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Complete and Latest Collection of Google Algorithm Updates

Last updated: Oct 24, 2024

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As a search engine that prioritizes optimal service for users, Google continuously updates its performance through Google algorithm updates. This article will outline the long history of changes to Google's algorithms from 2002 to 2024, so stay tuned for the explanation until the end!

What Is the Google Algorithm?

Before diving deeper into the journey of this search engine's algorithm, you need to understand the definition of the Google algorithm. This algorithm is a complex system used to retrieve data from the search index and present it as quality search results.

Google uses a combination of algorithms and various ranking factors to determine the ranking of websites based on their relevance in search engine results pages (SERPs).

This search engine has undergone thousands of changes each year, with many updates being so minor that users rarely notice them directly. However, there are times when Google makes significant algorithm updates that have a considerable impact on SERPs.

In fact, in 2022, Google conducted 894,660 quality search tests and 13,280 experiments on direct traffic.

History of Google Algorithm Updates from 2000-2024

Below is the complete history of Google algorithm updates that you need to know, in reverse chronological order from 2024 to 2000:

Updates in 2024

In 2024, Google announced updates from March to August with the following details:

Core Update August 2024 (August 15, 2024)

The August 2024 core update aims to support content from small or independent publishers to help them appear at the top of search results and be more accessible to users. Google has listened to and reviewed feedback from content creators and issued guidelines for those affected by this update.

Through this update, Google also encourages website owners and content creators to produce quality, trustworthy, and useful content that prioritizes users.

Deepfake-Related Update (July 31, 2024)

Google updated its ranking system to ensure that deepfake content does not rank highly in search results. This search engine targets explicit content, particularly that which is created using artificial intelligence without the consent of the individuals depicted.

Spam Update in June (June 20, 2024)

Google released a spam update in June 2024 to update its targeting of websites that violate Google's spam policies. The release took seven days.

AI Overview Release (May 14, 2024)

Google introduced AI Overview, previously known as the Search Generative Experience, to search results in the United States using the latest Gemini model specifically designed for search.

However, many users complained about problematic answers from AI Overview compared to the SGE testing.

Site Reputation Abuse (May 6, 2024)

Google took firm action against sites that misuse their reputation to promote irrelevant and low-quality content. Google confirmed that this first round was a manual action and not yet algorithmic. Previously, Google announced this update in the core update from March 2024.

Core Update in March (March 5, 2024)

This search engine targeted low-quality content and introduced new spam policies to combat manipulative practices. Google also stated that unhelpful content would be removed by 40% from searches.

Spam Update in March (March 5, 2024)

This update includes new policies targeting bulk content and abuse of expired domains. Both practices are considered forms of search spam and will be addressed by the search engine through manual actions and algorithmic spam systems.

Updates in 2023

The updates in 2023 occurred from February to December with the following details:

Local Search Openness Update (December 16, 2023)

Google confirmed that openness, indicating whether a business is currently operating, has become a strong signal for non-navigational queries.

November Review Update (November 8, 2023)

Google announced an algorithm update that regularly evaluates review content without prior notice. Websites providing review content must comply with Google Quality Guidelines to display informative, honest, and original reviews.

Core Update in November (November 2, 2023)

This search engine announced the November core update, which was completed on November 28, 2023. This update focuses on developing a better core system than the October 2023 core update.

Core Update in October (October 5, 2023)

The October update was processed over two weeks, and Google did not provide specific details regarding this core update.

Spam Update in October (October 4, 2023)

A day before announcing the core update, Google released the October 2023 spam update, which improved the detection of spam practices from several markets that do not use English as their primary language, such as Turkish, Indonesian, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Hindi.

In addition to language, Google also focused on types of spam, such as cloaking, hacked content, auto-generated content, and scraped content.

Helpful Content Update in September (September 14, 2023)

Google released an update related to helpful content starting on September 14 and completing the rollout on September 28, 2023. This update focuses on people-first content and additional actions that website owners need to take related to this update.

