Google: Algorithm Updates
Google has a long history of famous algorithm updates, search index changes and refreshes. Below is a history of the major Google search algorithm updates. Our coverage of these updates can be found after the timeline.
- May 2020 Core Update
- January 2020 Core Update
- Google BERT Natural Language Processing Update
- September 2019 Core Update
- June 2019 Core Update
- March 2019 Core Update
- August 2018 Core Update aka Medic Update
- April 2018 Core Update
- March 2018 Core Update
- December 2017 Core Update
- Google Local August 2017 Hawk Update
- Google Fred Update – unconfirmed March 2017 update
- Google Local September 2016 Possum Update
- Google RankBrain Algorithm
- Google Mobile-Friendly Algorithm
- January 2018 Core Update
- Google Hummingbird
- Google Mobile Friendly Update
- Google Panda Update
- Google Penguin Update
- Google Pigeon Update
- Google Payday Update
- Google Pirate Update
- Google EMD (Exact Match Domain) Update
- Google Top Heavy Update
How to audit Core Web Vitals
A step-by-step process to identify problems and prioritize fixes ahead of the Page Experience...
Google passage ranking now live in US English search results
Google said this can have a 7% impact on search queries - so this might feel like a big...
Google launched subtopics ranking in mid-November
Google subtopics ranking helps deliver search results with a greater diversity of content when you search for something...
Google algorithm updates 2020 in review: Core updates, passage indexing and page experience
Despite the pandemic, Google was busy working on changes to its search ranking algorithm — here is a summary review of those changes through...
Biased language models can result from internet training data
The controversy around AI researcher Timnit Gebru’s exit from Google, and what biased language models may mean for the search...
Some early observations on the Google December core update
Some of these observations are based on the quality raters guidelines, the past core updates, and sound SEO...
Google confirms passage indexing is not yet live
We expected this to roll out in 2020 but that seems unlikely...
Google December 2020 core update is now fully rolled out
Make sure to review your analytics and data and take the necessary steps if your site was negatively impacted....
Google’s December 2020 core update was big, even bigger than May 2020, say data providers
The update rolled out on Dec 3, but the impact was mostly felt on Dec....
Google December 2020 Core Update rolling out
After seven months, Google has just released a new core update - the December 2020 core...
Google: Page experience signals for ranking apply only to mobile
A new FAQ page answers questions about ranking, various site architectures, AMP and...
What to evaluate ahead of Google’s Page Experience update
The content you’re competing against, the AMP option, your organization’s resources and business requirements are all part of the...
Video: Michael Lewittes on growing a site after an algorithm update
He built his own entertainment news site, went through numerous Google algorithm updates and sold it to a private equity firm at the...
Google Page Experience Update to launch May 2021 with new labels in search results
Google will highlight search results that have a great page...
Google launched DeepRank in October 2019: DeepRank is BERT
DeepRank goes back to 2017 at Google, it is the internal code name for the BERT...
Google confirms it doesn’t index passages separately
Google now "consider passages from pages as an additional ranking...
Google: BERT now used on almost every English query
Google announced numerous improvements made to search over the year and some new features coming...
8 major Google algorithm updates, explained
Of countless Google algorithm updates introduced over the last decade, here are the ones that changed SEO...
Google now uses BERT to match stories with fact checks
Google has made numerous changes to auto-complete, News, fact-checking, knowledge panels, breaking news detection and...
Google says you can recover from core updates without a new core update
Unlike the old Panda or Penguin updates, Google core updates get refreshed data...