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What is Google Algorithms?

The algorithms used by Google to get data from its search index and deliver the best possible results for a search are complex systems. On its search engine results pages (SERPs), the search engine uses a combination of algorithms and several ranking factors to offer web pages ranked by relevance.

Google’s algorithms were only updated a few times in its early years. Every year, Google makes thousands of updates.

The majority of these modifications are so little that they go unnoticed. On rare occasions, though, the search engine makes big algorithmic changes that have a large influence on the SERPs, such as:

• Penguin
• Mobilegeddon
• Pigeon
• Hummingbird
• Fred
• Payday
• RankBrain
• EMD (Exact Match Domain)
• Intrusive Interstitials Update
• Panda
• Page Layout Algorithm

We’ve prepared a comprehensive list of Google algorithm releases, upgrades, and refreshes over the years.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2003:

List of all Google algorithms updates in the year 2003.

Florida Update (November 16, 2003)

The Google Florida Update marked the dawn of a new era in SEO. Websites (including retailers who rely on affiliates for traffic) that used spammy tactics from the previous decade to rank for high-commercial keywords (e.g., keyword stuffing, multiple sites under the same brand, hidden text, and invisible links) had their rankings wiped out just before the lucrative holiday season.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2005:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2005.

Jagger Update (September 1, 2005)

Jagger was a three-part update (Jagger 1, Jagger 2, and Jagger 3) that began in early September with a series of backlink-focused adjustments aimed at combating unnatural link building, paid backlinks, and other forms of spam. In October, the second phase of Jagger had the most influence. Near the end of November, the final phase was finished.

Big Daddy Update (December 15, 2005)

Big Daddy (also known as Bigdaddy) was a progressive upgrade of Google’s infrastructure that began in December 2005 and ended in March 2006. Google’s handling of technical issues like URL canonicalization and redirects changed due to this upgrade. Some websites were not accepted into the new Big Daddy data centers owing to unnatural linking methods (e.g., excessive reciprocal linking, linking to spammy neighborhoods, paid links).

Google Algorithm Updates In 2009:

List of all Google algorithms updates in the year 2009.

Vince Update (January 18, 2009)

The Google Vince update was a swift, significant change in broad-level, competitive search terms, favoring major brand domains over previously ranking sites on the first page (typically less authoritative sites, affiliate sites, and sites that had won this coveted visibility purely through SEO efforts).

Caffeine Update (August 10, 2009)

Caffeine was a revolutionary web indexing technique from Google that allowed it to crawl and store data more effectively, resulting in 50% fresh results. In August 2009, developers were given early access to the upgrade before it was officially released on June 8, 2010.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2010:

List of all Google algorithms updates in the year 2010.

MayDay Update (April 28, 2010)

The MayDay update changed Google’s algorithm for determining which sites were the best match for long-tail keywords. Between April 28 and May 3, this update was rolled out.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2011:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2011.

Panda Update (February 23, 2011)

The first iteration of a then-unnamed Google algorithm update was released (12% of searches were affected), shocking the SEO industry and several major players and thus putting an end to the “content farm” business model as it existed at the time. Within the industry, the upgrade was termed Farmer, but Google confirmed shortly after its release that it was named Panda, after the developer who invented the first algorithm breakthrough.

Panda Update 2.0 (#2) (April 11, 2011)

The Panda algorithm’s core was updated for the first time. Additional signals, such as sites that Google users have blacklisted, were included in this version.

Panda Update 2.1 (#3) (May 9, 2011)

The upgrade was initially termed Panda 3.0, but Google stated that it was only a data refresh, as will be the case with future 2.x releases.

Panda Update 2.2 (#4) (June 21, 2011)

The Google Panda algorithm has undergone yet another update.

Panda Update 2.3 (#5) (July 23, 2011)

The Google Panda algorithm has undergone yet another update.

Panda Update 2.4 (#6) (August 12, 2011)

The Panda algorithm update by Google was rolled out globally to both English-speaking and non-English-speaking nations (except for Japan, China, and Korea).

Panda Update 2.5 (#7) (September 28, 2011)

The Google Panda algorithm has been updated even again. On October 5, 2011, Google’s Matt Cutts stated, “expect some Panda-related flux in the next few weeks.” The 3rd and 13th of October were confirmed as flux days.

