How volatile are Google search results?

SERP volatility measures how much Google's search results are changing from one day to the next. When rankings shuffle a lot — pages moving up, dropping down, entering or leaving the top results — volatility is high. It's often the first visible sign of a Google algorithm update.

For each tracked keyword, we measure how far its Google ranking moved since the previous day within the top 20 results, where movement matters most. Moves are measured relatively, so going from 2nd to 4th counts as much as going from 10th to 20th. We average that for each customer account, then across all accounts, so every portfolio counts equally and no single large account can tip the index. The result goes on a 0–100 scale where 25 is a normal day and every 25 points means rankings moved twice as much.

The index is banded for quick reading. Normal (below 50) is typical day-to-day movement — an average day reads about 25. High (50–74) means rankings moved at least twice as much as on a normal day — worth watching your rankings. Very high (75+) means at least four times as much — major turbulence, often a confirmed or unconfirmed Google algorithm update.

Daily readings go back to November 2023. Use the 1Y and All buttons above the chart to see them. Readings in earlier years run lower: the typical day-to-day movement across our panel has grown since then, and every day is measured on the same scale.

Through the day. Keyword.com tracks rankings daily, and the index shows the current day as soon as most of its keywords have been checked — usually between morning and mid-afternoon UTC. That reading is marked provisional and can still move by a few points; it becomes final after the day ends. This page checks for new data every hour, and the "Last updated" time under the latest reading shows when it last checked.

A spike tells you whether a ranking change is you or the whole web. If your rankings drop on a calm day, look at your own site or content. If they move on a very-high day, Google likely rolled out an update — so you wait for it to settle before reacting, and check whether competitors moved too.

Most volatility trackers watch a small, fixed sample of generic keywords. Keyword.com measures across the real keywords its customers track — a broad cross-section spanning many industries — so the index reflects genuine SERP movement rather than a narrow test set.