Google’s search landscape has felt unusually unsettled in 2025. While the company’s core updates in March and June were formally announced and well‑documented, a series of smaller, unconfirmed tremors kept SEOs anxious throughout the year. The most dramatic aftershock occurred around 28 October 2025, when numerous ranking tools recorded spikes and webmasters reported drastic traffic shifts. Because Google has said nothing official about a new algorithm update, the October volatility appears to be a confluence of subtle ranking tweaks, measurement artefacts and changes to ad presentation. Understanding what happened and how it fits into the wider context is essential for publishers and marketers adjusting to a rapidly changing search ecosystem.
Evidence of the late‑October tremor
On 29 October 2025, Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable reported that he was seeing “rumblings” in SEO forums and monitoring dashboards indicating a ranking adjustment around 28 Octoberseroundtable.com. Users on WebmasterWorld described extreme drops in traffic—one site owner said UK traffic was down 42 % all day, while another observed a similar pattern in U.S. trafficseroundtable.com. The same user later noted that traffic “snapped back” at 10 am, implying that the drop was not purely organicseroundtable.com. Schwartz pointed out that there had been previous bursts of unconfirmed volatility earlier in the month (on 7–8 October and 15–17 October) but that the chatter had subsided since Google removed the ability to view 100 results per page and ranking tools recalibratedseroundtable.com.
PPC Land, an advertising industry publication, corroborated the event. Writer Luis Rijo noted that multiple monitoring platforms registered increased volatility on 28 October, including Advanced Web Rankings, Semrush, MozCast, Wincher, Accuranker and othersppc.land. He summarised forum chatter where one site operator described traffic declines starting on 25 October, with a particularly severe drop on 27 Octoberppc.land. Another webmaster reported that only visitors from the U.S. and UK were affected, and that traffic normalised shortly afterppc.land. PPC Land highlighted that data tools recorded major movements in specific regions while global aggregates showed smaller spikes, hinting at either geo‑targeted experiments or an interaction with user‑interface changes.
Beyond the anecdotal reports, at least 13 monitoring services—from Semrush to Algoroo—showed elevated SERP volatility on 28 Octoberppc.land. Tools that visualise algorithm turbulence, such as MozCast or Wincher, typically register “temperature spikes” or volatility indices when rankings shift beyond normal daily variance. The October spike looked similar to those seen in mid‑October and mid‑April, although the amplitude varied by data source. Importantly, because each tool samples different keyword sets and geographies, no single reading definitively proves a core algorithm change; however, the convergence of many tools suggests a notable system‑wide disruption.
Advertising changes complicate the story
What makes the October event puzzling is that Google introduced a major ad‑presentation change only weeks earlier, and some SEOs suspect that the traffic shifts reflect click redistribution rather than ranking adjustments. On 13 October 2025, Google announced a new “Sponsored results” section for text and shopping ads. According to Google’s Ads & Commerce blog, text ads would henceforth be grouped under a single “Sponsored results” label that remains visible as users scrollblog.google. The design includes a “Hide sponsored results” button allowing users to collapse the ad block and focus on organic resultsblog.google. Google emphasised that the number of ads per group would remain capped at four and that the new layout should make sponsored content more clearly labelledblog.google.
9to5Google, reporting on the same update, interpreted the change as making ads both “more obvious” and “more avoidable”, noting that each paid result would be grouped into one section labelled “Sponsored”9to5google.com. The article explained that the section’s bottom would have a “hide sponsored results” button, enabling users to collapse the ad group9to5google.com. Crucially, this new layout pushes organic results lower on the page when the ad section is expanded; some SEOs, including Cyrus Shepard, observed that branded searches still showed declines in organic traffic despite unchanged rankingsppc.land. Shepard argued that these declines may be due to ads consuming a greater share of the above‑the‑fold real estate, leading to fewer clicks on organic listingsppc.land. The October volatility may therefore be partially attributable to UI changes that alter click‑through behaviour rather than purely algorithmic ranking changes.
Measuring the tremor: limitations of data
The reliability of volatility readings was further complicated by Google’s mid‑September removal of the &num=100 URL parameter, which previously allowed users and rank‑tracking tools to request 100 search results per page. On 18 September 2025, Search Engine Land reported that Google confirmed it no longer supports this parameter. The article noted that the change was intentional and quoted a Google spokesperson saying “the use of this URL parameter is not something that we formally support”searchengineland.com. Because rank‑checking services built around 100‑result pages suddenly had to make ten separate requests to collect the same data, monitoring tools became “an absolute mess”searchengineland.com. This removal reduced the volume of data available for analysis and inflated certain metrics in Search Console, making it harder to determine whether observed fluctuations were genuine ranking shifts or artefacts of data collection.
