Volatile SERPS?

[julie-getonthemap]

I have a new client whose rank is jumping around a lot.  I took over the account 7 weeks ago, but they'd been doing SEO with a decent provider. They switched to me because they thought he wasn't working very hard and he's not very nice.

I just took them on in December and they started out at #18. On Dec 24 they were at 9, Jan 1 at 12, Jan 2 at 14, Jan 3 at 24, Jan 12 at 19, Jan 15 at 28, Jan 16 at 25, Jan 19 at 28 and today at 24.

Some of the really bad black hattish providers have bounced up to the top. Any idea what's going on?

[Igor.Go]

are you tracking one keyword? 
if it's a competitive niche, then SERP fluctuations behind the first page are not uncommon.
tbh it looks more like the website is losing positions rather than jumping around.

[WebElaine]

Also keep in mind the competition may be changing things frequently. Even if the site you're managing has been optimized and it's just sitting there without additional changes, competitors may be doing all sorts of things in the background, affecting rank.

[julie-getonthemap]

We're tracking 5 phrases. Two have improved and two are static, but this free-falling one is our most important.

They are very deficient in backlinks. The competition started years ago, and even the previous SEO guy, according to ahrefs, got only 36 links in a whole year.  We can't beat the competition on total links, but I can beat them on higher quality. I'm a part of the local blogging community and have done a ton of work with local non-profits.

Even so, it seems more volatile than it should. A competitor jumped 8 positions whose top link is from a parked domain page advertising porn sites. Not a single quality link according to ahrefs.

Then I saw this thread in webmaster world talking about some glitchiness and wondered if anyone else had seen it. https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4880306.htm