Ongoing Google Updates and Website Changes

Should You Make Website Changes During an Ongoing Google Update? | Search Investigation Notes #2

Should you make website changes during an ongoing Google update? Learn when to wait, what to investigate, and which changes shouldn't be delayed.

By Sannidhi | 29th Sep 26 | 5 mins read

Blog > Search Investigation Notes

Google updates create uncertainty because rankings become unusually volatile for a short period. Many website owners watch rankings every few hours, compare yesterday's traffic with today's numbers, and assume every movement requires action. But during an active rollout, Google is still re-evaluating websites across its search systems.

Understanding what's happening in Google Search is often more important than reacting to the first ranking drop. 

The Observation

A pattern appears repeatedly during major Google updates, especially Core updates and Spam updates.

• Rankings drop for a day or two.

• Some keywords disappear from page one.

• Clicks in Google Search Console decline.

• Then rankings partially recover.

• Sometimes they fluctuate again before the update finishes.

It's also the moment when businesses are most tempted to start making website changes. 

The assumption becomes:

| Something changed yesterday, so we need to fix something today.

That assumption is frequently wrong.

What's Actually Happening?

A confirmed Google update is an ongoing rollout, not a single event. During that rollout, Google is re-evaluating websites across multiple ranking systems. That evaluation doesn't happen everywhere at once, which is why visibility can change several times before the rollout is complete. During that period:

• Rankings can move multiple times.

• Pages may temporarily lose and regain visibility.

• Different keyword groups can behave differently.

• Search Console reporting may lag behind real-time ranking changes.

This means volatility is expected while Google's systems are still recalculating relevance and quality signals. The important distinction is between temporary volatility and persistent ranking changes after the rollout completes. If you make significant website changes during that volatile period, you've introduced another variable into the investigation.

Now it's difficult to tell whether rankings changed because of Google's update or because of your edits.

If you're looking for a broader guide on responding to Google updates without making panic-driven SEO decisions, read Sailing Through Google Updates.

Want to understand how Core updates, Spam updates, and other Google updates work? Read Google Updates FAQs.

What I Would Check

Before deciding whether website changes are necessary, I'd investigate the search behavior first.

Confirm whether the rollout is still active.

If Google's rollout is still active, I avoid treating daily ranking changes as conclusions. I usually wait until the rollout is officially complete and then allow another 48 hours for rankings and reporting to stabilize before comparing performance.

Identify whether the impact is isolated or widespread.

I'd compare:

• Branded vs non-branded traffic. If branded searches remain stable while non-branded visibility drops, the impact may be affecting discovery rather than people specifically searching for the business.

• One page vs multiple pages. A decline on a single page suggests a page-specific issue, while widespread declines across many pages point to a broader pattern worth investigating.

• One keyword cluster vs the entire website. If only one topic or service category loses visibility, the impact may be limited to that area instead of the entire website.

• One location page vs every location page. For local businesses, losing visibility across all location pages tells a different story than a single location page dropping.

Patterns reveal much more than individual rankings.

Review recent website changes before blaming the update.

I'd review recent deployments, redirects, internal linking, new content, title changes, indexing settings, or technical releases. If nothing significant changed on the website, that's valuable evidence during the investigation.

Rule out technical issues before assuming an algorithmic impact.

I'd check Search Console for indexing problems, crawl errors, structured data issues, server availability, and other technical signals before assuming the update caused everything.

Compare performance after the rollout settles.

This is where meaningful analysis begins. Instead of comparing the lowest point during the rollout, I'd compare performance before the update with performance after the rollout settles.

That's usually the clearest picture.

When I Wouldn't Wait

Waiting for an update to finish doesn't mean ignoring genuine problems. Some situations deserve immediate investigation because they're unlikely to be caused by the update itself.

I'd investigate immediately

• A Manual Action appears in Google Search Console.

• Large numbers of pages suddenly become deindexed or disappear from search.

• A robots.txt, canonical, or noindex mistake prevents pages from being indexed.

• Server outages, malware, hacked pages, or widespread crawling failures appear.

• Critical business pages disappear because of redirects, deployment errors, or accidental URL changes.

I'd monitor and wait

• Normal ranking fluctuations during a confirmed Google rollout.

• Small increases or decreases in impressions and clicks across multiple pages.

• Keywords moving up and down from one day to the next during the rollout.

• Competitors in the same niche are experiencing similar volatility during the same period.

• Temporary visibility changes that begin while Google has confirmed the update is still rolling out.

The investigation changes completely once you see evidence of a technical failure instead of normal update volatility.

The Takeaway

The goal during an ongoing Google update isn't to stop all website work. It's to avoid making important decisions using incomplete information. Continue fixing genuine technical problems and continue publishing quality content that was already part of the strategy. But avoid making large, reactionary SEO changes simply because rankings fluctuate while Google's systems are still being updated.

A Google update is a signal to investigate first, not to panic first.

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