Playbook: build an annotation system to correlate cause and effect

Without a change log, you can never prove what moved rankings. Set this up once:

— Step 1: Create a single timeline doc logging every deploy, content edit, and tech change with dates.
— Step 2: Use GA4 annotations or a shared sheet overlaid on your traffic chart.
— Step 3: Add every confirmed Google update date to the same timeline.
— Step 4: Color-code your changes vs Google's so correlation is visible at a glance.
— Step 5: Review monthly to catch lagged effects — some changes take weeks to register.

Next drop, you'll diagnose in minutes instead of guessing.

One to bookmark: Google's ranking updates feed — the authoritative dates to layer onto your own annotation timeline.