Year 2011: 

Panda Update 3.0 (#8) (October 19, 2011)

Google updated the Panda algorithm to include some new signals and revised how the algorithm affected web pages.

Freshness Update (November 3, 2011)

Google changed its ranking algorithm with this update to better decide when to show search results that are more relevant to searchers (e.g., current events, popular topics, recurring occasions). 35% of searches were affected by this change.

Panda Update 3.1 (#9) (November 18, 2011)

Google released a small Panda update that would affect less than 1% of searches.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2012:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2012.

Panda Update 3.2 (#10) (January 18, 2012)

On this day, Google confirmed that Panda’s data was refreshed.

Page Layout Update (January 19, 2012)

The Above the Fold update to Google’s page layout algorithm targeted websites with too many advertisements above the fold. In other words, to view any genuine content, a user would have to scroll down the website. According to Google, this algorithm affected fewer than 1% of websites.

Venice Update (February 27, 2012)

Google began providing search results based on the searcher’s actual location or IP address with the Venice Update. In addition, Google could better determine if a keyword or webpage had a local purpose or relevance.

Panda Update 3.3 (#11) (February 27, 2012)

Panda gets a data refresh from Google, making it more “accurate and responsive” to recent web changes.

Panda Update 3.4 (#12) (March 23, 2012)

A Panda update was announced by Google, affecting 1.6% of searches.

Panda Update 3.5 (#13) (April 19, 2012)

On this day, Google’s Matt Cutts announced a Panda data refresh.

Penguin Update (April 24, 2012)

On this day, a long-awaited “over-optimization” penalty was finally added. Google announced the rollout of a (then-unnamed) algorithm update aimed at penalizing websites that engaged in aggressive webspam (e.g., keyword stuffing, unnatural linking) in violation of the Google Webmaster Guidelines. According to Google, this modification would affect 3.1% of English queries. Only two days later, we got the algorithm’s name: Penguin.

Panda Update 3.6 (#14) (April 27, 2012)

On this day, Google confirmed that the Panda algorithm was refreshed.

Penguin Update 1.1 (May 26, 2012)

Google’s Matt Cutts revealed that the Penguin algorithm had received a data update, affecting less than 0.1% of English queries. Websites that had their rankings lowered as a result of the first Penguin rollout and had taken aggressive steps to clean up their link profiles experienced some improvement. Other websites that had escaped Penguin’s attention the first time around were penalized.

Panda update 3.7 (#15) (June 8, 2012)

On this day, Google stated that a Panda algorithm update began rolling out, affecting less than 1% of US searches and 1% of global searches. It was bigger, according to ranking tools than more recent Panda updates.

Panda Update 3.8 (#16) (June 25, 2012)

Google announced a Panda data refresh that affects 1% of global searches.

Panda Update 3.9 (#17) (July 24, 2012)

Google announced a Panda update refresh that affects 1% of search results.

Panda Update 3.9.1 (#18) (August 20, 2012)

A Panda data refresh affecting 1% of queries was confirmed by Google.

Panda Update 3.9.2 (#19) (September 18, 2012)

“Expect some flux over the next several days,” Google said of the Panda data refresh, affecting fewer than 0.7 percent of queries.

Panda Update (#20) (September 27, 2012)

This was a major Panda algorithm update that took more than a week to implement and fully affected 2.4% of English web searches.

Exact Match Domain Update (September 28, 2012)

The Exact Match Domain (or EMD) algorithm update by Google was designed to eliminate spam or low-quality exact match domains from the SERPs.

Penguin Update 1.2 (October 5, 2012)

The second Penguin algorithm data refresh was released by Google’s Matt Cutts. It affected 0.3% of all English searches.

Page Layout Update #2 (October 9, 2012)

According to Google’s Matt Cutts, the page layout algorithm has been modified, affecting 0.7% of English searches. This upgrade provided websites affected by the first Google algorithm rollout a chance to recover.

Panda Update (#21) (November 5, 2012)

According to Google, a Panda data refresh impacted 0.4% of global queries and 1.1% of US queries.

