Google search update Impact Tracker
Discover the effects of Google search algorithm updates on your website’s organic traffic
What it is
Google search update Impact Tracker helps you track and analyze the impact of Google search algorithm updates on your website’s traffic and rankings.
Get a straightforward, free overview of your current organic traffic from Google without complicated spreadsheets or data diving.
How to benefit
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Determine if and how much an update has affected your site
The effects of Google algorithm updates can vary, impacting your entire site, specific sections, or individual pages.
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Compare key site metrics before and after the update
Assess the impact of updates with visualizations of changes in clicks, impressions, and top-ranking pages.
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Identify where visibility and traffic were affected most
Reports highlight queries and pages with the most significant traffic changes first.
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Estimate the work and time required
Our tool helps you understand how many pages and queries need attention to maximize recovery efforts.
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Monitor daily changes in the number of entry points to your site
A summary of clicked pages helps you identify the update’s impact on your site’s visibility and ranking positions.
How it works
Define the period and collect data
For accurate impact assessment, data from Google Search Console is selected for 12 weeks before the update. If the update is complete, the report includes data for the entire update period plus 12 weeks after completion.
Prepare a summary and segment data
Analyze traffic changes before and after the update. See the number of clicks, impressions, and top-ranking pages. Breakdown traffic data by device and country, and group by position (TOP-3, TOP-5, TOP-10).
Analyze data by pages and queries
Check what happened to previously stable pages after the update (pages with non-zero traffic at least half of the days before the update) and generate a Page Analysis report with average daily values.
Pages are categorized as stable (no significant traffic change), up (traffic increased), or down (traffic decreased).
A similar report is generated for previously stable queries — Query Analysis.
Check Entry Point Dynamics
For each day before and after the update, we determine the number of pages that were clicked. This data is available in the Site Entry Points by Pages report.
Result: Gain precise insights into how the update has affected your site’s traffic and visibility on Google.
Do I need Google search update Impact Tracker if…
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…after the Google search update traffic decreased across many pages?
Sites with evenly distributed traffic across all pages are less sensitive to a sudden drop in traffic on one or a few pages. However, when traffic drops for a large number of pages, the site’s performance is greatly affected.
Google search update Impact Tracker determines the number of pages affected by the update and provides a list of them in order of priority, prioritizing those that drive the most traffic.
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…after the Google search update traffic decreased on a few key pages?
For sites where a few pages generate most of the traffic, even a small drop can be impactful. The tool highlights the most popular pages pre-update and tracks their performance during and after the update.
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…after the Google search update traffic remained unchanged?
The update may not affect your site type, or balanced traffic changes may mask the impact.
Google search update Impact Tracker helps identify and address specific areas where traffic fell.
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…after the Google search update traffic increased?
Understand what changed and why.
The tool reveals whether the traffic increase is site-wide or limited to specific pages or sections.
Frequently Asked Questions about Google search update Impact Tracker
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Ideal for sites with statistically significant traffic over the past few months.
- It can only run checks on sites linked to your Google Search Console account.
- For the most reliable traffic analysis, the site should have a tracking period in Google Search Console of at least 12 weeks before the update start date. Traffic will be analyzed for the last 4 weeks for sites with a shorter tracking period, though this might slightly skew traffic trend statistics due to insufficient historical data.
Sites with a tracking period of less than 4 weeks before the update start date cannot be checked.
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Yes, you can and should use the tool during an update. However, the results might differ slightly in the early days of an update.
For instance, if only two days have passed since the update began (e.g., Tuesday and Wednesday), the traffic comparison will only be made for those specific days of the week. You will see data for the 12 preceding Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the results.
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In the current version, Google search update Impact Tracker can analyze data from your site only for the latest Google update.
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On average, checking a site with Google search update Impact Tracker takes about 30 minutes. However, depending on the size of your site and the system’s load, it can sometimes take several hours.
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