Google Algorithm Updates - Latest News & History

On Jun. 20, 2024, Google launched the June 2024 spam Update which will last about a week. It was a global update targeting sites abusing and not following Google's spam policies.

On Jun 21, 2024, Barry Schartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update.

On Mar. 5, 2024, Google launched the March 2024 Broad Core Update which will last over a month. It was a global update that helped reduce low-quality, unoriginal, and unhelpful content.

On Mar. 6, Barry Schartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update.

On Nov. 8th, Google launched the November 2023 Reviews Update. This update focuses on all review content (products, services, games, movies, travel, and more).

According to Google, this will be the last confirmed Reviews update.

On Nov. 9th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update.

On Nov. 2nd, Google launched the November 2023 Core Update which will last for two weeks.

On Nov. 3rd, Barry Schartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update.

On Oct. 5th, Google launched the September 2023 Core Update, and the rollout finished on Oct. 19th. This update was made in tandem with the October 2023 Spam Update.

On Oct. 20, 2023, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update.

On Oct. 4th, Google launched the October 2023 Spam Update, and the rollout finished on Oct. 20th.

The update was made to fight against four types of spam: cloaking, hacked content, auto-generated content, and scraped content spam.

On Oct. 20, 2023, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable rephttps://www.seroundtable.com/google-october-2023-spam-update-done-36248.htmlorted on the update.

On Sep. 14th, Google launched the September 2023 Helpful Content Update, and the rollout finished on Sep. 28th.

This update was meant to help promote helpful content and demote unhelpful content. This is not according to Google considered a Core Update.

On Sep. 28, 2023, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update.

On August 22, 2023, Google announced that the August 2023 Broad Core Update had been released. Google said the rollout may take up to two weeks to complete.

The Rank Risk Index reported a high level of fluctuation a few days later on August 25, 2023.

On Aug. 23, 2023, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported Google’s announcement.

On April 12th, Google announced that the April 2023 Reviews update had been released.

This update included reviews about products, services, and things and as a result, Google changed the name from ‘Product Reviews Update’ to just ‘Reviews Update’.

The Rank Risk Index did not report elevated levels of SERP fluctuations.

On April 13, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported Google’s announcement, its nature, and limited industry chatter.

On March 15th Google announced on Twitter that the March 2023 Broad Core Update was live. The next day, the Rank Risk Index reported a massive spike in SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop.

On March 16, Barry Schwartz or Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter.

On February 21st, Google announced that the February 2023 Product Reviews update had been released.

On February 22nd, the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of SERP fluctuations on both desktop.

On February 22, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported Google’s announcement, its nature, and limited industry chatter.

On December 14th Google announced that the December 2022 Link Spam update began rolling out. According to their announcement, Google is using a machine learning algorithm called SpamBrain to neutralize the impact of unnatural links on search results.

On December 14th, the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop, and the fluctuations continued for the next few days.

On December 15th, Barry Schwartz or Search Engine Roundtable explained what the update is designed to do. He also reported on industry chatter.

Google announced on Twitter that the December 2022 Helpful Content update began rolling out on December 5th.

On December 5th the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop. Fluctuations increased over the next few days massively spiking on December 8th.

On December 7th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter.

On October 19th, Google announced on Twitter that the October 2022 Spam Updated had been released.

On October 20th, Barry Schwartz or Search Engine Roundtable reported limited industry chatter and ranking fluctuation.

On September 20th, Google announced on Twitter that the September 2022 Product Reviews update had been released.

On September 22, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter.

On September 12th Google announced that the September 2022 Core Updated had been released.

The next day, the Rank Risk Index reported a massive increase in SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop.

On September 13th Barry Schwartz or Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter.

On August 25th, Google confirmed on Twitter that the Helpful Content update was live.

Google pre-announced the update on its blog explaining that the update was designed to weed out low-quality content.

It’s interesting to note that on the day the update went live, the Rank Risk Index reported normal levels of SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop.

On August 25th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported that the update was live

On July 27th, Google announced on Twitter that the July 2022 Product Reviews update was released.

It’s interesting to note that on July 27th the Rank Risk Index reported normal levels of SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop.

On July 28th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported minimal levels of industry chatter.

On May 25th 2022, Google announced that the May 2022 Core update was live. The following day on May 26th, the Rank Risk Index reported a huge spike in rank fluctuations on both desktop and mobile. Although fluctuation levels returned to normal the next day, a core update typically takes two weeks to roll out completely.

On May 26th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update commenting on high levels of industry chatter.

On March 23, Google announced on their blog that the March 2022 Product Reviews Update went live. Two days later on March 25th, the Rank Risk Index reported a small spike in SERP fluctuations. The fluctuations decreased the next day.

On Mar24th Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported what the focus of the update was and what it included. He also mentioned low levels of rank fluctuations and industry chatter.

On December 1st, Google announced on the official blog that the December 2021 Product Review update had begun rolling out.

The Rank Risk Index showed a spike in SERP fluctuations on both desktop and mobile on December 2nd. High levels of fluctuations continued to December 7th and returned to normal on December 8th.

On December 5th Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported about the high levels of fluctuations as well as industry chatter.

Google announced on November 17th, that they were to be releasing the November Core Update that day. On November 18th the Rank Risk Index reported a spike in SERP fluctuations both on mobile and desktop. The fluctuations reverted back to normal levels the next day.

Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported industry chatter on November 18th.

Starting on November 3rd, the Rank Risk Index tracked a moderate jump in fluctuations on both desktop and mobile.

The next day, Google announced on Twitter that a spam update had been released.

On November 4th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported limited industry chatter.

On July 26th, Google announced that they began rolling out the Link Spam update. The update is designed to broadly identify and nullify spam across multiple languages.

The Rank Risk Index only reported an increase in fluctuations on the 29th which disappeared the next day.

On July 27th and July 29th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported limited industry chatter.

On July 1st, Google announced on Twitter that the July 2021 Core Update had been released. This was the second part in a two-part core update that was originally announced on Twitter on June 2nd.

A day later, the Rank Risk Index reported dramatic fluctuations on both desktop and mobile which died down the next day.

On July 2nd, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported about the unique nature of the update, as well as industry chatter.

On June 28th, Google announced on Twitter, that they had released part two of the spam update. Google also confirmed that the update took one day to complete.

The Rank Risk Index did not report any unusual ranking fluctuations.

On Jun 29th Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported that the update went live. He also reported a low level of industry chatter.

Starting on June 23rd, the Rank Risk Index tracked moderate fluctuations on both desktop and mobile.

On the same day, Google announced on Twitter that a spam update had been released and confirmed that it was completed that day.

On June 24th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported a small amount of industry chatter.

On June 15th, Google announced on Twitter that the Page Experience update begun slowly rolling out. Google stated in the tweet that the update would be completed by the end of August.

In keeping with the slow nature of the update, the Rank Risk Index showed a record low level of fluctuations on the 15th.

On June 16th Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported that the update went live.

On June 3rd, Google announced on Twitter that the June 2021 Core Update was released. A day later, the Rank Risk Index reported dramatic fluctuations which lasted until June 6th.

On June 7th Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on unusually low levels of industry chatter.

On April 8th Google announced the launching of the Product Review update which is specifically focused on product review content.

