What Is the Volatility Score?
The Volatility Score is a measure of how much a domain's rankings fluctuate over time. A higher Volatility Score indicates that a domain's rankings are experiencing significant shifts, while a lower score suggests stability in rankings. This metric is relative to the other domains within a given landscape, making it a comparative measure of rank stability.
How Does It Work?
The Volatility Score is calculated by analyzing the ranking movements of a domain for the keywords it ranks on in the landscape. Each rank change is quantified, and the cumulative fluctuations over a specific period (e.g., 28 days) determine the volatility.
Key Highlights:
High Volatility: Indicates significant rank changes. These may signal potential SEO challenges or strategic shifts.
Low Volatility: Suggests stable rankings and a potentially well-executed SEO strategy.
Relative to the Landscape: A domain's score is calculated in comparison to the other domains within the landscape.
Volatility Score in Different Curves
SiteCurves
In SiteCurves, the Volatility Score reflects the domain's rank movements across all keywords it ranks for in the entire landscape.
High Score: A domain's rankings are fluctuating more compared to others in the landscape.
Low Score: A domain's rankings are stable relative to competitors.
Category Curves
In Category Curves, the Volatility Score is an average of the scores of all domains in the category.
This provides a snapshot of how volatile rankings are within a specific niche or segment.
Adjusting filters (e.g., business model or website type) will update the Volatility Score to reflect the selected subset.
A high score indicates that a category is more volatile than others in the landscape.
Location Curves
In Location Curves, the Volatility Score focuses on domains and keywords within the specified geographic region.
Higher scores indicate more fluctuation in rankings for domains targeting that location relative to other locations in the landscape.
Useful for identifying market trends or competitors experiencing ranking instability in specific regions.
Index Curves
In Index Curves, the Volatility Score is specific to the keywords and domains defined within the index.
This allows for a focused analysis of rank stability within a custom subset of keywords or competitors.
Changes to the keywords or domains in the index will recalculate the Volatility Score.
Why Does Volatility Matter?
Understanding SEO Performance
High Volatility Domains: May indicate issues with SEO strategy, such as frequent changes in content or external factors like algorithm updates.
Low Volatility Domains: Suggest a stable SEO strategy that effectively maintains rankings.
Spotting Opportunities
Low Authority, Low Volatility Domains: Domains with lower authority but stable rankings and high traffic or Share of Voice % are worth examining. These may be outperforming expectations and can offer insights into effective strategies.
High Volatility Trends: Can reveal market disruptions, emerging competitors, or poorly optimized domains that might be vulnerable.
Benchmarking Performance
Use Volatility Scores to compare competitors and identify which domains are excelling or struggling within a landscape, category, location, or index.
Best Practices for Using Volatility Score
Identify High Volatility Domains: Focus on domains with high volatility scores to understand potential issues or areas of weakness.
Monitor Stable Domains: Investigate domains with low volatility for successful strategies to emulate.
Compare Across Curves: Use SiteCurves, Category Curves, Location Curves, and Index Curves to understand volatility in different contexts.
Pair with Other Metrics: Combine Volatility Score with metrics like Estimated Traffic, Share of Voice %, or Curve Score to get a comprehensive view of domain performance.
FAQs About Volatility Score
What Causes a High Volatility Score?
Frequent rank changes for the keywords a domain ranks on. This may result from algorithm updates, content changes, or fluctuations in competition.
Is a Low Volatility Score Always Good?
Not necessarily. While low volatility often indicates a stable strategy, it could also mean a domain is not actively competing for new rankings. Google may also favor fresh content for some keywords which would yield a high volatility score for the domains who compete on those keywords.
How Can I Use Volatility Score in Keyword Research?
Analyze the Volatility Score of competitors to determine how stable their rankings are for target keywords. Focus on low-volatility competitors with high traffic as benchmarks.
How Is Volatility Score Different From Curve Score?
Volatility Score measures ranking fluctuations, while Curve Score evaluates traffic and visibility relative to domain authority and competitors in the landscape.
Can Volatility Scores Change Over Time?
Yes, Volatility Scores are dynamic and will update as rankings fluctuate or filters are adjusted.
By understanding and leveraging the Volatility Score, you can gain deeper insights into ranking stability and identify opportunities to refine your SEO strategy.