In this episode of “SEO From The Front Lines”, I cover the ranking swings and volatility in Google Search post-August core update. There has been a lot of chatter about ranking changes AFTER the Google August 2024 core update rolled out. After digging in, I noticed a ton of volatility across several dates post-core update. And beyond that, I noticed that a number of sites heavily impacted by the August 24th tremor have started to reverse course on some of those dates. For example, sites that surged on August 24th started dropping on September 6th, 2024, September 10th, and now September 14th. And on the flip side, some sites that dropped with the August 24th tremor are now surging. Beyond that, there are some sites that were unaffected by the August core update that are surging or dropping. And for sites heavily impacted by the September helpful content update (HCUX), a number that started surging back with the August 2024 core update are now dropping a bit. It’s not like a full reversal, but definitely reversing course somewhat. In this video, I cover what I’m seeing and why I think this might be happening.
00:00 Crazy ranking swings and volatility AFTER the August 2024 core update completed.
00:49 My initial tweet about the volatility and reversals I was picking up across sites.
01:56 Examples of sites reversing course and dropping on 9/6, 9/10, and 9/14.
02:59 Examples of sites reversing course and surging back post-August core update.
04:38 Barry Schwartz picked up a lot of chatter and volatility on 9/6/24.
05:08 Important dates to review for site owners and SEOs.
05:31 Helpful content sites impacted and dropping after surging with the August core update.
06:36 Examples of visibility trending for HCU(X) sites impacted and dropping.
08:01 PSA about rank tracking your most important queries.
09:22 What’s happening, and the possible decoupling of algorithms from broad core updates.
11:17 Quick summary about the recent volatility post-August core update.

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