Starting on April 9th, the Rank Risk Index reported a massive spike in ranking fluctuations both on mobile and desktop. The volatility carried through to April 11th and settled by April 12th on desktop. On mobile, the fluctuations carried through to April 13th.

Fluctuations resumed on April 15th and died down on April 18th on both Desktop and mobile.

Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update on April 9th.

Starting on February 9th, the Rank Risk Index began tracking a massive spike in rank fluctuations on both desktop and mobile that carried over to February 10th. Google confirmed on Twitter that Passage Ranking went live on February 10th for queries in the US in English.

On February 12th Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported that Passage Ranking went live in the US and that surprisingly chatter was low after February 10th.

Starting on December 1st the Rank Risk Index began tracking an increase in rank fluctuations on both desktop and mobile. This carried on until December 4th where there was a massive spike in SERP volatility. Fluctuations returned to normal on December 5th.

On December 3rd, Google announced that there would be a core update later that day. The announcement corresponds with the sudden spike in fluctuations that happened on December 4th.

Also on December 4th Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter aligned with the updates recorded by the Rank Risk Index.

On May 4th, 2020, Google’s Danny Sullivan announced that the search engine had started to roll out its second core algorithm update of the year.

Dubbed the May 2020 Core Update, the bulk of the release spanned just two days with the initial roll-out being tempered. As shown on our Rank Risk Index, the second day of the update’s roll-out produced far more rank volatility than first day of the update.

Per our data analysis, the update was unique in that it produced a rather uniform amount of rank volatility across all niches.





Further, the update was large in scope and size as the levels of rank volatility slightly edged out the January 2020 Core Update which was known for its large impact on the SERP.

On January 22nd, Google Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, announced a major divergence from Google's longstanding Featured Snippet practices. Traditionally, Google has shown the URL used within a Featured Snippet among the top organic results as well as a part of the Featured Snippet itself. Per Sullivan's announcement, the only time the URL used inside a Featured Snippet will be shown on page one of the SERP is in the Featured Snippet box. Google is no longer duplicating Featured Snippet URLs among the page one organic results. Such URLs, however, may appear on pages beyond page one. 

If a web page listing is elevated into the featured snippet position, we no longer repeat the listing in the search results. This declutters the results & helps users locate relevant information more easily. Featured snippets count as one of the ten web page listings we show.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) January 22, 2020

Along with the change, Google has also announced that the Explore Panel, a hybrid between a Featured Snippet and a Knowledge Panel, will start to appear within the SERP's main column, not to the right of the results as they were placed previously. This change specifically addresses concerns from within the SEO industry that the CTR of Explore Panel links will dwindle with the removal of said links from the organic results. 

These alterations to the SERP have resulted in the industry considering Featured Snippets to be "position 1" and no longer "position 0." Such a construct has far-reaching consequences, among them how to properly track rank for the top position on the Google SERP. 

On January 14th, and per Google's advanced notice, the January 2020 Core Update began to roll-out. The initial levels of rank fluctuations caught on the Rank Risk Index presented extreme levels of rank volatility on both desktop and mobile.

As the update continued to roll-out over the coming days, rank slowly began to stabilize before finally returning to normal levels on January 19th.

Per a data analysis, and consistent with almost all other core updates to this point, Your Money Your Life niches were significantly impacted, more so than other industries (as can be seen in the below graph):





Read our full analysis for more data on the January 2020 Core Update.

On December 2, 2019 Google's Danny Sullivan confirmed what the search community had already suspected, the roll-out of a local algorithm update. Officially named the November 2019 Local Update, Sullivan indicated that the update began rolling out in early November 2019. 

In specific, the November 2019 Local Update introduced neural matching to the local algorithm. As a result, businesses with titles and descriptions that vaguely related to a vertical may now appear within the top organic results as well as within the Local Pack. 

On October 25th, Google announced that it had begun to implement its BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) algorithm. Per Google, BERT is said to impact 10% of all queries and is the search engine's "biggest leap forward in the past five years."  

The algorithm was birthed out of an open-sourced project aimed at using neural networks to advance contextual understanding of content via natural language processing (NLP).   

In simple terms, BERT is meant to help better interpret a query by using a contextual understanding of the phraseology employed. This is done as the entire phrase is analyzed at once which lets BERT understand a keyword term according to all of the words used within it. This stands in contrast to models that look at language from left-to-right thereby pinning a word's understanding to that which preceded it. 

Practically speaking, BERT helps Google to better understand the use of prepositions within a search query as well as to better comprehend words that have double meanings by using contextual understanding.  

Note, there were not large waves of rank fluctuation increases due to BERT's roll-out.  

On September 25th, Google rolled-out it's third core algorithm update of 2019. Dubbed the September 2019 Core Update by Google's Danny Sullivan, the update was a significant ranking event. 

As shown on the Rank Risk Index the update rolled out over the course of two days with rank fluctuation levels reaching a high of 79 on desktop (78 on mobile). 

Both the length and level of fluctuations recorded by the index were on the "low side" in comparison to previous core updates. This is evidenced when comparing the rank volatility increases of the September update to the June 2019 Core Update. 

On September 16th, 2019, Google made a significant update to its practice of showing reviews within organic results. Per the update, Google no longer allows what it calls "self-serving reviews" to appear on the SERP. This means that sites can no longer use schema markup to place reviews shown on its own website within rich results on the SERP. This applies even to reviews placed on the brand's site via a third-party integration. 

As a result, our SERP Feature Tracker indicates a 5 point drop in the number of page one SERPs that contain a review within the organic results. 

Google also indicated that the 'name' property must be indicated within the structured data. That is, you must name the product being reviewed. 

Lastly, Google released a list of the schema formats that are eligible to produce a review within a rich result.  

[You can use our Schema Markup Generator to easily create the code that produces rich results.] 

On September 12th, Google officially announced it had updated its algorithm so that original reporting would receive ranking preference. To this effect, Google has said that it is now better at determining the original source of news reporting. As a consequence of this, the search engine is more proficient at ranking the original source of new reporting more prominently on the SERP. 

Note, the algorithm was not updated on September 12th itself. Google indicated that it had been implementing and improving on the adjustment throughout the months leading up to the official announcement. 

On Sunday, June 2nd, 2019, in what was an industry first, Google's Danny Sullivan took to Twitter to announce a pending core algorithm update. As part of his message, Sullivan indicated that on June 3rd a broad core algorithm update would begin its roll-out. 

Notably, Sullivan also announced that the official name of the update would be the 'June 2019 Core Update'. His doing so was most likely a result of the confusion surrounding the naming of the March 2019 Core Update. 

Accordingly, the Rank Risk Index began displaying significantly high levels of rank fluctuations on June 4th (showing a fluctuation level of 91/100). 

That said, by June 5th the index indicated that the update's roll-out was starting to slow slightly as the level of rank fluctuations dropped to 74.

Exactly one year after confirming the first of its official "core updates" Google released yet another broad change to its algorithm. 

Initially picked up by Rank Ranger's Rank Risk Index on March 12th, the update was not confirmed by Google until the 13th. That said, the update continued to roll-out even after Google's confirmation. 

Rank changes reached a high on the 13th with the index recording a rank fluctuation level of 89/100 on the desktop SERP. 

It should be noted that while Google confirmed the update, it did not name it. As a result, the update has been referred to by multiple aliases per Barry Schwartz of SERoundtable. The two most common names are the Florida 2 Update and the Google 3/12 Broad Core Update. 

