Timeline of Google Algorithm Updates: From 2003 to Today

Google’s search algorithm has undergone countless updates since its inception, each one shaping how we find information online. These updates, large and small, have significantly impacted website rankings, traffic, and the overall search experience. In this blog post, we'll explore the major Google algorithm updates, highlighting their importance and impact on the digital landscape.

How Often Does Google Update Its Search Algorithms?

Google’s search algorithm is in a state of constant evolution. In 2022 alone, Google made 4,725 changes to its search systems, user interface, and other aspects of the search engine. That’s an average of 13 changes per day! Besides these updates, Google ran over 13,000 live traffic experiments, 894,000 search quality tests, and 148,000 side-by-side experiments. While many of these changes are minor, the larger algorithm updates often result in noticeable shifts in website rankings, traffic, and revenue.

Key Google Algorithm Updates: 2003 to Today

Below is a timeline of the most significant Google algorithm updates, starting from the most recent:

2024 Google Algorithm Updates

August 2024 Core Update (Aug. 15) This update focused on feedback from the September 2023 helpful content update, which had negatively affected many small publishers. Google provided more detailed guidance for those impacted. While some sites saw improvements, full recoveries were rare.

Deepfake Ranking System Update (July 31) Google updated its ranking system to demote deepfake content, prioritizing high-quality, non-explicit content like relevant news articles.

June 2024 Spam Update (June 20) A broad spam update that focused on general spam practices, completed over seven days.

Site Reputation Abuse (May 6) This update targeted third-party content published primarily for ranking purposes without proper oversight, often referred to as “parasite SEO.”

March 2024 Core Update (March 5) A complex update with multiple core systems being updated. It aimed to reduce unhelpful content in search results by 40%.

2023 Google Algorithm Updates

Openness Local Search Update (Dec. 16) The "openness" signal (whether a business is currently open) became a more significant factor in non-navigational queries.

November 2023 Reviews Update (Nov. 8) Google’s reviews system underwent regular improvements, with future updates no longer announced separately.

November 2023 Core Update (Nov. 2) This update led to significant ranking volatility, particularly in comparison to the October 2023 update.

October 2023 Core Update (Oct. 5) Although no new guidance was provided, this update caused considerable ranking fluctuations.

September 2023 Helpful Content System Update (Sept. 14) This update featured an improved classifier, with notable changes in Google’s search documentation.

2022 Google Algorithm Updates

December 2022 Link Spam Update (Dec. 14) A global update targeting unnatural links, overlapping with the helpful content system update from earlier in the month.

Google Helpful Content System Update (Dec. 6) This global update impacted all languages and added new signals to Google’s content classifier.

October 2022 Spam Update (Oct. 19) This global update impacted all languages, though Google did not specify the types of spam it targeted.

September 2022 Core Update (Sept. 12) This broad core update had less impact than previous updates, with a focus on improving search results quality.

2021 Google Algorithm Updates

December 2021 Product Reviews Update (Dec. 1) This update was designed to reward product reviews that offered insightful analysis and original research.

November 2021 Local Search Update (Nov. 30) Google rebalanced various factors to improve the relevancy of local search results.

November 2021 Core Update (Nov. 17) A fast and impactful core update that resulted in significant ranking changes.

Link Spam Update (July 26) Google targeted spammy links across multiple languages, advising webmasters to follow best practices for all links.

2020 Google Algorithm Updates

December 2020 Core Update (Dec. 3) The last major update of 2020, impacting websites across all languages.

BERT Expansion (Oct. 15) BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) began powering nearly all English-based search queries.

May 2020 Core Update (May 4) A broad and comprehensive update that took several weeks to roll out.

2019 Google Algorithm Updates

BERT (Oct. 25) This major update helped Google better understand queries and webpage content, impacting about 10% of searches.

September 2019 Core Update (Sept. 24) Another broad core update aimed at improving user experience.

2018 Google Algorithm Updates

August 2018 Core Update (a.k.a. Medic) (Aug. 1) This update caused significant shifts in the SEO landscape, particularly for health-related websites.

April 2018 Core Update (April 20) Aimed at improving the relevance of search results by rewarding high-quality content.

March 2018 Broad Core Algorithm Update (March 12) Designed to benefit previously under-rewarded pages in search rankings.

2017 Google Algorithm Updates

Mid-December Updates (~Dec. 14-19) These minor updates focused on improving the relevancy of search results.

Local Update (Aug. 22) This update corrected issues from the 2016 Possum update, which had unfairly impacted local search rankings.

2016 Google Algorithm Updates

Penguin 4.0 (Sept. 23) The final Penguin update, integrated into Google’s core algorithm with real-time data refreshes.

Possum Update (Sept. 1) This update affected local search results by eliminating redundant listings.

2015 Google Algorithm Updates

RankBrain (Oct. 25) Powered by machine learning, RankBrain helped Google process search queries more effectively.

Mobile-Friendly Update (April 21) Also known as "Mobilegeddon," this update prioritized mobile-friendly websites in search rankings.

2014 Google Algorithm Updates

Pigeon (July 24) Designed to improve local search results by tying them more closely to traditional web search signals.

Penguin 3.0 (Oct. 17) A refresh of the Penguin algorithm, targeting webspam and low-quality backlinks.

2013 Google Algorithm Updates

Hummingbird (Sept. 26) A significant update that focused on improving the understanding of search queries and content.

Panda 26 (July 18) This update incorporated new signals to better target low-quality content.

2012 Google Algorithm Updates

Penguin (April 24) This update aimed to decrease rankings for webspam, particularly those using manipulative link-building tactics.

Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update (Sept. 28) This update targeted low-quality sites that ranked well simply because their domain names matched search terms.

2011 Google Algorithm Updates

Panda (Feb. 23) The Panda update was designed to lower the rankings of low-quality or "thin" content, impacting nearly 12% of U.S. search results.

Freshness Update (Nov. 3) This update impacted 35% of searches by prioritizing fresh content for recent events, recurring events, and frequently updated topics.

2010 Google Algorithm Updates

Caffeine (June 8) A new web indexing system that made content available to searchers faster, though it didn’t directly impact rankings.

May Day Update (April 28 - May 3) This update impacted long-tail searches, changing how Google assessed which sites were the best match for these queries.

2009 Google Algorithm Updates

Vince (Feb. 20) This update gave big brands more visibility in search results, particularly for generic queries.

2008 Google Algorithm Updates

Dewey (March 31) A significant reshuffling of search results, leading to speculation and feedback from webmasters.

2007 Google Algorithm Updates

PageRank Update (Oct. 7) Google lowered PageRank scores for sites selling links, which could result in penalties or removal from search results.

2005 Google Algorithm Updates

Big Daddy (December) An infrastructure change that updated Google’s crawling and indexing systems, fully deployed by March 2006.

Jagger (Oct. 16 – Nov. 18) A series of updates targeting low-quality links, including link farms and paid links.

2004 Google Algorithm Updates

Austin (Jan. 23) This update continued the work started by the Florida update, targeting outdated and manipulative SEO practices.

2003 Google Algorithm Updates

Florida (Nov. 15) The first major Google algorithm update, aimed at curbing manipulative SEO techniques. It caused significant disruption, driving many websites out of business just before the holiday season.

Fritz (July) This update marked the transition from monthly Google Dance updates to daily updates, leading to what is now known as “everflux.”