Google algorithm update checker

Check your clicks against the update dates

1. In Search Console, open Performance, then Search results, and set the date to the last 3 months. For an older update, pick a longer range.
2. Choose Export, then Download CSV.
3. Drop the zip on the timeline above. Your daily clicks draw over the updates and the change check runs in this tab. The file is not uploaded anywhere.

How the change check finds a date

It looks for the day your clicks or impressions moved to a new level and stayed there. One odd day or a slow slide does not count. If there is no such day, it compares the last 7 days with the days before them. Then it lists the Google updates that ran within 3 days of the date.

This is the same check as the traffic drop section of the SEO report, so you get the same date whether you use this page or ask your agent.

Read a match as timing, not cause

An update on the same dates shows the timing lines up. It does not show the update caused the change. A release, a tracking change, a holiday or a seasonal dip can land in the same week, so check those too.

Google's guidance on core updates says to wait until a rollout has finished, then compare at least a week after it with a period of the same length before it.

Where the dates come from

Every date comes from Google's Search Status Dashboard. The page reads Google's live feed when it opens, so a new update shows here as soon as Google posts it, and its end date as soon as the rollout finishes. The dashboard starts in November 2021, so earlier updates are not on the timeline.

Ask your agent which pages moved

The timeline shows when. Your agent can show what. Give it the first day after an update and seo compare compares equal periods on each side: clicks, impressions and position, the pages and queries that gained or lost the most, Google Analytics sessions, and the Google updates in the window. It reads your Search Console directly, so there is nothing to export.