On September 27th there was a small amount of industry chatter indicating that Google was tweaking its algorithm. Uncharacteristically, Google, two days after the aforementioned chatter, confirmed that a "small" algorithm update was undertaken. 

The confirmation took place on Twitter where Googler Danny Sullivan (using his personal Twitter account) indicated to his longtime colleague Barry Schwartz that indeed there was an update, but it was not "major."

Our core algorithm is updated all the time. For major updates, we'll continue to share about those on @searchliaison, as we have been. We haven't had a major update of that nature, but we did have a smaller one this week.

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) September 29, 2018

Interestingly, the Rank Risk Index did show increased fluctuations relative to the extremely low levels of rank changes seen during the days prior to the 27th. The index did record moderately high levels of rank fluctuations on the 29th, the very day Google made its official announcement.  

Immediately following early industry chatter, Google confirmed yet another broad core update. This is the third such update of 2018. As with both the March and April broad core updates, Google has advised the SEO community that traffic lose does not indicate poor page quality and it may be the case that there is no "fix."

This week we released a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. Our guidance about such updates remains the same as in March, as we covered here: https://t.co/uPlEdSLHoX

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) August 1, 2018

It is possible that Google's explanation points towards the machine learning elements of the algorithm recalibrating their understanding of intent. Such an explanation would explain why there is no fix, why a rank loss is not indicative of poor quality, and why Google has previously said these updates reward previously "under-rewarded" sites. We've reached out to Google regarding this but have yet to hear back. 

In accordance with the update, the Rank Risk Index is showing an increase in rank fluctuations. During the update fluctuations have been particularly high as the index shows a volatility level of 92/100 on August 2nd.  

As of July 9, 2018, and good to their word, Google began releasing what has become known as the Speed Update. The update, which was first announced in January 2018, is meant to urge sites to improve mobile page speed. Until now, speed was only a factor on desktop.

Despite initial concerns surrounding the update, Google has reassured site owners that the Speed Update is applicable only to those sites that are considered to be exceedingly slow. Accordingly, minor tweaks to increase page speed will not produce higher rankings according to Google. 

At the same time, the update is not zero-sum. That is, as a site improves page speed incrementally, Google will be able to discern the difference in speed. This stands in contradistinction to speed as a desktop ranking factor, which more monolithically determined if a site was too slow and was to be impacted in the rankings accordingly. 

On April 13th, the Rank Risk Index began picking up on what would become a 10-day update to Google’s core algorithm. Ending on April 22nd, the index caught moderate increases in fluctuation levels to the exclusion of April 18th, where a fluctuation level of 75 was recorded.

Barry Schwartz of SERoundtable indicated that chatter among the SEO industry forums had picked up in line with the data being reported by the Rank Risk Index.

For the second consecutive time (see the mid-March core update), Google confirmed the rollout on April 20th, noting that a "broad core algorithm update” was released. Even with the announcement, the specific details surrounding the exact nature of the update remains unclear.

On March 3rd, the Rank Risk Index began recording increased rank fluctuations on both desktop and mobile. While the uptick in rank fluctuations was initially moderate, the index caught an unusual and highly significant upsurge on March 9th. According to the index, fluctuations reached a level of 99 (out of 100) on desktop and 92 on mobile. Over the following days the fluctuations, though still high, tapered off to an extent.     

On March 12th, Search Engine Land reported that Google, uncharacteristically, confirmed the update as being related to its core algorithm (thereby explaining the unusually high fluctuations levels of March the 9th).  

On January 17th Google announced that page speed will become a mobile ranking factor. Page speed has been a ranking factor on desktop since 2010. However, with this announcement, the ranking factor will now be an official part of a mobile page's placement on the Google SERP come July 2018. 

According to Google's announcement, the pending update will target excessively slow loading pages. As such, the search engine does not predict that an extensive number of pages will be impacted as the ranking factor becomes incorporated into the algorithm this July. 

The "Speed Update," as Google is calling it, has brought up questions as to how a mobile AMP page will be impacted by the pending ranking factor. One concern of note revolved around a site using fast loading AMP URLs with the canonical URLs being considerably slow. In such a case, which URL will Google measure the speed of (i.e., the fast loading AMP URL or the slower mobile URL)? Barry Schwartz of SERoundtable reported that in such a case Google had informed him that page speed will be measured according to the AMP URL. 

Also of note, according to Google, the pending mobile page speed ranking factor exists independently of the mobile-first index, though what that means exactly is still to be determined. 

This is independent.

— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) January 18, 2018

SearchEngineLand has published a comprehensive mobile page speed as ranking factor FAQ as well. 

On October 27th, 2017 Google announced that utilizing a Google country code top-level domain (ccTLD), i.e., google.co.uk, google.ca, etc., will no longer allow users to access international search results. Google indicated that the change comes as part of an effort to deliver more local and thereby relevant results to users. However, the change in ccTLD policy has precipitated a degree of controversy as it has far-reaching implications in regards to  international search results. 

The Google ccTLD restriction has numerous practical SEO ramifications as user behavior was inherently and universally altered. As such, the traffic and clicks sites received internationally underwent an intrinsic shift, thereby impacting rank itself.   

Google's change in the algorithm that allowed it to restrict access to international SEO results and hyper-localize the SERP was picked up by the Rank Risk Index, which hit risk level of 64 on October 28th. 

The update also impacted SERP features globally, with significant shifts in the frequency of AdWords ads, Local Packs, and Knowledge Panels on the SERP. 
 

On June 23rd a prolonged series of increased rank fluctuations was initially tracked by the Rank Risk Index. The multi-day spike saw the index hit risk levels as high as 85.

Though initial industry chatter was sparse, the industry began reporting on ranking shifts as the algorithm continued to update. By June 27th, Barry Schwartz of SERoundtable had seen enough chatter to describe the update as "legit” despite Google all but refusing to confirm the roll-out.

Upon executing a big data analysis, we determined that the most significant fluctuations were taking place for sites ranked between position 6 and 10 on the SERP. According to our research, while there were increased rank fluctuations occurring within positions 1-5, there was an evident and clearly observable uptick in the fluctuations upon reaching position 6 on the SERP. This data pattern held true across a multitude of niche industries that included Food and Drink, Travel, Retail and Consumer Goods, etc.  

On March 8th reports started filtering in that a Google algorithm update was brewing. First reported by SERoundtable, the initial speculation was that the developing update was related to link quality as black hat SEO forums had shown the most chatter.

As of the 8th our Rank Risk Index on desktop had not shown any abnormal rank fluctuations. However, our index monitoring rank on mobile showed initial signs of an update, displaying moderate rank fluctuations. On March 9th the Rank Risk Index on desktop showed a significant spike in rank movement as indicated by a risk level of 79. Similarly, our mobile index spiked to a risk level of 77.

Concurrent with the trends on the Rank Risk Index, industry chatter continued to rise. With chatter increasing, the notion of the update being related to link quality only solidified. As such, Barry Schwartz of SERoundtable reached out to Google for comment. Per usual policy, Google only offered vague comments about constant changes to rank. However, Googler Gary Illyes seemed to imply that indeed an update had occurred, indicating, jokingly, that all such ambiguous updates be called "Fred."

As a result, the industry has adopted the name 'Fred' for the March 9 update. 

