Changelog
Where product changes are published, and how to tell whether a change to the platform affects a number you already reported.
Product changes are published on the changelog. This page explains how to read one when it touches something you have already reported to a client.
What you'll learn
- Where releases are published
- Which kinds of change can move a number you already quoted
- What to do when one does
Where releases live
outercite.com/changelog is the record of what shipped, newest first. It is maintained alongside the product rather than here, so this article does not duplicate it: a second list would eventually disagree with the first.
Changes that can move an existing number
Most releases add a surface or a screen. Three kinds can change a figure you have already reported, and they are the ones worth reading carefully:
- A change to what counts. For example, excluding absent AI Overviews from rate denominators. This makes historical and current figures comparable in a new way, and it can move a rate you reported last month.
- A change to a surface list. Adding a monitored surface changes the denominator of anything computed across surfaces.
- A change to a window. A figure computed over a different period is a different figure, even when the label is the same.
What to do when one lands
- Read what changed in the definition, not just the headline.
- Check whether your last client report used the old definition. If it did, say so in the next one, in a sentence. "The rate now excludes checks where Google drew no panel, which moves our reported figure up by two points on the same underlying data" is a good sentence and takes ten seconds.
- Do not restate history silently. A number that changes with no explanation is the fastest way to lose a client's trust in all of them.
Definitions live in one place
If a definition has changed, data definitions is the page that reflects it, and its
lastVerified date tells you when it was last checked against the code.
Try this in Outercite
Before your next monthly review, skim the changelog for anything in the three categories above. It takes two minutes and it prevents the one question you cannot answer live.
Related
Data definitions
What each metric counts today.
System status
Whether something is broken rather than changed.
Monthly client review template
Where a definition change has to be explained.
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