How to Track or Monitor Google Algorithm Updates
Posted On : February 27th, 2015 By : Diptimayee Mohanty To : Google, Google Update
Google in recent years is updating its search algorithm more than 1000 times per year but most of the time prefers to be silent on the changes. As a marketing professional or agency or business house, you know how important these updates are for you. These changes affect your visibility in Google SERP & impact your sales, revenues, profits and reputation positively or negatively. So, most internet marketers, agencies and SEO experts are trying to keep track of any changes in Google so that they can align their strategy accordingly. Ultimate aim is; organic ranking in Google should be maintained or developed to get traffic continuously.
Now the question is; how to track the updates? Certainly the Google Analytics & Web Master Tools give light on how a site is performing in Google SERP. But from these you can’t certainly tell whether the change pattern you are feeling is due to algorithmic changes or due to other factors.
Tracking Tools
Fortunately there are some free tools that give data regarding Google SERP fluctuations, those tools are tracking Google search results for various keywords & reflect any changes in Google SERP for those keywords. Lots of articles have already been written on this topic but most cover two or three tools but not all the tools available presently. So I tried to add all the tools here at one place for easy reference so that marketers like me get comparative ideas on these tools in one go.
All the tools have distinctive features. So, I’ve tried to put as much information on the usage & features so that anyone can get a good understanding at first look.
The list of Google algorithm Updates tracking tools are:
- Algoroo
- Mozcast
- Advanced Web Ranking Google Algorithm Changes
- SERPWoo
- SERPmetrics
- SERPs.com
- Rank Risk Index
Algoroo
This is one of the top Google algorithm tracking tools developed by DejanSEO. They are tracking 17000 keywords for top 100 positions & representing the changes in SERP as graph as added below. In the graph you can get the name of the Google algorithm updates and best thing is you can see the previous months’ graph by just dragging the button as shown in the image below. Most tools are giving just last 1 month data whereas with Algoroo you can get data of last few months.
Good thing in Algoroo is that they have recently added a new feature through which you can subscribe for E-mail alert as added in the message below. When there will be significant fluctuation in Google SERP, the subscribers will get message from Algoroo on the update.
Mozcast
Mozcast is the most popular tool in this category thanks to Moz team and especially Dr Peter J Meyers. It shows Google SERP fluctuations as weather report. The more the temperature is the more fluctuations in Google SERP. It can show data for only last 30 days.
They are tracking around 1000 keywords for top 10 rankings from different verticals and industries. You can see more details about domain diversity, EMD and PMD influence, Daily Big 10 etc data from the metrics page. And it gives last 3 months graph.
An additional Feature they have added in the Features page to track changes in the Google SERP that shows changes in local results, knowledge graph, Ads, carousels etc for last 30 days. You can find the complete list at the bottom of the page where you can select sections to get relevant graph & matched queries.
A nice post by Dr. Pete on the above features can be found at http://moz.com/blog/mega-serp-a-visual-guide-to-google.
Advanced Web Ranking Google Algorithm Changes Tool
This is a new one in this category which is rarely mentioned yet anywhere. It’s developed by the Advanced Web Ranking team. They are tracking 10000 keywords & 500000 URLs across various industries.
This tool is providing lots of features for users as follows;
- Users can check Google SERP fluctuations for different countries, now it’s showing fluctuations for US, US local, UK, DE (Germany).
- Users can check the Google SERP fluctuations for top 10, 20 or top 50 results.
- Option is provided to select changes in positions or ranking by 3, 5 & 10 as shown in the image. Definitely a great help for internet marketers to study the Google algorithm updates.
- Users can get the fluctuations graph for last 6 months which is a big advantage.
SERPWoo
SERPWoo is a new tool in this category. Basically the company is providing rank tracking service tool and in addition they are providing Google SERP fluctuations data as Google Day By Day Volatility. It’s tracking top 10 results & calculating the volatility according to the fluctuations in top 10 results for several keywords. It’s not cleared yet about how many keywords they are tracking for it but the best thing is they are providing Google volatility chart for 28 different countries and you can check the volatility of last 2 months. Anyone can get the data by creating a free account & visiting https://www.serpwoo.com/members/stats/ page.
As it’s showing volatility chart of several countries, it’ll be helpful to track how & when Google is implementing its algorithm in different countries just like it has made Google Pigeon updates in US first and then covered other countries.
SERPmetrics
SERPmetrics is one of the oldest tools in tracking Google algorithm fluctuations. It tracks top 100 results of both Google & Bing for 100,000 keywords for last 30 days. It shows line graph instead of bar graph mostly preferred by other tools.
SERPs.com
SERPs volatility index is providing data since long and it’s tracking almost 1000+ websites only. SERPs is providing Google and Yahoo volatility graph for last 30 days & 90 days.
Rank Risk Index
I’ve found this site just yesterday, so it’s completely new for me and am not sure how old this one is. Rank Risk is created by the Rank Ranger team and they are tracking 10000+ domains & keywords.
They are providing the Google SERP fluctuations graph for both 30 & 90 days in different chart.
As a marketer, I’m in the habit of tracking and analysing Google algorithm updates for many years. And this post is a means to show my gratitude to the teams who have developed such tools for the greater benefits of the marketing worlds.
There may be other tools that I don’t know or may be in future more and more tools will come. I’ll try to cover those tools in my future articles. Also, I’ve added some useful resources for more information below:
- http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
- http://www.bronco.co.uk/google-updates-calendar.html
- https://www.rankranger.com/google-algorithm-updates
- https://www.serpwoo.com/google-updates
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