I think @methode should name this update after one of those fish he stalked over the past couple weeks. cc @JohnMu

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) March 9, 2017

@i_praveensharma @rustybrick @JohnMu we have 3 updates a day in average. I think it's pretty safe to assume there was one recently...

— Gary Illyes ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (@methode) March 9, 2017

@rustybrick @i_praveensharma @JohnMu sure! From now on every update, unless otherwise stated, shall be called Fred

— Gary Illyes ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (@methode) March 9, 2017

After the initial rollout, and a three day respite from elevated rank fluctuations, the Rank Risk Index on desktop saw another fluctuation spike. Taking place over two days (March 13 -14), the index recorded a risk level high of 100 on the 14th.

The second phase of ‘Fred’ brought with it what is perhaps clarification as to its nature. Though Google still did not comment on the algorithm, SearchEngineLand reported that the update targeted sites engaged in over-advertising. That is, sites that engage in excessive advertising to drive revenues while providing poor and inferior content.

From February 7th through the 10th the Rank Risk Index reported heightened levels of rank fluctuations on desktop. This series of increased fluctuations reached a substantial risk level high of 97 on February 9th.

Corresponding to the rank fluctuations on desktop, our mobile index similarly showed an increase in mobile rank fluctuations on February 8th that lasted through the 10th. Like desktop, rank fluctuations reached a high on February 9th hitting a risk level of 90.

At the onset, Barry Schwartz reported this algorithm event on SERoundtable, indicating that there had been some, though not extensive chatter within the SEO community regarding changes in rank.

As the algorithm continued its roll-out, it became apparent that this was a major ranking event (as indicated by the significantly high fluctuations seen on February 9th as per the Rank Risk Index). With additional reports of rank changes coming in from the SEO community, SearchEngineLand reported that the update may have been related to the Panda algorithm. 

Google has yet to comment on the matter. 

Per its August 2016 announcement Google has rolled out its intrusive interstitial penalty on mobile. Released on January 10th, the penalty demotes the rank of mobile sites employing overlays that cover all, or part of, page content.




Per Google’s initial August 23rd announcement, the following interstitial formats are considered intrusive:

• Popups that cover, and as such prevent access to, essential page content. 
• Standalone overlays that require a user to dismiss them in order to view essential page content. 
• Layouts, wherein which the above-the-fold appears as if it is an interstitial, but where the page content per se is underneath the fold.

While the most common form of intrusive interstitial on mobile are ads, the penalty would penalize other forms of intrusive interstitials as well. To this extent Google has indicated that mobile country and language selectors that take the form of an interstitial are considered intrusive, and sites employing them could be penalized.

@Modestos_ yes, those are popups / interstitials too.

— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) January 17, 2017

The penalty does not apply to all interstitial overlays. Those interstitials that are of a "responsible” nature, such as age verification interstitial overlays, do not fall under the scope of the penalty. Google has also indicated that should a site be hit by the penalty it will be restored upon reindexing, assuming the intrusive content has been removed.

On September 23, 2016 Google announced that they updated the Penguin algorithm aimed at reducing spam in search results (Two examples of spammy practices targeted by this algorithm are keyword stuffing and linking schemes).

Previously, Penguin penalized an entire website that was found to employ "blackhat" SEO practices to advance their ranking.

Website owners penalized by Penguin have been desperately waiting for this update as the penalties remained in force until their websites were to be reevaluated at the next release of the algorithm. The last Penguin update occurred on October 17, 2014, almost two years ago.

Google stated that this update consisted of two major changes. The first is that Penguin has now been incorporated into Google’s core ranking algorithm which evaluates websites as it crawls them. As such, it will constantly be checking websites for their spam score. Websites that correct the issues that got them into trouble should see their rank improve the next time Google recrawls their pages.

The second change to the algorithm is that it no longer penalizes an entire website for spammy practices but analyzes the pages of a site on a more individual basis. This policy change can be seen in the language they chose in their announcement: Google now speaks of "devaluing spam” rather than penalizing websites.

"Penguin now devalues spam by adjusting ranking based on spam signals, rather than affecting ranking of the whole site.”

Google’s communique reiterated that their ranking algorithm includes over 200 signals but they did call out several specific ones saying "These signals include things like the specific words that appear on websites, the freshness of content, your region and PageRank.”

Rank Ranger's Rank Risk Index, which measures fluctuations in the ranking of a data set 10,000+ domains and keywords, almost went off the scale on September 2nd, spiking up to 114. Several leading SEO analysts concluded decisively that a major algorithm update was rolled out by Google.

Barry Schwartz cited this volatility and chatter in industry forums as evidence of an algorithm update. Joy Hawkins, an expert in local SEO, said that based on her research and the results of her many clients who focus on local SEO, this update included a significant element aimed at reducing the number of duplicate and spammy listings in the local search results.

Possum, the name of the update coined by Phil Rozek and accepted by the local search community, alludes to the fact that many business owners think that they listings on Google My Business have disappeared, but they're really just playing possum – they are still there, but they are being filtered out of the Local Pack and Local Finder. Read our blog "Google’s New Local Algorithm Update Known as Possum" for more information on the update.

The nature of the organic element of this update is not yet known, but we will provide more information as it becomes available. 

Google has yet to officially confirm the roll out, but then of the thousands of updates they make each year, they confirm only a handful. 

In their quest to make the web more mobile friendly, Google's John Mueller confirmed the completion of the rollout of the algorithm update (announced in March) that increases the effect of the ranking signal for pages that are relevant to a user's search and are mobile-friendly.

FYI The mobile changes mentioned here are now fully rolled out. https://t.co/fTB3ia6LJ2

— John Mueller (@JohnMu) May 12, 2016

Our Google Mobile SERP Features Tracker has been monitoring the Mobile-Friendly and AMP features (along with all SERP features) as they occur in mobile search. The Insight Graph below tracks the trends in Mobile-Friendly and AMP since May 1st when Google began rolling out their latest Mobile-Friendly update.
 

The Rank Risk Index level spiked at 93 during 7 days of continuous Google SERP Fluctuations from May 6th through May 13th.

Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz reported that Google's John Mueller indicated that to his knowledge the company had not rolled out a major algorithm update, but they do continue to make changes.

Google announced on February 19th plans to remove classic sidebar ads in the side section of search engine results. 

According to Matt McGee's Search Engine Land article, there would be only two exceptions to this rule: Product Listing Ad (PLA) boxes and ads in the Knowledge Panel.

Barry Schwartz predicted in Search Engine Roundtable that the move away from sidebar ads will lead to four ads at the top of search engine results, the news of which triggered a frenzy of comments regarding the impact of such a change on small businesses and Google's income.

Our Google SERP Features Tool reported this paid search update was rolled out on February 23, 2016. This search intelligence tool monitors trends in organic indicators, knowledge graph features, page one extras and organic results count on a 500k dataset and on February 23rd, in addition to zero sidebar ads, it reported an increase in bottom of the SERP ads of 26.79% in Google USA and similar results in other countries.

Volatile fluctuations in both Desktop and Mobile search caused by a Google Core Quality Rank Algorithm update were reported by our Rank Risk Index, a SERP fluctuation monitoring tool used by SEO experts.

Google remained quiet as webmasters and SEO experts and bloggers buzzed with speculations.  Search marketing expert Barry Schwartz asked Google's John Mueller for confirmation of an algorithm update during the January 12th Webmaster Central Office Hours livestream, and published in Search Engine Land a statement indicating that "Google Panda is now part of Google's Core Ranking Algorithm".