Panda Update (#22) (November 21, 2012)

A Panda data refresh affecting 0.8% of English queries was confirmed by Google.

Panda Update (#23) (December 21, 2012)

A Panda data refresh affecting 1.3% of English searches was announced by Google.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2013:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2013.

Panda Update (#24) (January 22, 2013)

A Panda data refresh affecting 1.2% of English searches was announced by Google.

Panda Update (#25) (March 14, 2013)

Google has not confirmed this update. However, tools indicate it happened on this day. Matt Cutts of Google seemed to imply that this would be the final update before Panda was fully integrated into the core Google algorithm. On the other hand, Panda data updates began rolling out monthly over ten days, with no additional confirmation from Google.

Penguin Update 2.0 (May 22, 2013)

As Google’s Matt Cutts stated in a blog post, this was the “next generation” of the Penguin algorithm. This version looked for indications of link spam directed at the website beyond the homepage and top-level category pages. Around 2.3% of English queries were affected by Penguin 2.0.

Payday Loan Update (June 11, 2013)

The Google Payday Loans algorithm update was designed to tackle spammy queries that were largely related to shady businesses (including super high-interest loans and payday loans, porn, casinos, debt consolidation, and pharmaceuticals). The whole rollout took around 1-2 months, and it affected roughly 0.3% of U.S. queries.

Hummingbird Update (September 26, 2013)

Google’s core search technology received a big change with the Hummingbird update. As a result of the rise of conversational search, Google required a mechanism to better interpret and offer the most relevant results to more complex searches (i.e., voice search). According to Google, the new algorithm affects over 90% of searches globally. Even though this update was announced today, it was not released until August 2013.

Penguin Update 2.1 (October 4, 2013)

The first (and only) Penguin 2.0 algorithm data update was released by Google’s Matt Cutts, affecting 1% of queries.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2014:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2014.

Page Layout Refresh (February 6, 2014)

A Page layout algorithm refresh was announced by Google’s Matt Cutts. Google did not mention any algorithm changes; it appears that the algorithm was simply rerun, and the index was updated.

Payday Loan Update 2.0 (May 16, 2014)

This was Google’s Payday Loans algorithm’s “next generation,” which was upgraded to better tackle spammy websites.

Panda Update 4.0 (#26) (May 20, 2014)

Panda 4.0, a key change to the algorithm affecting 7.5% of English searches, was released by Google’s Matt Cutts.

Payday Loan Update 3.0 (June 12, 2014)

Google’s Payday Loan update 3.0 offered improved protection against negative SEO tactics, which were primarily aimed at spamming queries.

Pigeon Update (July 24, 2014)

The pigeon was an important local search upgrade in which Google began influencing local search results with more traditional website ranking factors. Google’s distance and location ranking factors were also enhanced.

Panda Update 4.1 (#27) (September 23, 2014)

This change to the Panda algorithm, according to Google’s Pierre Far, introduced “a few extra signals to help Panda detect low-quality content more precisely.” It affected 3 to 5% of all searches.

Penguin Update 3.0 (October 17, 2014)

This was a data refresh of Google’s Penguin algorithm, despite the fact that it was termed a big change. Penguin 3.0 allowed many who had been affected by earlier updates to recover, but many others who had continued to use spammy link techniques and had avoided the early upgrades’ radar had a negative impact. It took roughly three days for the upgrade to go out fully, and it only affected about 1% of English searches.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2015:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2015.

Mobile-Friendly Update (April 21, 2015)

The Mobile-Friendly Update (also known as “Mobilegeddon”) was a Google algorithm change aimed to reward mobile-friendly websites with higher search ranks and better results for mobile users. This change affected all languages in the world.

Quality Update (May 3, 2015)

The Quality Update (also known as the Phantom Update) was a confirmed update to Google’s core ranking algorithm, especially regarding how quality signals are evaluated. This upgrade seems to have the greatest impact on websites with poor content quality and excessive advertising.

Panda Update 4.2 (#28) (July 17, 2015)

Google has announced a Panda update that will take months to implement and affect 2 to 3% of English searches. Because of the delayed pace of implementation, it’s difficult to say how significant the impact was or when it happened. It was the last Panda update that has been confirmed.

