Google Search Ranking Volatility Heating Up May 13th & 14th

"Over the past day or so, I am seeing a large spike in signs that there is Google search ranking movement and volatility. This is between the SEO community chatter spiking, as well as some of the tools showing some big volatility swings. This is not a confirmed Google search ranking update but Google does not confirm most of its search ranking algorithm tweaks. They tend to only confirm the larger, more planned-out ones."

"As a reminder, the March 2026 core update started on March 27, 2026 and completed April 8, 2026. Plus, the deindexing trend we wrote about early has not stopped. More and more sites are noticing a drop in indexing, the "Crawled - currently not indexed" is spiking for many. But we did see unconfirmed updates May 8th, April 27th and 28th, April 23rd and so on..."

"Here are what the tools are showing: SimilarWeb (this is wild, maybe a bug?): Advanced Web Rankings: Wiredboard's Aggregator of Tools - this report shows the aggregate of the tools above and plots them on one chart: Accuranker: Data For SEO: Mangools (looks broken): SEO Chatter I am seeing a spike in chatter across this site and WebmasterWorld - here is some of that chatter:"

"Things are pretty chaotic right now. Sistrix is showing extreme fluctuations; the store was practically at a standstill yesterday. Good traffic from Google, but zero sales. The news site is still performing well on Discover, but its ranking keeps fluctuating. Fortunately, we aren't seeing a new wave of bots, but we're starting to feel the effects of the economic situation I have also seen the ranking fluctuations. This feels like the start of another ''update''. As said, there is way too many of them now.. I often feel like I'm wasting my precious hours per day editing and writing articles. Does any of it matter any more?"

Signs of Google search ranking movement and volatility have increased over the past day, with SEO tools reporting large swings. No confirmed Google ranking update is indicated, since Google typically only confirms major, planned changes. The March 2026 core update ran from March 27, 2026 to April 8, 2026, while additional unconfirmed fluctuations were observed on May 8 and late April dates. A continuing deindexing trend is also reported, with more sites seeing increases in “Crawled - currently not indexed.” Several tracking platforms show unusual or broken behavior, and SEO community chatter describes chaotic ranking changes, fluctuating traffic, and reduced sales despite some Google traffic.

Read at Search Engine Roundtable