The Panda algorithm is applied to sites as one of Google's core ranking signals. It measures the quality of a site, based on Google's guidelines and adjusts rankings.   

Google announced that they're now indexing HTTPS pages by default as user security is top priority. Sites using HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) are being rewarded with improved Google rank.

In situations where two URLs from the same domain seem to be sharing content, Google has a set of criteria it follows to determine whether it will serve the HTTPS or the HTTP page.

Rank Ranger's Features Graph analyzes SERP page 1 features data and stability for thousands of keywords per day, and on December 10th its reporting that Google's RankBrain caused a boost in Google’s special SERP Features that resulted in a significant increase in the number of SERPs containing Related Search, as well as a quality improvement in the average word count of Related Search phrases. 

Barry Schwartz mentioned in Search Engine Roundtable articles a December 10th shift and a potential Google Search Update on December 16th. 

Google has not confirmed a major algorithm update, however, our analysis demonstrates RankBrain is causing search result changes.

Google's Hacked Sites Algorithm is expected to aggressively remove hacked sites from search results to improve the quality of search. The Webmaster Central Blog reported that "a huge amount of legitimate sites are hacked by spammers and used to engage in abusive behavior, such as malware download, promotion of traffic to low quality sites, porn, and marketing of counterfeit goods or illegal pharmaceutical drugs, etc."

It is expected that this update will impact roughly 5% of queries across the board in multiple languages.

Our Rank Risk Index reported red zone Google SERP fluctuations on Desktop on October 8th and has continued on Mobile search for several days.

Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz obtained confirmation from Google's Gary Illyes that this algorithm only impacts spammy queries.

Panda 4.2 is the first refresh of Google's Panda quality content policing of the web since September 2014. Bad news for spammy link farms and sites with low quality content, this refresh should be welcomed by sites that were penalized by Panda 4.1 - if they have corrected the issues that caused them to be penalized by Google. As with previous Panda updates, sites may notice an increase in organic ranking, be mildly affected of suffer a rank penalty depending upon the quality of their content because Google's goal is to provide the best search experience for users of Google's various search engine services.

Our Rank Risk Index reported red zone Google SERP fluctuations on both Desktop and Mobile search on July 18th.

Google has reported to Search Engine Land's Barry Schwartz that Panda 4.2 has impacted 2% to 3% of English language queries.


 

Spikes in Google Desktop SERP fluctuation from the end of April through mid-May were finally verified by Google as a core algorithm change relating to quality signals that they use in determining rank.

For weeks Google did not release a statement, while SEO forums buzzed with complaints and questions. NBC News reported on a Google 'phantom' algorithm update on May 13th after HubPages reported a 22% drop in search traffic.

Search Engine Land's Barry Schwartz received confirmation from a source at Google on May 19th that "there were changes to its core ranking algorithm in terms of how it processes quality signals. It was an update to the overall ranking algorithm itself".

Mobilegeddon hype swept the web for weeks leading up to Google's mobile-friendly ranking factor algorithm update.  Adding mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal affects mobile searches internationally, across all languages. This can have a significant impact on search results, while providing better and more relevant data for users.

Business Insider's Jillian D'onfro predicted that the mobile-friendly algorithm update "could crush millions of small businesses".

While Computer World's senior report Sharon Gaudin published a helpful guide: "How to prep, in 7 steps, for Google's mobile search change".

Here in the Bat Cave (aka Rank Ranger Development HQ), a new tool was developed to help you monitor Google Mobile SERP Fluctuations.

Google announced that this update would roll out gradually beginning on April 21st, however, our Mobile Search Rank Risk Index caught significant mobile search fluctuations beginning on April 18th, which may have been caused by testing or the beginning of this gradual roll-out that is expected to occur over several weeks.

The Rank Risk Index showed a major spike in algorithm volatility, leading to the belief that there was a major Google update, however nothing has been confirmed yet. 

Search Engine Land reported that Google has said this is not related to Penguin or Panda.

The Local Algorithm was originally launched in July 2014, and has now been expanded to English speaking countries globally. This update is known by the industry-given name of Pigeon and allows Google to provide more accurate and relevant information regarding local searches.

The Local Search Forum was one of the first sites to report major shifts in rankings of local results and later confirmed that this was a Google update.

Rank Ranger's Shiri Berzack discusses Google Pigeon's Flight Plan.

Mike Blumenthal, from blumenthals.com, discusses what to expect from the Local Update for those in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other English speaking countries.

The Penguin Algorithm has had significant change since its first appearance in April 2012, and now a Google spokesperson has confirmed that the major, infrequent updates will be replaced by a steady stream of minor updates.

The spokesperson told Search Engine Land:

"That last big update is still rolling out [referring to Penguin 3.0]— though really there won’t be a particularly distinct end-point to the activity, since Penguin is shifting to more continuous updates. The idea is to keep optimizing as we go now."

Our own Shiri Berzack discusses this move towards a steady stream of Penguin updates and the positive effects it could have on businesses moving forward.

On the other side, Jill Kocher, from Practical Ecommerce, discusses the challenges this could place on companies particularly when trying to decipher reasoning behind declines or increases in traffic.

Pirate Update #2 should not affect a wide variety of sites since it specifically targets only those that have received DMCA takedown requests. In August of 2012 Google pushed out their first Pirate update by filtering down (or completely out in documented cases) pirated content in their attempt to help copyright owners.

Google's Public Policy Blog explains how they are combating piracy across all Google services.

Torrent Freak published an article discussing the update and its effect on various websites. 

Rank Ranger's Shiri Berzack shares her thoughts in Google Pirate Update Fights Piracy 

Pierre Far, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google UK, has confirmed their roll-out of the Penguin 3.0 algorithm update on Friday, so far affecting fewer than 1% of queries in the US English search results.

This is great news for anyone hit in October 2013 with a Google penalty during the Penguin 2.1 update, as Google's John Mueller confirmed recently in the Google Webmaster Central Help Forum that if you've corrected the situation that caused the penalty "you'd need to wait for the algorithm and/or its data to refresh to see any changes based on the new situation".  Further elaborating on that, Pierre Far posted:

"This refresh helps sites that have already cleaned up the webspam signals discovered in the previous Penguin iteration, and demotes sites with newly-discovered spam.

It’s a slow worldwide rollout, so you may notice it settling down over the next few weeks."

Stephen Kenwright of Branded3 in his Google Penguin 3.0 Damage Report provides an assessment of how Penguin 3.0 is affecting the more than 125,000 keywords they run daily rank tracking on and discusses how to recover from a Penguin update.

Panda 4.1 is a significant update to the Panda algorithm that targets low quality content with greater precision. This update is expected to identify low-quality content and result in greater diversity of higher rankings for small and medium-sized sites containing good quality content. It is a gradual global roll-out expected to affect approximately 3-5% of queries.

Google's official announcement was made by Pierre Far on Google Plus.

Providing interesting insight, Bill Slawski of SEO by the Sea walks readers through the logic of a recent Google patent application that may be behind this latest Panda update.

The Webmaster World forum chat has been a mix of positive and negative with most medium size businesses doing well, but some smaller businesses suffering drops in SERPs.

