AI answers are swinging wildly during Google's update
Three days into Google's core update, the biggest movement so far is showing up inside AI Overviews rather than the blue links.
The loudest movement from Google's November 2026 core update is happening inside AI Overviews, the AI written answer that sits at the top of some search results. Gagan Ghotra tracked 10,000 keywords across 20 niches on US desktop results and reported "Crazy volatility in AI Overviews since Google started rolling out November 2026 Core Update". That is a lot of sites being swapped in and out of those answers while the update runs.
Crazy volatility in AI Overviews since Google started rolling out November 2026 Core Update!
The update started rolling out earlier this week. A core update is a broad change to how Google decides which pages rank, and it takes days or weeks to finish. Barry Schwartz noted this is the third core update of the year.
Nobody has called the winners yet
So far the classic ranking chatter is quieter than the AI Overviews chatter. Barry Schwartz is still asking people to send in charts, posting "Anyone seeing any big movements from the Google November core update yet?" That is a fair sign that the regular ten blue links have not produced an obvious story yet, at least not one anyone has published.
Anyone seeing any big movements from the Google November core update yet?
It also means the volatility Ghotra is seeing is one person's data set, not a Google announcement. Google has not said anything about AI Overviews being part of this update, and no one has explained why those answers are moving more than the normal results. Treat it as an early reading.
What this means for your site
If you track whether your business gets quoted in AI Overviews, expect the numbers to bounce around for a while. Appearing on Monday and vanishing on Wednesday during a core update is not proof that something broke on your site. Mid rollout data is noisy and it is normal for things to settle back.
The practical move is to wait. Do not rewrite pages, do not delete content, and do not change your site structure based on what you see this week. Google tells site owners to let a core update finish before judging the damage, and you cannot tell a real drop from a temporary wobble until the rollout is marked complete.
One thing worth doing now is writing down where you stand. Open Search Console, set the date range to the 28 days before the update started, and export your clicks and impressions by page. When the rollout ends you will have a clean before picture to compare against, instead of guessing from memory.
If your clicks are steady, do nothing.
Be the person who already knew
One email a day. Under three minutes. You will hear about a Google change before it shows up in your traffic.