Context: confirmed 2025 updates and prior volatility
To situate the October episode, it helps to review the official algorithm updates earlier in 2025. The March 2025 core update, the first of the year, began on 13 March 2025 and completed around 27 March 2025. Search Engine Land described this update as a “typical core update” lasting roughly 14 days, designed to make results more relevantsearchengineland.com. Google stated that the rollout was complete on March 27searchengineland.com. Some sites experienced significant ranking swings, but the update was not as widespread as past core updatessearchengineland.com. Google advised webmasters that there were no specific actions to recover; they should focus on producing helpful content for people and consult its list of quality questionssearchengineland.com.
The June 2025 core update, the year’s second confirmed update, started on 30 June 2025 and finished around 17 July 2025, taking about 16 days and 18 hours to completesearchengineland.com. Google described it as a regular update designed to surface more relevant contentsearchengineland.com. As with the March update, Google advised that there were no special actions to take beyond focusing on high‑quality, people‑first contentsearchengineland.com. Between these core updates and the late‑October event, SEOs observed sporadic unconfirmed volatility in April (notably around 21–23 April, when Barry Schwartz documented another surge of ranking fluctuationsseroundtable.com) and again mid‑October.
Because Google has not announced any core update since the June rollout, the October 28 spike is unlikely to be a full core algorithm update. It may instead reflect smaller ranking tweaks or tests—Google continually experiments with ranking signals and interface features that seldom warrant public confirmation. The fact that volatility affected specific geographies and that traffic rebounded quickly suggests a limited experiment or bug rather than a broad change.
Why the October volatility matters
For digital marketers and site owners, the October volatility underscores several challenges:
- Separation of ranking and click behaviour. The new “Sponsored results” layout means that organic rankings alone no longer guarantee visibility. Even when a site maintains the same ranking position, ads grouped above the results can reduce click‑through rates. SEOs must monitor click‑through rates (CTR) and not just rankings to understand traffic changes.
- Data measurement constraints. The removal of the 100‑results parameter and recalibration of rank‑tracking tools reduce the precision of volatility indicessearchengineland.com. Site owners should compare multiple data sources (e.g., Search Console, third‑party trackers, analytics) to triangulate what is happening.
- Persistent unconfirmed updates. Google’s algorithm evolves continually. Unofficial updates around April, July and October created unpredictable swings even in the absence of formal announcementsseroundtable.com. Businesses cannot simply wait for core updates; they must build resilience by focusing on helpful, authoritative content and robust user experiences.
- Regional experiments and AI Overviews. Google has been testing AI‑generated “AI Overviews” in search results and may implement ranking experiments in particular countries before global rollout. The October event’s concentration in the U.S. and UKppc.land hints at regional trials. Publishers should track performance across markets separately.
Strategies for navigating ongoing volatility
In this environment, site owners should adopt strategies that minimise the impact of unpredictable shifts:
- Focus on people‑first content and E‑E‑A‑T principles. Google’s advice during the March and June core updates emphasised creating helpful, reliable content meant for peoplesearchengineland.com. Ensuring pages demonstrate experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E‑E‑A‑T) is more sustainable than chasing algorithm loopholes.
- Optimise for click‑through, not just rank. With ads taking more screen real estate, organic snippets must stand out. Craft compelling titles and meta descriptions, use structured data for rich snippets, and consider adding FAQ or how‑to schemas to occupy more space.
- Monitor SERP features and ad layout changes. Keep abreast of Google’s announcements—like the “Sponsored results” updateblog.google—and test how collapsing or hiding ads affects traffic. Use browser profiles or search‑environment simulation tools to see what your target audience sees.
- Diversify traffic sources. Depending solely on Google organic traffic becomes riskier with each unannounced change. Building audiences via email newsletters, social media or niche platforms can buffer against sudden SERP shifts.
- Leverage analytics and feedback loops. Evaluate traffic by country, device and query type to identify anomalies quickly. When ranking and CTR diverge, investigate whether ads, AI Overviews or new SERP features are the cause.
Conclusion
The late‑October 2025 ranking volatility was not a formally announced core update but rather a symptom of overlapping forces—ongoing algorithm experiments, user‑interface changes and measurement quirks. Webmasters saw steep traffic drops and recoveries within hoursseroundtable.com, while tools recorded unusual spikes across multiple regionsppc.land. At the same time, Google’s new “Sponsored results” layout moved ads into a consolidated block with a hide buttonblog.google, altering how users interact with search results. The removal of the &num=100 parameter further muddied the water by degrading the fidelity of rank‑tracking datasearchengineland.com. Together, these factors created the perception of an algorithm shake‑up even though Google has not released a core update since the June roll‑outsearchengineland.com.
In an era of continuous change, SEOs must look beyond headline‑grabbing updates and pay close attention to subtle shifts in user behaviour and search presentation. The October experience reinforces that traffic volatility can stem from changes outside of ranking algorithms, such as advertising formats or data‑collection methods. By focusing on quality content, monitoring multiple performance metrics and diversifying traffic sources, businesses can weather the unpredictable waves of the search ocean.