For months Google has been analyzing Authorship from a user's perspective and effectiveness for potential clicks. With this update Authors lost their edge as Google decided to stop showing authorship in search results.

Official Announcement from Google's John Mueller

Our very own Barry Schechter's Google Authorship is No More post

Danny Sullivan reports that Google Authorship My Be Dead, But Author Rank Is Not

HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) is the new ranking signal. According to Google, secure sites may be given a ranking boost for the added security.

Google Webmaster Central Official Announcement

Ben Wood's article What is HTTPS/SSL & Will It Boost My Rankings? provides useful explanations and how to implement guidance.

Google's Support documentation on Securing your site with HTTPS

Google launched an update to their local search algorithm to help them provide more accurate and relevant local search results.

The chat in the Webmaster World Local Search Forum suggests that the update was causing inconsistent results, with "major flux" still occurring a week after the rollout.

Small Business Trends provides an analysis of how this update affects local businesses.

Google rolled out an update to their PayDay Loan Spam Algorithm. Version 3.0 targets the queries for 'payday loans', 'casinos', 'accident claims' and a variety of others that return an excessive number of web spam results.

Google's Matt Cutts announced this algorithm update on Twitter.

Matt Southern reported in Search Engine Journal that "unless you’re running a site in a niche that Google would consider to be ‘very spammy’, there is very little for you to be personally worried about with this update."

Our Rank Risk Index has been showing sharp fluctuations in recent weeks causing lots of chatter in SEO and webmaster forums. By mid-May we started to see a relative calm, but suddenly the red alert went up again and shortly after that Matt Cutts announced on Twitter that Google had launched Panda 4.0 and plans to be rolling out more updates. 

The goal of Panda has been to penalize poor content quality and scraper sites, while boosting sites with great content up in the SERPs and thereby providing Google users with high quality results.

Google's Matt Cutts announced Panda 4.0 on Twitter.

Tim Worstall shares in Forbes his take on this Evolution In Action; Google's New Panda 4.0 Rollout

Google announced the release of an update to their Spam Algorithm that targets the type of queries that return an excessive number of spammy results.  This specific update was an international rollout that is reported to affect different languages to different degrees and noticeably impacts English queries by about 0.2%.

Matt Cutts Tweeted: "This past weekend we started rolling out a ranking update for very spammy queries."

Search Engine Watch reported "Over the weekend we began rolling out a new algorithmic update," a Google spokesperson told SEW.  "The update was neither Panda nor Penguin – it was the next generation of an algorithm that originally rolled out last summer for very spammy queries."

The Rank Risk Index has been indicating volatile activity by Google for much of April.  Lots of chatter in the various webmaster and SEO forums and blogs about dramatic SERP changes, but no official announcement from Google.

Webmaster and SEO forum rumors of a Soft Panda update around March 24th match up with the red zone dates displaying in our Rank Risk Index, however, no official announcement has been made by Google.

Google's Page Layout Algorithm targets pages with disproportionate number of ads above the fold in relation to page content.

Google's Matt Cutts confirmed this algorithm refresh in a Tweet.

Page Layout Algorithm's goal is to make users' search experience more efficient and quick, enabling them to reach the content they're seeking.

In what may be the most dramatic Google update of 2013, Authorship & Rich Snippet results dropped as much as 15% as Google tightened the qualifications for rich snippets. Authors reported problems and were advised to refer to Google's rel="author" FAQs to ensure they're following the rules.

Chatter at the Webmaster World forum indicates significant negative SERP changes.

Our Rank Risk Index indicates an update in the algorithm. Lots of chatter in the various webmaster and SEO forums and blogs about SERP changes, but no official announcement from Google.

Penguin 2.1 (Penguin 5th edition) was released in Google's continuing battle against web spam. We see a corresponding spike in the Rank Risk Index on October 5th.

Search Engine Journal reports: Penguin 2.1: What Changed Since 2.0, and How to Recover

Hummingbird, released around August 21st, is a new search algorithm that Google developed with a focus on Semantic Search. Their goal is to provide more personalized results based on your online behavior, location, trends, etc.  The Rank Risk Index (RRI) captured this significant change on August 21st.

Search Engine Land provides this useful FAQ: All About The New Google "Hummingbird" Algorithm

The Rank Risk Index spiked so we know that something is brewing over at Google, but they have yet to confirm exactly what it is.

A forum discussion at Webmaster World indicates signs of a soft Panda update.

As Google was either testing or rolling out the new multi-week algorithm update that Matt Cutts mentioned on Twitter, the Rank Risk Index soared into the danger zone. This update targets websites with low quality content. Although some sources report that Google released an update on June 18th, our Risk Index indicates that the affects of this update were strongest on the 28th.

This is a good time to revisit Search Engine Land's SEO Guide that outlines and provides possible responses to Violations & Search Engine Spam Penalties

The latest in Google's Panda update that can cause a site's rankings to dance up and down for days based on the Panda's perception of site content quality. It also addresses the Payday aspect, which is an international update targeting spam in the form of payday loans and porn.

Google's Matt Cutts addresses what a site owner should do if they think they have been negatively affected by Panda.
Search Engine Land reports on Google Payday Loan Algorithm: Google Search Algorithm Update To Target Spammy Queries.
SEO Blog talks about the dance.

Newer generation Penguin enables Google to dig deeper into sites for web spam according to Google's Matt Cutts a few hours before this release. The update will have a greater impact on SEO and webmasters.

Read more in Search Engine Land's announcement of Penguin 2.0.

Lots of volatile activity as Google's Phantom wreaked havoc on many sites according to the buzz in SEO and webmaster forums. The Rank Risk Index validates this update as it shows that from May 7 - 14 Phantom was creating higher flux than usual.

Panda update #25 is another attempt by Google at dealing with spammers and people who abuse the system.  

Search Engine Journal reports on: Matt Cutts announcement at SMX. Cutts recommends using Fetch as Googlebot tool to view sites the way Google sees them.

Google announced this as a Panda refresh with an approximate impact of 1.2% of English search results.

Search Engine Journal offers Important SEO Habits to Adopt for Post Panda-Penguin Era Survival

Panda update affects about 1.3% of English search queries and comes as a surprise during the last minute holiday shopping season.

Search Engine Land provides some advice on how to stop the panic.

This 22nd refresh of Panda was reported to affect 0.8% of English queries.

Search Engine Journal offers an overview of the update along with tips on Overcoming the Google Panda, EMD and Disavow Updates.

Panda Update 21 was reported to affect 1.1% of English queries.

Search Engine Land discusses the update in more detail.

Google's Page Layout Algorithm targets pages with disproportionate number of ads above the fold in relation to page content. This update affected approximately 0.7% of English queries.

Read more at Search Engine Land about this update.

This multilingual Penguin refresh has been reported as small, but far reaching in an international sense.

Search Engine Land covers Matt Cutts' announcement while Search Engine Journal discusses strategies for a post Panda, Penguin world.

Targets content quality in addition to a batch of Google feature changes.

Highlights of the 65 changes have been published in The Official Google Search Blog.

Two big updates, Panda 20 and EMD (Exact Match Domains). This EMD update changes the way Google handles Exact Match Domains by reducing low quality matches. The Panda update was a fairly big one affecting the queries of approximately 2.4% of search results.

Webmaster World members discuss the affects of these updates.
Search Engine Land covers the crackdown on low quality exact match domains.