RankBrain (October 26, 2015)

RankBrain was officially launched on this day, despite the fact that it has been in testing since April 2015. RankBrain is a machine learning system that filters search results to provide users with the most relevant information. RankBrain was first utilized for around 15% of searches (mostly novel questions that Google had never seen before), but it is now used for nearly every query submitted to Google. The third most crucial ranking signal has been termed RankBrain.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2016:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2016.

Panda Core Algorithm Incorporation (January 11, 2016)

Panda was apparently included in the core Google algorithm as part of the gradual Panda 4.2 rollout, according to Google. In other words, Panda is no longer a post-processing filter for the Google algorithm; it is instead one of the system’s basic ranking signals. However, it should be noted that this does not imply that the Panda classifier operates in real-time.

Mobile-Friendly Update (#2) (May 12, 2016)

The second Mobile-Friendly Update (also known as “Mobilegeddon 2”) was a follow-up to Google’s first mobile-friendly update, with the goal of “ramping up the influence of the ranking signal.”

Quality Update (June 1, 2016)

Although Google has not confirmed it, data suggests that another content-related Quality Update to Google’s algorithm began rolling out about June 1, with more search ranking volatility occurring on June 8, 21, and 26.

Penguin Update 4.0 & Core Algorithm Integration (September 23, 2016)

Penguin’s last upgrade saw it integrated into Google’s core algorithm, which meant Penguin could now evaluate web pages and links in real-time. Penguin penalized links rather than lowering page ranks, which was a significant move.

Unnamed Update (November 10, 2016)

Some form of unconfirmed Google change occurred on November 10, according to search industry chatter and data from SEO tracking software.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2017:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2017.

Intrusive Interstitials Update (January 10, 2017)

Google announced an upcoming update on August 23, 2016, that will target invasive interstitials and pop-ups that degrade the mobile search experience. This update was released on January 10, 2017, as promised. This change had little influence on rankings.

February 1 Update (February 1, 2017)

This was a Google update that was minor and unconfirmed. Although all information regarding this upgrade is speculative, it appears to target private blog networks and spammy link builders.

February 7 Update (February 7, 2017)

This significant unconfirmed update caused enormous changes in Google’s SERPs, resulting in significant gains or losses for several websites. Overall, it appears that websites with greater quality and relevance have acquired the greatest prominence.

Fred (March 7, 2017)

In jest, the upgrade was called “Fred” by Google’s Gary Illyes, and the name remained. However, for those who were affected, this algorithm was no laughing matter. This substantial algorithm change seems to be aimed mostly at low-value content. Illyes officially acknowledged the upgrade on March 24. However, Google has declined to provide any further details, instead stating that all of the answers to Fred’s questions can be found in Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines.

Quality Update (May 17, 2017)

SEO tracking tools revealed a lot of SERP volatility starting on May 17 and extending for nearly a week. While the impact appears minor, sites affected by the upgrade have difficulties with aggressive/deceptive advertising, poor user experience, and thin/low-quality content.

June 25 Update (June 25, 2017)

On this day, several SEO tracking software identified a substantial, though unconfirmed, Google upgrade. According to one study, this change had the greatest impact on pages ranking in positions 6-10. While it affected numerous industries, the food and beverage industry was said to be the worst hit.

Quality Update (July 9, 2017)

On July 9, SEO ranking tools noticed a minor change, possibly due to another (unconfirmed) Google quality update.

Quality Update (August 19, 2017)

On August 19-20, webmasters and SEO ranking tools identified some slight instability, with evidence pointing to another (unconfirmed) Google quality upgrade. According to Glenn Gabe, president of GSQi, category pages, pages with aggressive advertising, lower-quality/thin content, and other bad user experience features are among the ranking casualties. There was considerable conjecture that Google began testing this algorithm on August 14 because pages impacted (positively or negatively) on that date were impacted again on August 19.

Fall Flux (September 8, 2017)

According to industry rumors and SEO tracking tools, a (yet unconfirmed) Google upgrade happened on this day. Since September 8, Glenn Gabe, president of G-Squared Interactive, has seen many significant Google changes affecting traffic and search visibility. On September 18, 25, and 29, and October 4, 8, and 12, there was further volatility and fluctuations.

