When Webmaster Tools started showing query changes, I started recording positions, changes, total changes up and down, etc. The last time I did this was in October.
I did it today and found the number of queries in the #1 to #30 positions (and beyond) had dropped. The numbers are substantial, so I'd think I would have seen a really significant drop in traffic if these changes were real.
I'm curious if anyone else has followed WMT's query results in a similar fashion.
Here's what I saw in October and today:
*********************************
10/14:
#1: 210
#1.1 to #4: 1528
#4.1 to #10: 2244
#11 to #20: 756
#21 to #30: 281
#31 to #890: 878
9/14 to 10/14:
+300 to +100: 15
+90 to +20: 143
+10 to +5: 220
+4 to +1: 531
+.9 to +.1: 540
no change: 612
-.1 to -.9: 585
-1 to -4: 588
-5 to -10: 214
-20 to -90: 167
too small to count: 2278
Total: 5997
Total up: 1449
Total down: 1854
***************************************
12/22: (10 or more impressions)
#1: 29
#1.1 to #4: 333
#4.1 to #10: 474
#11 to #20: 113
#21 to #30: 26
#31 to #190: 35
11/22-12/22 all impressions:
#1: 53
#1.1 to #4: 439
#4.1 to #10: 952
#11 to #20: 288
#21 to #30: 107
#31 to #430: 268
+200 to +100: 3
+90 to +20: 63
+10 to +5: 108
+4 to +1: 273
+.9 to +.1: 315
no change: 151
-.1 to -.9: 304
-1 to -4: 331
-5 to -10: 113
-20 to -100: 55
too small to count: 6290
Total up: 762
Total down: 803
#431 and beyond: 5681
Total: 8188
