players can survive; it won't be long if this continues.

An even more extreme drop in traffic today, I'm at -42% of search at 10am. All of the drop so far is from USA and UK, which are far below the norm this morning. Is anyone else experiencing this? It seems that something has been updating these past few days.

By the way, US and UK traffic both snapped back at 10am sharp and is now erasing the losses. The drops are so extreme these days...that is all Google updating behind the scenes I think.

@rustybrick was there an update on the 27th of Oct? Noticed big traffic jumps on several blogs I manage.

'" Lisa Sicard ð'©'ð'>> (@Lisapatb) October 29, 2025

Google search rankings seem to be fluttering...

Tracking Tools

Here are what the tools are showing this morning:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Semrush:

Mozcast:

Wincher:

Accuranker:

SimilarWeb:

Mangools:

Data For SEO:

SERPstat:

Sistrix:

CognitiveSEO:

Algoroo:

Zutrix:

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

So what are you all seeing?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

There may have been another unconfirmed Google search ranking update that occurred between October 15th and October 18th. The bulk of the volatility seemed to be around Thursday, the 16th.

The last time I reported on Google ranking volatility was on October 7/8th and to be honest, there has been a lot less chatter since Google turned off the ability to see 100 results per page and the tools began to recalibrate. But that being said, SEOs can tell, outside of these tools, when there is a ranking adjustment and it seems there was a significant one around October 16th.

Also, we are well due a core update, I mean, so much for the promise of more core update, more often in 2025. We only had two confirmed ones in 2025 and we are at the end of October now. I guess Google can squeeze in another two core updates, but that would not equal more core updates in 2025.

Anyway, there is a nice amount of chatter at WebmasterWorld, some chatter at Local Search Forum and some on this site.

SEO Chatter

Let's start with the chatter, which spiked around October 17th:

Visitor numbers on my news site have fallen to an all-time low this week. Google simply isn't updating the news feed and is only showing articles that are weeks old in my topic. Normal searches are generating virtually no clicks anymore... it's just frustrating, especially because you can see that the only sites that are working are the really big publishers. I'm slowly starting to believe that the internet is finished and that it doesn't matter what we do.

I think there was a rollback this week. Traffic has become better in the beginning of the week and then on Wednesday it suddenly switch to very bad traffic with lots of bots again.

Still no real-world business enquiries however a consistent traffic week across all sites with no crazy spikes until today when Ten Cent Could Computing from Singapore decided to perform, like Huawei Singapore, individual url visits on one of my .asia sites from many IP addresses ... Needless to say those IP ranges are now blocked.

Google is changing its search results every day. There is little consistency in rankings from day to day.

Seeing rather large losses across multiple clients (12 clients) Service + City based landers - 50% visibility just vanishing. Rank 1-3 for 16 Keywords October 15th and now 6 Keywords as of 10/16/2025. Anyone else getting slammed? Google sensor is high, 7.5 but nothing I would think I would need to look at.

Tracking Tools

Here are what the third-party Google Search tracking tools are showing - notice most show a spike around October 16th:

Semrush:

Mozcast:

Wincher:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Accuranker:

SimilarWeb:

Mangools:

Data For SEO:

SERPstat:

Sistrix:

CognitiveSEO:

Algoroo:

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

So what are you all seeing?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

While I was offline, it seems the chatter within the SEO industry spiked around the topic of search ranking volatility. It is harder to confirm the volatility, now with the tools recalibrating, but it does seem something started around Tuesday, October 7th, into the 8th.

We are due a core update and I suspect Google will announce one in the coming weeks but what we are seeing with this volatility would not be related to a core update.

I don't think this is related to the confirmed Google Search serving bug but who knows...

That being said, there is a nice amount of chatter on WebmasterWorld and on this site - here is some of that chatter:

SEO Chatter

Whatever they did last week, it is a step back to useless traffic. We had 4 good days without bots and good Google traffic. Now it is bots and useless traffic. Especially in the night, from noon till 1am, bots are 100% traffic.

This is gonna be the worst ever year in history for free traffic.

Yes I see something better since 4 days, BUT, huge traffic from China '.... I can't block as my suppliers are there.

Today is shuffle day, again

Yeap. Shuffle and traffic is so bad...

Traffic seems dead.

Since Google's serving issue "resolved itself," traffic is worse than ever with Google sending traffic from Egypt, France, Lithuania, Thailand and other countries we don't sell in. Seems like geo can be added to the list of Google's failures.

Something just started at 12am. No Google traffic anymore, but hundreds of bots.

Core update kicking off? Seeing big movements!

These Google search results are the worst. I have never seen them this bad.

50% drop since yesterday.

Traffic is dead. Index problem, Discovery traffic is terrible. No new articles, showing old.

Yeah, wtf is with that AWFUL traffic last two days? I have some solid positions but there's no traffic - and even with the AI answers that appear like on the 4th or 5th position in the results.

Tracking Tools

Like I said, many of the tools are still adjusting but here is what they are showing now. Keep in mind, some are showing movement...

