Google Search Ranking Volatility Surged on May 12 and 13
It appears that Google may be rolling out another search ranking update. Over the past 24 hours, there have been noticeable signs of increased volatility and ranking fluctuations. Several tracking tools have already picked up on these tremors, and the SEO community is reporting significant movement that began on Monday, May 12, and continued into Tuesday, May 13. The last major spike in Google Search ranking volatility occurred on May 8. Before that, we observed similar activity on April 25, April 22–23, April 16, and April 9. As of now, there has only been one official update from Google in 2025 — the March 2025 core update. No other confirmed updates have been announced yet. That said, I may have missed a major unconfirmed update around May 1–2. According to Glenn Gabe, that period saw substantial ranking shifts, and I’ve had others reach out to me afterward mentioning similar signs. Apologies for not covering that one earlier. What the SEO Community Is Saying Here’s a sample of ...