"I am seeing new signs of yet more Google Search ranking volatility and a possible tweak to the ranking search algorithm. Something kicked off yesterday, January 15th, that the third-party tools picked up on. With this update, there is limited chatter, unlike the previous unconfirmed Google Search ranking update. The heat and volatility seemed to kick into gear on January 15, 2026, based on the third-party tools."
"As a reminder, we had unconfirmed Google ranking volatility on January 12th and January 6th. Prior to that, we had the Google December 2025 core update kick off on December 11, 2025 at around 12:25 pm ET and ended on December 29, 2025 at around 2:05 pm ET. It had two spikes, one on December 13th and the other on December 20th."
Third-party ranking tools detected renewed Google Search volatility beginning January 15, 2026. Few site owners reported ranking swings and traffic changes around that date, while overall public chatter remained limited compared with prior unconfirmed updates. Prior volatility was noted on January 6 and January 12. The December 2025 core update ran from December 11 to December 29, with notable spikes on December 13 and December 20. Some site owners reported traffic down as much as 25% compared to the previous week, while others saw small upticks under 5%. Reports also mentioned increased spam content appearing in Google Discover. Additional reports are requested to gauge scope.
Read at Search Engine Roundtable
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