Core Update in August (August 22, 2023)

Google announced a core update on August 22, 2023, which was completed by September 7, 2023, to improve search results to be more relevant and useful for better ranking.

Changes Related to Rich Results (August 8, 2023)

Google announced that rich results based on structured data for How-To and FAQ will be reduced in certain situations. As of September 2023, this change has only partially materialized, and there has been no reduction in FAQ results in desktop searches.

Topic Authority System (May 23, 2023)

This update aims to highlight relevant, trustworthy, and informative content in Google Search and Google News. The system will consider several signals to understand the credibility of content on specific locations or topics.

Launch of Search Generative Experience (May 25, 2023)

Google released the Search Generative Experience (SGE) and integrated it with artificial intelligence to provide more comprehensive search results.

Review Content Update in April (April 12, 2023)

Google announced an algorithm update for review content, changing from a “product review system” to a “review system.” The search engine modified its guidelines regarding product reviews to apply to all types of reviews.

Core Update in March 2023 (March 15, 2023)

Google performed a core algorithm update on March 15, 2023, completing it by March 28, 2023. This update focused on ranking in search results and was the first core update after six months since the last one in September 2022.

Product Review Content Update in February 2023 (February 21, 2023)

Google launched a product review content update starting on February 21 and completing by March 18, 2023. This update applies to several languages globally, including Polish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Italian, French, German, Spanish, and English.

Updates in 2022

In 2022, Google made several algorithm updates from February to December.

Spam Link Update in December (December 14, 2022)

Google updated its spam link system starting December 14, 2022, and completed on January 12, 2023. With this update, Google utilized the power of SpamBrain to neutralize the impact of unnatural links on search results.

Helpful Content Update in December (December 6, 2022)

Google announced an update to the helpful content system starting December 5, 2022, and completed on January 12, 2023. This update was released globally and affected all languages.

Spam Update in October 2022 (October 19, 2022)

Google released a spam update starting October 19 and completed on October 21. However, the search engine did not specify the focus of this update. The October 2022 spam update had a global impact across all languages.

Product Review Content Update in September 2022 (September 20, 2022)

Google confirmed an algorithm update for product review content, which was completed on September 26, 2022. Although Google did not provide specific advice for website owners regarding this update, they shared a post about the product review update from 2021 for further information.

Core Update in September (September 12, 2022)

Google announced a core update that was completed on September 26, 2022. This update was not more significant than the previous core update in November 2021.

Helpful Content Update in August (August 25, 2022)

Google released an update related to helpful content that focused on creating user-centric content to help users find the information they need, rather than merely content aimed at ranking.

Some of the content affected by this update included educational, entertainment, shopping, arts, and technology content. However, the impact was particularly felt in certain categories, such as content providing lyrics and ringtone downloads.

Product Review Content Update in July 2022 (July 27, 2022)

Google released a product review content update on July 27, 2022, which was completed on August 2, 2022. E-commerce marketers could learn how to write high-quality product review content from this update.

Core Update in May (May 22, 2022)

Google announced a core update addressing the ranking system for content in search results. This update was completed on June 9, 2022, and had a more significant impact compared to the last core update in November 2021.

Product Review Content Update in March 2022 (March 23, 2022)

Google announced a significant product review content update to help the search engine identify high-quality review content and rank it highly.

The search engine also added new criteria to improve the quality of this content, such as deeper explanations, credibility, uniqueness of information, and clarity regarding the products. Additionally, Google added new suggestions related to the best product recommendations.

Page Experience Update for Desktop (February 22, 2022)

Google announced a page experience update for desktop, which was previously created for mobile devices. This update will affect all pages that have a mobile version, except for pages that must be mobile-friendly.

Updates in 2021

Google's algorithm updates for 2021 began in February and ended in December. Here are the details of the updates:

Product Review Content Update in December (December 1, 2021)

This update was designed to reward review content that provides in-depth, helpful, and original analysis. Additionally, Google added new recommendations for content creators to include supporting visual assets and links to various sellers.

