Google SERP Changes & Algorithm Updates - October 2026

[elenor]

China and SG traffic are back again. I think they methodically used by the giants to choke traffic and revenue.

Indeed whenever that happens RPM goes down as well.

[bsteve]

After the spam update everything was quite until now a lot of fluctuations.

[cc1]

After the spam update everything was quite until now a lot of fluctuations.

Something is cooking. Everything remain fine until the bot comes.

[reger]

Another update at the horizon. @cc1

[supaul]

20% ad traffic is being consumed and no return.

So, far this AI mode is a scam it seems.

[elliekushn]

20% ad traffic is being consumed and no return.

So, far this AI mode is a scam it seems.

They are now studying search. But all I am seeing is bot activity rise.

[avrm_i]

Interesting discussion. I've also noticed much higher volatility in the last couple of weeks, especially with AI overviews reshuffling positions beneath them. What seems more stable right now are branded and long-tail queries, where the intent is clearer. Curious whether others are seeing the same pattern on niche sites, or if certain verticals are holding steady.

Even in the top position people aren't getting any traffic.

[batman]

Exactly. Google is gobbling up all of the traffic. I am gave up on Google. Their SERP's and AI both are same aka garbage.

[10xlinks]

On the rank jump with no traffic gain, check where the jump actually happened before reading too much into it. Average position often improves because you start showing for loosely related queries at position 8 to 15, which lifts the average but sends almost no clicks. Compare impressions and clicks per query for the two weeks before and after the update, and look for terms where position held steady but CTR dropped, since that usually means an AI overview or extra SERP features pushed you down the page. For the SG and China spikes, build a GA4 segment that excludes sessions with zero engagement time and those regions, then compare conversions only. If revenue per engaged session is stable, the update probably did not hurt you, the bots are just inflating the denominator.

[davids]

On the rank jump with no traffic gain, check where the jump actually happened before reading too much into it. Average position often improves because you start showing for loosely related queries at position 8 to 15, which lifts the average but sends almost no clicks. Compare impressions and clicks per query for the two weeks before and after the update, and look for terms where position held steady but CTR dropped, since that usually means an AI overview or extra SERP features pushed you down the page. For the SG and China spikes, build a GA4 segment that excludes sessions with zero engagement time and those regions, then compare conversions only. If revenue per engaged session is stable, the update probably did not hurt you, the bots are just inflating the denominator.

Building a separate section for China and SG will only exclude them from GA. Still they will ran havoc on the sites. We need to block them from DNS level.