Semrush:

Wincher:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Accuranker:

SimilarWeb:

Mozcast:

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:

So what are you all seeing?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Over the past couple of days, especially since the Google August 2025 spam update officially completed, the Google search results have been rumbling. It is a bit hard to track due to the changes with the third-party rank checking tools, but there has been a lot of chatter within the SEO community over the past few days.

Like I said, a lot of people are reporting big ranking swings, with some saying their rankings are up, traffic is up, and the others saying the opposite. Also, people are complaining about indexing issues.

SEO Chatter

Here is some of the recent SEO chatter on WebmasterWorld and the comments on this site:

Is the spam update really over? Yesterday, I saw a massive drop in traffic on many websites, even though they survived the update quite well.

I'm seeing the same, even after the drop in Spam update - have been hit by another massive drop in traffic yesterday and today.

No idea what happened yesterday and the day before, probably just the usual drop when Google's systems settle down. Today things are back to normal. Otherwise, Tangor is right, short-term fluctuations don't mean anything.

Indexing delay 24 hours.

Very bad... All traffic from Discover is dead. After spam update...

One of my sites was actually benefiting from the spam update, with rankings increases and actual traffic increases, then it got crushed three days ago. Rankings are holding strong but traffic is down 75%. My guess is new AI overviews are to blame.

Two days completely dead. No traffic, only news portals on Discovery. Nothing else.

Insane shuffling is back on the menu.

When the SPAM update started, the traffic went down, but when this update ended, the traffic started going back to what it was before the update.

That is just some of the chatter.

Google Tracking Tools

I know the tools are probably still recalibrating but hey, here they are anyway:

Semrush:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Accuranker:

Wincher:

SimilarWeb:

Mozcast:

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:

So what are you all seeing?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

THE IMPACT ON SEO

This powerful update means that websites using mass-produced, AI-generated content are more vulnerable to penalties. If your content is thin, irrelevant, or lacks real value, Google’s smarter AI system will flag it. With a bigger emphasis on user experience, SEO strategies must evolve or face being penalized.

AI-GENERATED SPAM FACES THE HAMMER

Google’s algorithm has gotten better at detecting and penalizing low-quality AI-generated content. If your content is primarily produced by AI and doesn’t offer real value, it could face severe penalties, including lower rankings or de-indexing.

PARASITE SEO GETS CRUSHED

• Some websites use high-authority platforms like Medium, Quora, or LinkedIn to rank by leveraging spammy backlinks.
• Google is now actively devaluing these tactics and may penalize both the site hosting the links and the offenders themselves.

Source: Website traffic dropped almost 40% without known issue

STRICTER LINK & ANCHOR TEXT SCRUTINY

• Over-optimized anchor texts (e.g., “best iPhone deals 2025”) now trigger penalties.
• Paid links are easier to detect thanks to Google’s new LinkGraph AI, which identifies unnatural linking patterns.

Source: Outreachmonks

USER ENGAGEMENT SIGNALS MATTER

Google now tracks:

• Dwell time (how long users stay on your page)
• Pogo-sticking (quick back-to-SERP clicks indicate poor content)
• Mobile UX (slow-loading sites lose rankings)

 Audit Your Content

• Remove or rewrite thin, duplicate, or AI-generated spam content.
• Follow Google’s “Helpful Content” guidelines as a checklist.

 Fix Technical SEO

• Improve Core Web Vitals (speed, responsiveness, and stability).
• Resolve broken links, redirects, and indexing issues.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR SITE? CONT.

 Build Natural Links

• Focus on earned media, guest posts, and PR efforts.
• Avoid PBNs (Private Blog Networks). Google busted over 12,000+ PBNs in Q1 2025.

 Monitor Rankings & Manual Actions

• Use Google Search Console to stay updated on spam alerts.
• Check for Manual Actions under “Security & Manual Actions.

What Google Means:

• Hosting casino, payday loan, or affiliate content on popular sites like .edu blogs, media platforms, or job portals.
• The goal? To exploit domain authority for fast rankings.

Moving Forward: If your site allows external content:

• Review it closely.
• Only publish posts that match your site’s main topic.
• Say no to “sponsored spam.”

What This Means for SEOs

Gone are the days when:

• AI could flood your blog with content.
• Buying backlinks = ranking.
• Expired domains = shortcut to authority.

Google is shifting full force towards real quality, experience-based content, and intent alignment.
If you’re relying on shortcuts — this update is a wake-up call.
If you’re building long-term value — this is your opportunity to rise.

SEO Action Plan for 2025 & Beyond

Create Real Content

Use real experiences, expert advice, case studies, or insights. Even when using AI, make the content uniquely yours.

Diversify Your Link Profile

Stop chasing spammy backlinks. Instead, focus on editorial links, PR, HARO, and community-based strategies.

Avoid Domain Tricks

If you’re buying expired domains, make sure they serve a real, relevant purpose — or avoid them altogether.

Don’t Host Trash Content

No more “quick affiliate wins” on unrelated high-authority blogs. Keep your site clean and focused.