Maccabees Update (December 12, 2017)

Between December 12 and 14, some users of the search community complained that their websites were affected by an upgrade. Several modest changes to the fundamental algorithm were confirmed by Google during that interval, but the relevance of the period of flux was downplayed.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2018:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2018.

Broad Core Algorithm Update (March 9, 2018)

Google announced through Twitter on March 12 that a “broad core algorithm update” had been rolled out the week before. While Google remained tight-lipped on the changes, it did say that they were intended to “benefit pages that were previously under-rewarded,” and that everyone should “keep building great content.”

Broad Core Algorithm Update (April 16, 2018)

Google announced the introduction of a new broad core algorithm update on Twitter, noting that it was comparable to the March 9, 2018 change, which focused on content relevance.

Broad Core Algorithm Update (August 1, 2018)

For the third time this year, Google confirmed the release of a broad core algorithm update through Twitter. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, advised that users follow the instructions Google issued after the March 9, 2018 upgrade. Some in the industry have called this change “Medic,” despite Google’s claim that it was a generic ranking update that didn’t target medical sites particularly.

A “Small” Update (September 27, 2018)

Many in the SEO industry began noticing big spikes and drops in traffic on September 27 (Google’s 20th birthday), signaling that an upgrade was in the process. According to reports, several of the sites that were hit by the August broad core algorithm upgrade have recovered. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, stated on Twitter on September 29 that a “minor” change had happened (but that it wasn’t a major core algorithm update).

Unconfirmed Halloween Update (October 31, 2018)

Some webmasters noticed changes around Halloween, which might be due to an (unconfirmed) Google update. However, there was little indication of a major upgrade in this case. The most likely source of the commotion was overflow from Google’s August-wide core algorithm upgrade and increased usage of neural matching.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2019:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2019.

Valentine’s Day Update (February 13, 2019)

Some type of unconfirmed update occurred on or before this date, according to algorithm trackers and industry chatter. Unlike earlier revisions, however, most changes in rankings were deemed to be good.

March 2019 Core Update (a.k.a. Florida 2) (March 12, 2019)

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, confirmed the launch of a worldwide broad core algorithm change through Twitter. This change, according to SEJ, is very significant and one of the most significant Google updates in years. Following the March 9, 2018 update, Sullivan repeated its recommendation to follow its instructions.

June 2019 Core Update (June 2, 2019)

On June 2, Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan tweeted that a new broad core algorithm update would be released on June 3. Google confirmed the update was online the next day and that it would be spreading out to its various data centers over the next few days. Because a core algorithm update spans a wide range of factors, Google says there is nothing particular to solve, as is the case with every large core algorithm change.

Broad Core Algorithm Update (September 24, 2019)

A broad core algorithm update will be launched within a few hours, according to Google’s Danny Sullivan, and will take a few days to roll out fully. Google’s advice was consistent with its previous recommendations for all other recent core algorithm updates.

BERT Update (October 25, 2019)

The BERT Update was announced by Google, and it is described as the most significant upgrade to Google search in the last five years. To better comprehend search queries, Google utilizes BERT models. This update affected both search results and featured snippets, according to Google, and BERT (which stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) will be utilized in 10% of English searches in the United States.

BERT (Worldwide) (December 9, 2019)

BERT was starting its global rollout, according to Google’s Danny Sullivan, and includes the following languages: Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azeri, Basque, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified & Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian Malay (Brunei Darussalam & Malaysia), Malayalam, Maltese, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhalese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, and Vietnamese.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2020:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2020.

January 2020 Core Update (January 13, 2020)

A broad core algorithm update was going to be deployed, according to Google’s Danny Sullivan, who revealed it through Twitter. As with all other recent large core algorithm upgrades, Google issued the same guidance.

Featured Snippet Deduplication (January 22, 2020)

On Twitter, Google’s Danny Sullivan stated that webpages in the featured snippet position will no longer be repeated in regular Page 1 organic results. This update has a global impact on 100% of all search results.

May 2020 Core Update (May 4, 2020)

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, stated on Twitter that Google would be launching a big core algorithm update. He reported the update started 90 minutes later and would take 1-2 weeks to finish.