Local Search Update in November (November 30, 2021)

Google announced a local search update that started on November 30 and was completed on December 8, 2021. In this update, Google advised business owners to review Google’s guidelines on how to improve rankings in local searches.

Core Update in November (November 3, 2021)

Google announced the November core update and recommended that website owners refer to documentation for information about the core update. Although this update officially ended at the end of November, many tracking sites reported a sharp spike in rankings on a single day.

Spam Update in November (November 3, 2021)

Google conducted a spam update from November 3 to November 11, 2021, to improve search results. With this update, Google urged website owners to adhere to the tactics outlined in Google Webmaster Guidelines.

Spam Link Algorithm Update (July 26, 2021)

The purpose of this update was to remove spam links across the web and various languages. Websites with spam links were likely more affected in their rankings due to this update.

Core Update in July (July 1, 2021)

As with typical core updates, the July 2021 update involved comprehensive content changes, where the search engine slightly altered its algorithm. However, there were no specific functions outlined for these changes.

Spam Update Part 2 (June 28, 2021)

Google announced the second part of the spam update as a continuation of the first part released on June 23, 2021.

Spam Update Part 1 (June 23, 2021)

Google released a spam update to combat spam practices appearing in search results. There was no further information provided about this update.

New Ranking Algorithm: Page Experience (June 15, 2021)

Google launched a new ranking algorithm called page experience, which had been announced since May 2020. Google began using a set of new metrics called Core Web Vitals to understand how users perceive the experience of specific web pages.

The three Core Web Vitals metrics are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which measures page load performance; First Input Delay (FID), which measures interactivity; and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), which measures visual stability.

Multitask Unified Model (MUM) (May 18, 2021)

Google's Multitask Unified Model (MUM) is built on transformer architecture and is capable of multitasking to connect information for users in new ways. This model can also help Google identify over 800 types of vaccines from more than 50 languages in seconds.

Known Victims Protection (June 10, 2021)

Google enhanced its algorithm to lower the rankings of sites that use exploitative removal practices and predatory tactics.

Core Update in June (June 2, 2021)

Google decided to release this update separately because some planned updates were not ready. Like other Google core updates, the June 2021 update was comprehensive and had a wide-ranging impact on many sites.

Product Review Content Update (April 8, 2021)

This update was designed to reward product reviews that include in-depth research, rather than superficial content that merely summarizes products. In its announcement, Google shared nine questions to consider when creating and publishing product reviews.

Passages Ranking (February 10, 2021)

Google began rolling out changes on how to rank specific text passages from a web page in search results. This update aims to help searchers find specific information that is difficult to locate. Google stated that this update would impact 7% of search queries across all languages.

Updates in 2020

Google implemented updates from January to December 2020, with the following details:

December Core Update (December 3, 2020)

This core update was the last major update of 2020 and the first since the major update in May 2020. Like other Google core updates, the December 2020 update was comprehensive and had a widespread impact on many sites across all languages.

BERT Expansion (October 15, 2020)

Google announced the rollout of BERT, which supports nearly all search queries in English. However, website owners could not optimize for BERT, as this model was designed to enhance the relevance of search results by understanding the content on web pages.

May Core Update (May 4, 2020)

Google executed a major update for the May 2020 core update. This update was very broad and comprehensive but did not target specific aspects of the algorithm.

January Core Update (January 13, 2020)

The core update that occurred in January 2020 was a weaker and less significant update compared to the updates that had previously taken place.

Updates in 2019

Updates in 2019 were carried out from March to October, with the following explanations:

Global Release of BERT

Google confirmed the global rollout of Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), which supports 70 languages. This model impacted 10% of searches. Its purpose is to help Google understand content and queries as a human would.

September Core Update (September 24, 2019)

This month's core update was a broad algorithm update, as Google typically does every few months.

Site Diversity Update (June 6, 2019)

Google previously announced a site diversity update, claiming it would improve situations where a single site had more than two organic listings.

June Core Update (June 3, 2019)

The June update focused on broader aspects and enhancing user experience across various areas.

