You’ve heard of Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird. But did you know that Google actually changes it search algorithms up to 600 times every year?

Whilst most of these changes are only minor, keeping up to date with the latest updates from the Big G can significantly improve your search rankings.

You’ll be able to pay closer attention to the amount of organic traffic that your website generates, and use all of this data to improve conversions and boost revenue.

Luckily, you don’t need to be glued to the SERP and manually spot these changes yourself. Instead, there are a number of valuable algorithm tracking tools that do all the hard work for you. We’ve compiled some of the best…

1. SERPs Volatility Index

With SEPRs Volatility Index, you can instantly spot volatility on Google and Yahoo! search.

You’ll receive important SEO data on a daily basis, providing you with a comprehensive overview of your rankings, link metrics, and organic website traffic. What’s more, SERPs integrates well with Google Analytics, so you’ll have all your search data all in one place.

Want better insights into how well your web pages and keywords are performing when compared to your competitors? With SERPs, you can do exactly that – and then some more.

Measuring Google volatility lets you experiment with the current SEO practices you have in place. The tool lets you run correlation tests to see how well your website is performing when compared against a number of key metrics, and you’ll quickly be able to spot which keywords are ranking in the Top 10, Top 3, and at #1. You can even track keyword performance in certain towns, cities, states, and over 100 countries worldwide.

2. MozCast

MozCast is essentially a daily weather report for Google’s algorithms (See what the forecast is for the day ahead, and determine whether ‘weather’ patterns will affect your rankings in any significant way.

So, how does it work?

Well, MozCast tracks volatility and turbulence in Google’s algorithm over the previous 24 hours, and calculates a temperature – similar to weather forecasts that you see on the TV.

Put simply, the warmer the temperature is, the more change there’s been in Google’s rankings during the previous day.

There are five severity levels, so you’ll be able to gauge whether any changes in Google could impact positively or negatively on your website and stay one step ahead of your competition.

For example, if the ‘weather’ is stormy, expect big changes in Google’s algorithms. Data updates every morning at 7.30 am Pacific Time, and algorithm patterns are displayed from the previous 5 days on the left-hand side of the screen.

3. SERPmetrics Fluctuation Charts

SERPmetrics Fluctuation Charts – or flux – monitor search engine volatility over the last day and previous month – letting you track your own SEO campaigns in greater detail.

A high flux means there’s been a significant change in SERP activity, and depending on the changes, you might want to act accordingly.

The charts show recent fluctuations in algorithms from the most popular search engines out there, including Yahoo!, Bing, and, of course, Google. It’s pretty simple to use, and because it draws from a huge sample, the information is as accurate as you can get.

In fact, data is calculated based on organic search results from over 100,000 different keywords. The top 100 search results are then evaluated further, and ascribed to each keyword accordingly. You can then spot these changes on a chart where calculations have been averaged.

4. Algoroo

Here’s another tracking tool that can help improve your SEO quickly and effectively.

Algoroo keeps track of 17,000 keywords to 100 positions on the SERP, and calculates all of this data to find patterns and fluctuations.

Positive and negative movement is combined to create “roo” – a flux metric that indicates whether there’s been any volatility in Google’s search rankings.

If it’s a “high roo” day, expect there to much plenty of fluctuation on the SERP; “low roo” days are those where nothing much happens.

Other features include an algorithm update calendar, so you’ll be able to look back on previous changes and updates, as well as the opportunity to incorporate widgets onto your blog or website with fluctuation-related stats and data.

5. Google

This one might sound pretty obvious, but keeping a close eye on Google itself can help you identify any search engine algorithms the company is planning.

Major changes are often announced on the Inside Search or Webmaster Central blog, so if you haven’t subscribed to these, you really should do.

Also check these pages for any other search-related news and announcements. Then there’s social media.

Remember – Google has its own Twitter and Google + profiles, where you’ll find the latest information about the search giant, as well as any changes that could affect your search rankings.

You might also want to follow key movers and shakers in the industry to hear about the latest updates before anyone else does.

6. Google Algorithm Change History

Brought to you by Moz, Google Algorithm Change History includes all announcements from Google on one page, including recent updates and much much more. This is the number one resource for anyone paying attention to their SEO, and any breaking news that relates to the SERP can be found here.

You’ll also find updates dating back from 2000, and links to blogs and sites covering the latest algorithm changes.

7. Searchmetrics Suite

Want a low-cost way to track the visibility of your domains on the SERP?

Searchmetrics Suite does exactly this, and will let you keep a closer eye on any changes that Google might bring about.

The tool updates once a week, and provides you an insight into how well websites are doing based on a whole host of metrics. Although not strictly an algorithm tracker, Searchmetrics lets you compare your competition with greater insight than ever before.

For example, you can discover which AdWords keywords they’ve been using and how this has had an effect on their traffic. It’s useful to check the tool once a week to keep ahead of any algorithm changes that could affect the position of your website (or those of your competitors) on Google’s search pages.

You’ll also be able to access an overview of a particular domain, sub-domain analysis, and keyword distribution metrics.

In Conclusion

These tools are crucial if you want to dive deep into SEO and be able to react or pro-actively connect the dots and derive a SEO strategy based on the live changes to the Google algorithm.