I am seeing new signs of yet more Google Search ranking volatility and a possible tweak to the ranking search algorithm. Something kicked off yesterday, January 15, that the third‑party tools picked up on. With this update, there is limited chatter, unlike the previous unconfirmed Google Search ranking update.

The heat and volatility seemed to kick into gear on January 15, 2026, based on the third‑party tools. Some people noticed swings in their rankings and Google traffic around then as well. It is hard to know how widespread the search volatility is, but it is worth reporting to see if more of you are noticing it.

As a reminder, we had unconfirmed Google ranking volatility on January 12 and January 6. Prior to that, we had the Google December 2025 core update kick off on December 11, 2025 at around 12:25 pm ET and ended on December 29, 2025 at around 2:05 pm ET. It had two spikes, one on December 13 and the other on December 20.

Google Tracking Tools

Below are the tools that are currently showing the volatility:

• Semrush

• Mozcast

• Accuranker

• Advanced Web Rankings

• Wiredboard’s Aggregator of Tools (aggregates the above tools on one chart)

• SimilarWeb

• Zutrix

• Algoroo

• Wincher

• Mangools

• Data For SEO

• SERPstat

• Sistrix

• CognitiveSEO

SEO Chatter

The recent chatter over the past 24 hours is fairly calm. Here are some excerpts from comments and forum discussions:

“I’m still 25 % below last week which was already very low compared to last year.”

“Totally dead.”

“Slight traffic uptick since same days last week. Not big, maybe just under 5 %.”

“Today more spam websites in Discover. Spam websites are very OLD, registered yesterday.”

@rustybrick – “Good morning, Barry. I’m noticing traffic down a bit this week. Another BIG Google update?”

Lisa Sicard (@Lisapatb) – January 16, 2026

What are you all seeing?

(Discussion continues on WebmasterWorld.)

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