Volatility before and after the latest update

[Aleksander]

Hi there,

I see lot's of volatility in the last weeks on several gambling related keywords. Just before the update started my website suddently took a free fall, after a long period of consistancy. So during the latest update I did not do anything, just waiting. There was no manual action and no indications that I am doiing something weird / off compared to the market.

On 28th of october the website suddently showed a full recovery on all keywords, but tonight it went dark again and the site dropped again.

We try to do our best, keep the content fresh, invest in EEAT and make good helpfull content for our users. Sometimes it's a hard guess why Google hits.

Do you also have experience with this, and maybe some tips?

[abidseo]

Yes, this pattern is familiar, and the timing you describe is important. A sharp recovery on 28 October followed by another drop the next night usually points to a ranking system still settling, rather than a single penalty or a single fix working overnight. During a rollout, Google can test different versions of results, so the same query can look recovered in one check and down in the next.

A few checks that help separate real movement from noise:

1. Compare the same keyword set in Search Console over 7 and 28 days, not just a rank tracker snapshot. Look at impressions as well as position. If impressions stayed low while position bounced, the page was probably still being re-evaluated.
2. Check whether the drops are concentrated on one type of page, such as reviews, comparisons, or bonus pages. Broad drops across everything tend to be system-wide, while drops on one template usually point to content or intent mismatch on those pages.
3. Avoid making large changes during the swing. Rewriting titles, internal links, or whole sections while results are still moving makes it much harder to know what actually helped later.

What you are already doing is the right base: fresh, genuinely helpful content and clear signals about who wrote it and why it can be trusted. For gambling content specifically, I would also check that the pages that fell still answer the search intent directly in the first screen, without forcing the reader through long introductions before the key facts. Pages that bury odds, terms, payment options, or eligibility details often lose out when competition tightens.

Give it at least a full week of stable data after the volatility settles before judging the recovery, and log every change with a date. That log is what turns a confusing swing into a useful lesson for the next update.

[Aleksander]

After some digging (today) and the previous weekend I also found another red flag for my website. In the Transparancy report (wich I knew since today) I found that my website has 46 DMCA complaints (offcourse fake ones) but 50% of those complaints are deleted according the report. In my search console I just found 4 notices about DMCA complaints, but the Transparancy Report show something different. Also the Lumendatabase is showing the complaints. So now I made a formal letter and sended this to dmca-agent @ google. com because I did not get any reference ID's for the 42 complaints that I did not got any notice of. Hopefully this Google team will reply soon.

[arix]

the dmca part might matter more than the update itself. google has said for years that a high number of valid removal notices against a site can be used as a ranking signal, so the urls marked as removed in the transparency report are the ones worth fighting, not the rejected half.

for each removed url you can file a counter notification through google's legal removal forms, and it helps to attach proof that you published first. an archive.org snapshot of your page usually predates the copy the fake complaint points to.

[PaulEchere]

I wouldn't say that volatility is necessarily a negative thing, it is definitely better than consistently flatlining. If you see volatility - that means you content is being considered and actually shown in search results - that's not bad. Although it is definitely not pleasant to see the visitor count go down drastically.

Given this is something natural during updates and it may vary based on region and niche - it isn't something I would be too worried about given you are already focusing on the right things.

On the other hand, the fact that you see records of these DMCA complaints in your search console it is pretty alarming - I've had tons of those, but nothing ever actually made it to GSC.

[footballfan]

I've seen similar volatility lately in Sweden. Rankings can move dramatically from one day to another, making it really difficult to understand what's actually happening. I think waiting for things to settle before making any major changes is probably the smartest approach.

[newcustomeroffer]

Search Engine Roundtable reported on a lot of volatility in October plus an unconfirmed update, there might be some correlation in there with the dates you're seeing: https://www.seroundtable.com/novembe...ort-42431.html

[Aleksander]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for your reply.

Actually; when there is an DMCA complaint, google must inform you about this! In that case you can proof that they are wrong. But when you ain't getting the notices it's hard to proof. So now there is https://transparencyreport.google.com/copyright/ and you can search for your own domains AND you can see the status of the complaints. So I there are deleted URL's by google, you can see.