Google releases search algorithm updates almost constantly, and each release typically causes many sites to drop in organic rankings, so keeping an eye on these updates and their impact is essential to evolving your optimization strategy.
Here are four tools to help you track your releases and their impact.
Google Search Status Dashboard
Google provides algorithm updates and error fixes through its Search Status Dashboard.
This is the only reliable way to see when an update starts and ends, and it also helps determine if fluctuations in search are due to non-algorithmic causes, such as crawling or indexing glitches.
Systolic
Sistix is a premium SEO software with a free tool to evaluate the impact of Google updates on your site. Select your country, enter your domain, and the tool will check ranking changes after each update, and run 25 queries per day for free.
Sistix also provides an overview of each update and its purpose.
Be sure to verify Sistrix’s findings with your Search Console reports and Google Analytics data.
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking publishes daily SERP volatility and fluctuations based on approximately 400,000 desktop keywords (and 200,000 mobile keywords) across multiple countries.
Users can check Google updates and filter reports by industry, device, and country.
This tool provides free alerts on volatility and releases announced by Google.
GSC Guardian
GSC Guardian is a free Chrome extension that tracks Google updates to overlay Search Console reports, and allows users to create tasks and annotations of observations in the Search Console dashboard.
This extension allows you to easily evaluate the impact of Google updates on your organic search visibility.
While it’s essential to keep an eye on Google updates, keep in mind that fluctuations in organic traffic are normal, and core algorithm releases often address queries and their intent, not website weaknesses.
So a drop in traffic is not usually a penalty. Evaluate your search results pages and note any changes. Have your organic rankings changed, or have you been pushed lower on the page by AI summaries or new SERP features? For example, recent updates have replaced review sites with e-commerce results for many queries.
Not all ranking changes are reversible, but knowing your target queries and SERP status is key to identifying new opportunities.