Reported as a minor data refresh affecting less than 0.7% of queries.

Search Engine Land talks about this update.

Google reported this Panda update as a data-refresh and it affected less than 1% of queries.

Read more about this refresh at Search Engine Land.

It looks like Google may be moving away from their traditional 10 listings per page to only 7 results per page, and with a new format of expanded detail for the site in the number 1 position.

Search Engine Land reports: 7 Is the New 10? Google Showing Fewer Results & More From Same Domain

With the Pirate Update, Google aims to help copyright owners by filtering down or out (with documented proof) pirated content.  For example, websites with multiple submitted copyright removal notices will be ranked much lower in Google results. It will also be possible that links will be dropped from Google completely in cases of valid copyright removal notice submission.

The official Google Blog writes about the update to their search algorithms.

Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land reported that this Pirate Update is Google's response to a challenge from Hollywood movie mogul Ari Emanuel, co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor, who compared stealing copyrighted material to child pornography, suggesting that Google's team should be smart enough to be able to filter out pirated content in the same manner.

Panda 3.9 didn't make too large of an impact on results, although many sites saw fluctuations for 5 or so days after the update.

Search Engine Journal's The Holy Grail of Panda Recovery - A 1-Year Case Study is an entertaining and informative read.
Search Engine Land talks about Google pushing out Panda 3.9.

Webmasters received pre-penalty warnings as Google continued their push for compliance of Google Webmaster Guidelines regarding unnatural or artificial backlinks. Then Google backtracked with a "never mind", followed shortly by instructions that it is a website's responsibility to get the bad links removed, and the cycle repeated. Bottom line: track down the bad links, request removal and report violations to Google.

Search Engine Land provides an entertaining and informative chronology in their Insanity: Google Sends New Link Warnings, Then Says You Can Ignore Them article.

A smaller impact change with data-only updates, no changes to the algorithm.

Shout Me Loud discusses What To Do Next with Google 3.8.
Read about the Official Google Panda Update 3.8 at Search Engine Land.

Panda 3.7 rolled out with less than 1% affect on US & Worldwide search results.

Weidert Group discusses how Panda 3.7 affects your SEO.
Search Engine Land talks about the update.

May saw 39 updates. The highlights of these include detecting inorganic backlinks, editing page titles and improving freshness.

Read Google's list of all the updates on their official blog.
Search Engine Land gives an overview of the May updates.

Penguin's first update was labeled a "data refresh" by Google with assurances that it would affect less than 0.1% of English searches.

Search Engine Land reports on what they're labeling as Penguin 2 and provides an overview of how one site recovered from this update.

These 52 minor updates were mostly tied to the Penguin update from earlier in 2012. Updates included indexing, spelling, site links, sports scores features and more.

Google outlines the 52 updates in their official blog.
Search Engine Land provides some insights in Penguin or Panda? How To Determine Which Google Algorithm Update Impacted Your Website.

Another Panda refresh with few implications.

Search Engine Land reports on the official Panda 3.6 update.

Intended to penalize black hat webspam techniques that don't benefit site visitors, such as keyword stuffing and link schemes that attempt to manipulate SERPs, Penguin Update 1 rewards those in compliance with Google’s publishers guidelines.

The Google Blog looks into rewarding high-quality sites with this update.
Search Engine Land reports: Google Launches "Penguin Update” Targeting Webspam In Search Results and offers some Recovery Tips & Advice.

A quiet update of Panda that helped big brands and news sites, but wasn't necessarily bad for anyone else.

Look at the Winners & Losers from this update with Search Engine Land.
The Google Webmaster Blog called it: Another Step to Reward High Quality Sites.

A range of 50 updates to the algorithm.

The official Google blog talks more about these 50 updates.
Search Engine Land goes into the updates, specifically anchor text, image search, navigational search and more.

An update affecting 1.6% of searches and targeting low quality websites.

Search Engine Land talks about Panda update 3.4 rolling out.
TechWise goes into the updates and gives more clarification.

According to Google, in February they rolled out a combination of updates: Venice which "improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal",  a Panda refresh "making it more accurate and more sensitive to recent changes on the web" and 38 smaller search quality improvements.

The Official Google Search Blog details Search quality highlights: 40 changes for February.
Search Engine Land reports on Why Google’s Venice Update Fundamentally Changes Global SEO.
A summary of the Panda and search quality updates is provided by Search Engine Land.

This update penalized sites that were too "top-heavy", meaning that they had too many ads above the fold on their page.

The Google Webmaster Central Blog spoke about this update.
Search Engine Land tells us: The Top Heavy Update: Pages With Too Many Ads Above The Fold Now Penalized By Google’s "Page Layout” Algorithm

A data refresh that didn't actually involve a Panda algorithm change, but rather updated Google's data on the sites that were affected by Panda.

Search Engine Land reports on the update.
Are You Making These 7 Panda-Punishing Content Mistakes? Find out at Search Engine Journal.

This series of updates targeted improvements to the algorithm that include local and image search relevancy, SafeSearch, encryption, country restricted search and more. 

The Official Google Search Blog provides the full list including codenames.

A second round of 10 updates including results refinement, comprehensive indexing, better auto-complete,  "parked-domains" classifier and more.

The Official Google Search Blog details these search quality algorithm changes.

Panda's 9th update was a minor update affecting less than 1% of all searches.

Talking about the minor update with Search Engine Land.

Google announces 10 small recent updates including rich snippets, cross-language support, refreshes and other factors that affect how search results are ranked and displayed.

Google shares the methodology and process behind their search ranking, evaluation and algorithmic changes and details these 10 updates in their Official Google Search blog.

Promoting fresh posts, this update puts a focus on fresh content and regular updates, affecting 35% off all searches.

Google's official blog details how they're giving you fresher content.
Search Engine Land talks about the impact of freshness.

With all the roll-outs, there was bound to be some flux in the Panda updates. Google's Matt Cutts tweeted "Weather report: expect some Panda-related flux in the next few weeks, but will have less impact than previous updates (~2%)." 

Search Engine Land looks into the flux.
Search Engine Watch tells us what to expect and what to look for.

This update focuses on a wider reaching analysis of site content quality.

WebProNews reports DaniWeb Loses Over Half of Traffic: The Panda is Back and Dani discusses recovering credibility with Google.

Expands Panda reach from changes in search for English to algorithmic search improvements in all languages except Chinese, Japanese and Korean (which Google is currently testing).

Google Webmaster Central Blog announces High-quality sites algorithm launched in additional languages.
Webmaster World members discuss "Google Panda 2.4 - Now in All Languages!"

Update 5 expands Panda's ability to distinguish between higher and lower content quality, resulting in higher quality content for the end user.

Search Engine Land looks into the update.

This update targets sites that scrape content from its original source, to prevent the violators from ranking higher than the original content owner.

Search Engine Land gives us some insight into Panda update 2.2.
Webmaster World members ask "Why haven't sites come back from Panda?" and Matt Cutts explains Google's perspective during an interview with Danny Sullivan at SMX.

A minor update to Panda with no official announcement from Google.

Search Engine Journal discusses the obsession with Panda updates.

Panda expands target beyond US borders targeting all English language search results and incorporates user feedback signals.

Google details the change in their Webmaster Central Blog: "High-Quality Sites Algorithm Goes Global, Incorporates User Feedback"
Search Engine Journal outlines what Panda did and why.

