Core Update Analyser

Features

• Hierarchical folder analysis at every URL depth (depth 1 = hostname)
• Overlapping position ranges: Top 3 (pos <4), 1-10 (pos <11), 11-100 (pos >10)
• Keyword count and search volume change metrics per folder
• URL cleaning: query strings stripped, .html removed
• Multi-sheet Excel export: Domain Summary, All Folders, plus one sheet per depth

How to use

1. 1 Export Position changes from Ahrefs Organic Keywords 2.0, comparing before/after update dates
2. 2 Keep the SERP features column in the export (processing requires it)
3. 3 Upload the CSV (UTF-8 or Latin-1 encoding handled)
4. 4 View domain-level summary stats (keyword/volume gains and losses)
5. 5 Filter by URL depth to drill into specific folder levels
6. 6 Download Excel with domain summary, all folders, and depth-specific sheets

Frequently asked questions

Which columns must my Ahrefs export contain?

The upload validator checks for Keyword, Volume, Previous URL, Previous position, Current URL and Current position. One trap: the processing code also uses a 'SERP features' column that the validator does not check, so a CSV without it passes validation and then crashes. Export the Position changes report from Ahrefs Organic Keywords 2.0 (comparing before and after the update) without removing columns.

How are the position ranges defined, and do they overlap?

Top 3 means position below 4, 1-10 means position below 11, and 11-100 means position above 10. The 1-10 bucket deliberately includes the top 3, so do not sum the buckets; each is an independent view of the same keywords. Changes are current keyword count or volume minus previous, per folder.

Why does Depth 1 in the output show my domain instead of a folder?

Folders are derived by splitting the full URL on '/', so at Depth 1 the extracted segment is the hostname itself. Your first real path folder appears at Depth 2, the second at Depth 3, and so on. Use the depth filter or the per-depth Excel sheets accordingly.

How are URLs cleaned before grouping?

Query strings are stripped (everything after '?'), the .html extension is removed, and stray line breaks are cleaned. That means /page.html and /page group together and parameterised duplicates collapse into their base URL before folder aggregation.

What does 'Lost / URL Changed' mean in the folder column?

It labels folders that had rankings in the previous period but no matching folder in the current data after the join, either because the section genuinely lost all tracked rankings or because its URLs changed enough that keywords now resolve to a differently named folder.