How frequently does google SERP change?

JimHalpert · Apr 10, 2019

I was researching keywords over the weekend for one of my sites and thought I found a good keyword with low competition.

Today I keyed it into google again and WTF I got a shock. It seems like the search results got totally revamped and the low competition sites that showed up when I entered the keyword previously were all gone. I initially thought I entered the wrong keyword or that I was seeing things. But no, it really is the case. Have double and triple checked it.

Previously there was no Featured Snippet in the search results and now there is a site there when I key in the search... If there was a Featured Snippet I wouldn't even bother to target the keyword to begin with.

Is this normal? And how often does google update the SERP?

Thanks.

KingZen · Apr 10, 2019

They update all day every day and they also can show different SERP to different locations. I see variations in SERPs on a daily basis. Sometimes some of my keywords are not in top 100 for some IPs, and for other IPs they're ranking on first page.

It could also be a personalized SERP you saw in case you weren't viewing while in Incognito Mode.

Starblazer · Apr 10, 2019

SERPs change every second but most pages don't show any visible changes. Moreover, new keywords keep coming every second.

swords12 · Apr 10, 2019

affbull said:
I was researching keywords over the weekend for one of my sites and thought I found a good keyword with low competition.

Today I keyed it into google again and WTF I got a shock. It seems like the search results got totally revamped and the low competition sites that showed up when I entered the keyword previously were all gone. I initially thought I entered the wrong keyword or that I was seeing things. But no, it really is the case. Have double and triple checked it.

Previously there was no Featured Snippet in the search results and now there is a site there when I key in the search... If there was a Featured Snippet I wouldn't even bother to target the keyword to begin with.

Is this normal? And how often does google update the SERP?

Thanks.

I think Google updates the SERP as soon as it gets any new updates for eg. bots crawling the website notices some on-page changes. Just an assumption as nobody knows Google's exact algorithm on how and when it does those updates.

JimHalpert · Apr 10, 2019

KingZen said:
They update all day every day and they also can show different SERP to different locations. I see variations in SERPs on a daily basis. Sometimes some of my keywords are not in top 100 for some IPs, and for other IPs they're ranking on first page.

It could also be a personalized SERP you saw in case you weren't viewing while in Incognito Mode.

I tried it on multiple IPs, same results. Yeap I know Google updates on a regular basis but this change was just so drastic.... I wish I could have taken a screenshot so that I can show it to you. There were pages with single digit PA / DA on the site. But after the update, they are all double digits. WTF...

swords12 said:
I think Google updates the SERP as soon as it gets any new updates for eg. bots crawling the website notices some on-page changes. Just an assumption as nobody knows Google's exact algorithm on how and when it does those updates.

Yeah but why such a drastic change? Any way to figure out what happened? I am pissed cause I got a copywriter to write an article based on that keyword. And now I need to search for another one and get her to update it.

SirLouen · Apr 10, 2019

There isn't a rule of thumb. It's constantly changing.
But when your page drops massively, generally is said that it goes to the "sandbox" therefore you wont see it over the 100 first results for several days. During that process if you check Webmasters tools you will see that you start to rank in top 5 for certain keywords just for minutes. Essentially Google is testing CTR, Bounce Rate, etc... and afterwards it will be located in the new position. Google do this constantly, but when it detects a massive change, 90% of the times you go to the sandbox.

bartosimpsonio · Apr 10, 2019

They change SERPs daily. It's constantly updated.

The big changes to the index and algorithm happen about every 3 to 6 months.

JimHalpert · Apr 10, 2019

SirLouen said:
There isn't a rule of thumb. It's constantly changing.
But when your page drops massively, generally is said that it goes to the "sandbox" therefore you wont see it over the 100 first results for several days. During that process if you check Webmasters tools you will see that you start to rank in top 5 for certain keywords just for minutes. Essentially Google is testing CTR, Bounce Rate, etc... and afterwards it will be located in the new position. Google do this constantly, but when it detects a massive change, 90% of the times you go to the sandbox.

My page wasn't even ranking for that keyword. I was just targeting that keyword. But the competition for that keyword shot up tremendously. And here's the even stranger part. It has 0 search volume according to Keywords Everywhere. No one appears to be targeting it so I don't understand why the drastic change.

bartosimpsonio said:
They change SERPs daily. It's constantly updated.

The big changes to the index and algorithm happen about every 3 to 6 months.

Thanks for the info.

Deleted member 994306 · Apr 11, 2019

The results change when google finds more relevant quality content than tha previous ones. It is why one must work everyday to rank their keywords.

Bayuri · Apr 11, 2019

They changed the serp everyday and my site still in rock bottom seems they dont care

How frequently does google SERP change?

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