December 2020 Core Update (December 3, 2020)

The December 2020 Core Update, according to Google, will be carried out on December 3, 2020. This is the calendar year’s third core algorithm update. Compared to the normal duration between these sorts of updates, a significant amount of time has passed since the last core update.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2021:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2021.

Passage Ranking (February 10, 2021)

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liaison for Search, announced on Twitter that Passage Ranking is now available in the United States for English-language searches. “This change doesn’t mean we’re indexing individual passages independently of pages,” Google says. We’re still indexing pages and rating information about full pages. However, we may now use passages from pages as a ranking component as well…”

Product Reviews Update (April 8, 2021)

“Product reviews that provide in-depth research, rather than weak content that just summarizes a bunch of products,” according to the latest search ranking algorithm update. Google also included nine things to think about while writing and publishing product evaluations in their release.

Broad Core Algorithm Update (June 2, 2021)

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, stated on Twitter that a major core algorithm update would be launched. Some planned improvements weren’t ready for this update, according to Sullivan, so that those parts will be sent out as part of a second, related broad core algorithm upgrade expected for July.

Known Victims Protection (June 10, 2021)

Pandu Nayak, a Google Fellow and Vice President of Search, wrote an article for The Keyword blog on June 10. He discussed Google’s efforts to improve the algorithm so that sites that “use exploitative removals tactics” and “predatory techniques” are penalized. He also provided a link for reporting internet abuse.

Page Experience Update (June 15, 2021)

Google has begun rolling out its long-awaited Page Experience upgrade. According to Google, sites should not expect major changes as a consequence of this upgrade, and any unexpected decreases or spikes should be reduced by the progressive rollout procedure. By the end of August 2021, the implementation will be complete.

June 2021 Spam Update (June 23, 2021)

Google’s Danny Sullivan announced on Twitter that a spam-fighting algorithm change was being sent out to search results. The upgrade was supposed to go live on the same day. Within a week, he said, a second spam update would be released. Google did not specify who or what this upgrade was aimed against.

Spam Update Part 2 (June 28, 2021)

Google Search Liaison said on Twitter that the second phase of their spam update would begin on June 28th and will most likely be completed that day. The initial announcement related to an article on the Google Search Central Blog on how Google fought Search spam in 2020, which was updated in April 2021.

July 2021 Core Update (July 1, 2021)

The July 2021 Core Update is rolling out, according to Google Search Liaison, and will take one to two weeks to complete. The Google Search Central Blog has Google’s guidance for core updates.

July 2021 Core Update Completed (July 12, 2021)

The July 2021 Core Update rollout was successfully finished on July 12th, according to Google Search Liaison. There were no other details provided.

Google Link Spam Algorithm Update (July 26, 2021)

Google said it was starting to push out an algorithm update focused on detecting and eliminating link spam. Google has warned that sites that engage in link spam strategies may affect their rankings, with sponsored, guest, and affiliate content being the most susceptible. The update will be fully rolled out in “at least” two weeks, according to Google, and will affect numerous languages.

Google Spam Update (November 3, 2021)

According to a tweet from Google Search Liaison, a spam update was put out from November 3 to November 11, 2021, as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance search results. In their announcement, they recommended that webmasters continue to follow the Webmaster Guidelines.

Broad Core Update (November 17, 2021)

A broad core upgrade would be released later that day, according to Google Search Central on Twitter. They directed webmasters to their August 2019 guidance on what site owners need to know about core updates.

December 2021 Product Review Update (December 1, 2021)

The December 2021 Product Review Update began rolling out for English language sites today, according to the Google Search Central Twitter account, and is expected to take three weeks to complete. They provided a link to a blog article on product review updates and your website.

Google Algorithm Updates In 2022:

List of all Google algorithms updates and refreshes in the year 2022.

Product Reviews Update (March 23, 2022)

The third product review update, which will take a “few weeks” to roll out completely, builds on the work of the two previous product review updates, according to Google. This update, like many before it, is intended to assist Google in identifying high-quality product reviews and rewarding them with higher ranks.

Google offered three additional pieces of advice: ranked lists, “best” product suggestions, and writing reviews for multiple vs. individual products.