Google introduces the +1 button allowing optimization through recommendation. 

The Official Google Webmaster Central Blog announced the +1 button with a full explanation of the uses and effects.

Google launched their Panda update, changing their algorithm by targeting link farms and low quality content. This major update affected 12% of searches and was the beginning of a new era in SEO.

Web Master World opened a discussion on this update which is related to what Matt Cutts spoke about in his blog. Google published two blog posts to help with this update: Another step to reward high quality sites and
More guidance on building high quality sites.

Wired.com provides some detail about this launch "The Panda that hates farms".
Wikipedia and Search Engine Land explain more about Panda and the update.

Google Instant launched making the entry of search faster by automatically suggesting options for completion of a search term. Google reports that 15 different technologies were utilized to make this functionality possible.

Read more about Google Instant.
The Official Google blog talks about their unveiling of Google Instant.

Caffeine is Google's new web indexing system that is expected to provide 50% fresher content in searches than their previous index and create the largest collection of web content Google has ever offered.

Google's Official Blog introduces the Caffeine.

Mayday included a number of updates toward the end of April that looks for higher quality sites to surface for long tail queries.

Search Engine Land explains the Mayday updates.
Webmaster World members scream "Mayday!" and discuss how this update hit them.

The introduction of Google Places created a better way for people to search and find local businesses. This update turned Google Local Business Center to Places.

Google's Official Blog talks about Places and the impact for businesses.

Google gives a sneak preview of their next-generation infrastructure and invites people to help test it. To help them with improvements they instruct to include the word "caffeine" in the feedback form. 

The Google Webmaster Central Blog unveils their secret project.
Search Engine Land provides their perspective on how this new search index might affect web developers and SEOs.

Vince changes focus on trust, authority and reputation to provide higher quality results which could push big brands further to the top of the SERPs.

Google's Matt Cutts responds to the question "Is Google putting more weight on brands in rankings?"  Matt also tells us that Vince is the guy who worked on the changes and that this is not an update.
There's some buzz over at Webmaster World as members respond to search results fluctuation.

In a major update, Google introduces the Suggest feature. As you begin to enter your search query, Google now attempts to auto-complete your query by suggesting related search terms.

Search Engine Land displays how Google Suggest works.
Refer to Google's Help on Autocomplete for more info.

The Dewey update caused a stir in the SEO community but the specifics were unclear. There were some big changes in Google search results, but no more than that.

Read more about it at Search Engine Land.

Buffy seems to be a collection of a number of small updates with an impact on single word search results, as well as various other factors.

This update was discussed and named by members of Webmaster World.

Universal Search, as the name implies, makes searches universal by combining results from Google's web, blog, news, video, images, local and book searches.

Google's Official Blog announces the feature and provides examples.
Search Engine Land calls Universal Search the most radical change to Google's search results ever.

An infrastructure update changing the way Google dealt with URL canonicalization, redirects and more. This update was started on November 2005 but not fully deployed until the end of March 2006.

Webmaster World members discuss their suspicions regarding an update weeks in advance of any official news.
Search Engine Promotion reports "In contrast to the usual algorithm updates, this update will be much bigger because it changes the way Google works behind the scenes."

Update May 2006: Matt Cutts provides a chronology of Big Daddy.

A significant update, Jagger targeted low quality links as well as link farms, in order to reduce spamming.

Search Engine Journal reports Google Jagger Update is Official.

Searchers can now find both local search and mapping information together on the same search results page using Google Maps. 

Google News announces Google Merges Local and Maps Products

Google said that Gilligan was not an update but rather a refresh, however this was a major change to the search engine's underlying index. It was later referred to by some as "False Alarm".

Search Engine Watch talks more about Gilligan and False Alarm. 
Matt Cutts says it was not an update.

Search gets personal according to Google. By using your personal search history, Google makes results more personal and more accurate for you.

The Google Official Blog explains personalized search.

The Google Sitemaps program allows webmasters and site owners to create XML files containing URLs they want Google to crawl (along with freshness data) and submit via Google Webmaster Tools for possible inclusion in Google's web index.

Search Engine Watch provides details and clarification from Google's Shiva Shivakumar, engineering director and technical lead for Google Sitemaps.

Bourbon update affected 3.5% of queries, the update changed the algorithm in terms of how duplicate content and non-canonical URLs are handled.

More on this update in a discussion at Webmaster World.

Allegra is Google's LSI algorithm, which affected some scoring factors and other smaller tweaks.

See the discussion at WebMaster World.
Check out additional details on Kuro5hin.

A small yet important feature, the NoFollow attribute combats comment spam. Webmasters can use the attribute to automatically add rel="nofollow" to links that site visitors add in comment areas and Google will do their part by not giving any inbound link credit to the sites those links are directed at. Not only was Google involved in this but Microsoft (MSN Search) and Yahoo came on board.

Google's Official Blog. provides an informative Q&A.
Wikipedia provides additional information.

The Brandy update caused changes that include an expansion of Google's index, along with a focus on anchor text relevance, inbound link quality defining your online neighborhood, and Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI).

Sitepoint provides a guess at what algorithmic changes occurred, their impact, and tips on beating Brandy.
Chatter about this update began at Webmaster World on February 13th.

In the aftermath of the November Florida update, Austin has swept in to attack unconventional practices even further. Although this update was intended to be an improvement, many sites were hit hard by this change in the algorithm according to the buzz in various webmaster forums.

Search Engine Journal delves into what Austin is all about.

Florida is a large and aggressive update that has rattled the SEO world. Many big sites have lost ranking and the community outcry is unprecedented.

Search Engine Watch delves into the Florida update and provides helpful Q&A.
The Web Workshop sums up some theories about what happened and answers the question "Where do we go from here?"

Google switched from monthly index updates to a process that updates a percentage of the index every day for faster, more accurate information. The smaller day-to-day changes are being referred to as everflux.

Webmaster World members discuss the Fritz update.

Update December 2006: Matt Cutts explains the difference between Google Dance, the everflux caused by Fritz, and the new streamlined process that he says regular people won't notice - and that the rest of us will refer to as algorithm updates and data refreshes.

Esmeralda continues where Cassandra and Dominic left off in Google's battle against the manipulative practices of hidden text/links and poor quality backlinks.

Ranking and backlink issues are discussed by members of Webmaster World.

Google again updated the way they crawl the internet, fine tuning their skills and battling manipulative link practices.

The volume of discussion surrounding Dominic caused the folks at  Webmaster World to break the discussion into multiple parts in an effort to dissect the issues.

Cassandra's focus seems to be on link-quality issues, hidden text and hidden links. This was also the first time Google has allowed banned sites to submit a reconsideration request.

Webmaster World members discuss changes in keyword weight, banned sites, site age, redirects, rank position and more.

This was the first named update in which Google improved their algorithm to further analyze backlink data which made a major impact on SERPs.

Webmaster World members express excitement over the Boston update. 

Google's first major update, Google Dance appears to include a significant change in relevance ranking and an increased importance of anchor text quality. 

Search Engine Showdown explains how it works.
This algorithm update has stirred up more than 500 messages in a discussion at the WebMaster World forum.

The Google Toolbar launched. This browser plugin allows users to perform a Google search from any web page and search within any website even if that site doesn't have it's own search engine.

Google's Official Announcement outlines the features and benefits of this free tool.