Skip to content
Surfilby Adam Hafez
Free tool

Google algorithm update checker: overlay updates on your traffic

Upload your Search Console clicks and see every Google-confirmed update on the same chart, with a week-before and week-after comparison for each. Free.

Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged or stored.

Add a Dates.csv export to see your clicks against 40 confirmed updates.

Week before: the 7 days before the start. Week after: days 7 to 13 after completion, as Google advises. Timing is not cause: check seasonality and site changes too. Nothing you upload leaves this page.

Key takeaways

  • Update dates come from our record of Google-confirmed updates, each traced to the Search Status Dashboard.
  • The comparison follows Google's guidance to wait a week after a rollout ends, then compare a week after with a week before.
  • Seven-day windows cancel the weekday cycle in daily clicks, so a Monday is always compared with a Monday.
  • Updates that overlap in time are named, because a change in that window cannot be pinned on one of them.
  • A drop that lines up with an update is a lead to investigate, not proof the update caused it.

What it takes

  • Dates.csv from a Search Console Performance report export, uploaded or pasted

More tools

All of them free, all of them browser-only.

Browse the tools

How to use it

  1. 1Export your Performance dataIn Search Console, open Performance, set the widest date range you need and choose Export, then Download CSV. The download is a zip file.
  2. 2Upload Dates.csvUnzip the download and pick Dates.csv, or paste its contents into the box. Other languages' headers work too; the date column is found by its values.
  3. 3Read the chartYour daily clicks are drawn as a line and each confirmed update's rollout is a shaded band. Hover a band to see which update it is.
  4. 4Check each update's rowEach row compares the week before the start with days 7 to 13 after completion. Changes beyond 10 percent in either direction are coloured.
  5. 5Rule out other causesLook at the Overlaps column, your own site changes and seasonality before attributing a change to one update.

When traffic drops, the first question is whether a Google update did it. This Google algorithm update checker puts your daily clicks and every Google-confirmed update on one chart, then measures each update the way Google suggests. It runs in your browser; your data stays with you.

What does the checker measure?

The overlay. Your daily clicks from Search Console, with each confirmed update’s rollout shaded from its start date to its completion date. The dates come from our Google Algorithm Updates timeline, where every entry links to the Google page that confirms it.

The comparison. Google’s core update guidance says to wait at least a full week after a rollout finishes, then compare traffic with a period before the update began. The tool takes the average daily clicks over the 7 days before the start and over days 7 to 13 after completion, and reports the percentage change.

The overlaps. Google often runs updates close together. When another update falls inside the compared span, the tool names it, because the change cannot then be pinned on one update.

How to read the results

  • Change beyond 10 percent. Coloured red for a drop and green for a gain. Smaller moves are usually within normal week-to-week noise.
  • Still rolling out. The update has no completion date yet, so only the week before it is shown.
  • Not enough data. A window falls outside your export or has a gap. Export a longer range.
  • Overlaps. Any other update in the span. Read those update pages before deciding which one explains a change.

Getting the file from Search Console

In the Performance report, choose a date range, then Export. Google’s export help lists Google Sheets, Excel and CSV; the CSV download is a zip file. Since February 2020 the performance export includes every table, Dates among them. Dates.csv holds one row per day with clicks, which is all this tool needs.

Its limits

A drop that lines up with an update is correlation, not cause. Seasonality, a site migration, a tracking change or a competitor can all move clicks in the same week. Google also notes that pages losing rank are not necessarily bad; other pages may serve the searcher better. Use the result to decide which update page to read, then follow the guidance there.

Sources

  1. 1.Google Search's core updates and your website - Google Search CentralPrimary
  2. 2.Google Search Status Dashboard: ranking incidents - GooglePrimary
  3. 3.More and better data export in Search Console - Google Search Central Blog, February 26, 2020Primary
  4. 4.Export data directly from a Search Console report - Search Console HelpPrimary

Common questions

How do I know if a Google update affected my site?

Compare traffic from a full week that starts a week after the rollout finished with the week before it began, as Google recommends. If clicks moved sharply between those windows and nothing else changed on your site, the update is a likely cause. This tool runs that comparison for every confirmed update in your data.

Why does the tool wait a week after the update finishes?

Google's core update guidance says to wait at least a full week after a rollout completes before analysing, then compare with a period before it started. Rankings still move during a rollout, so the rollout window itself is not a fair comparison.

Which updates does it include?

Every update Google confirmed on its Search Status Dashboard, which covers November 2021 onward. Older updates in our timeline predate any Search Console export, which keeps 16 months, and unconfirmed volatility has no official dates.

Is my Search Console data uploaded anywhere?

No. The file is read and analysed in your browser and is never sent to a server. Closing the page discards it.

Why does a row say not enough data?

One of the two seven-day windows falls outside your export or has a missing day. Export a longer date range that covers a week before the start and two weeks after the completion.