March Core Update (March 15, 2019)

The March update was somewhat confusing as it was released without a name, prompting debate on Twitter (now X). Subsequently, Google named this update the March 2019 Core Update.

Updates in 2018

Updates in this year took place from March to August. Here are the details:

August Core Update (August 1, 2018)

In this update, Google made significant improvements to its algorithm, giving more recognition to web pages that had previously been undervalued. Google stated that there was no fix for the observed ranking drops; these drops were simply due to other previously undervalued sites making progress.

Chrome Security Warning (July 24, 2018)

After warning users about non-secure (non-HTTPS) forms a few months earlier, Chrome 68 began marking all non-HTTPS sites as unsafe. This change was launched on July 24 but depended on users installing the latest version of Chrome, which could take weeks or months.

Mobile Speed Update (July 9, 2018)

Google launched the mobile page speed update, six months after its official announcement. This update made page load speed a ranking factor for search results on mobile devices. Google claimed that this primarily affected the slowest mobile sites, and there was no evidence of significant mobile ranking changes.

April Core Update (April 20, 2018)

This update aimed to enhance user experience by providing the most relevant search results. Google did not announce this update initially and only released a statement after speculation arose about a possible core update.

March Core Update (March 12, 2018)

Google confirmed that an update had occurred the previous week. This update impacted the rankings and visibility of several websites in search results, aiming to assist pages that had been previously undervalued.

Updates in 2017

Below are the details of the Google algorithm updates that occurred in 2017:

Local Algorithm Update (August 22, 2017)

This update corrected the Possum update, which affected local rankings. The Possum update in 2016 was designed to improve the relevance of search results by removing duplicate content from search pages.

As a result, some local business sites were removed because their businesses were too similar to others that already ranked highly in search results.

Fred (Unconfirmed) (March 9, 2017)

Fred is an unconfirmed Google ranking update. This update is believed to target more quality link factors within the overall algorithm.

Updates in 2016

Several updates occurred from January to September 2016, including:

Penguin 4.0 (September 23, 2016)

After two years, Google finally updated its Penguin algorithm for the last time. Google announced that Penguin became part of the core search algorithm, with data updated in real-time.

Possum (September 1, 2016)

This update affected local listings, with Possum acting as a filter for local search results on Google. As a result of this update, some local business sites were removed from search results, including instances where one business had two different sites (only one would be displayed in the search results).

Updates in 2015

To learn about the updates that occurred in 2015, here are the details:

RankBrain (October 25, 2015)

RankBrain uses machine learning to process what users are searching for and organizes it from billions of existing sites to determine rankings in search results. Initially, this update was applied to a majority of search results, then expanded to cover all Google searches.

Panda 4.2 (July 18, 2015)

Panda 4.2 is an update to the long-standing Panda algorithm. This update impacted 2-3% of English-language queries.

Updates in 2014

Several updates occurred in 2014, as explained below:

Pigeon Expansion (December 22, 2014)

Google expanded its largest local algorithm update, Pigeon, to the UK, Canada, and Australia.

Penguin Everflux (December 10, 2014)

A Google representative stated that Penguin had shifted to a continuous update model, moving away from infrequent major updates. Although the exact schedule is unclear, this claim seems to align with ongoing changes following Penguin 3.0.

Pirate 2.0 (October 21, 2014)

More than two years after the original Pirate update, Google launched an update targeting software and digital media piracy. This update was highly targeted, resulting in drastic ranking drops for some smaller sites.

Penguin 3.0 (October 17, 2014)

Over a year after the Penguin 2.1 update, Google announced Penguin 3.0, which appeared smaller than expected and may have been merely a data update rather than a new algorithm.

Panda 4.1 (September 23, 2014)

Google announced a significant Panda update that included algorithm components. They estimated the impact to be around 3-5% of affected queries.

Pigeon (July 24, 2014)

This update was designed to provide relevant, useful, and accurate local search results. The new update also aimed to enhance ranking parameters for distance and location.

Payday Loan 3.0 (June 12, 2014)

Less than a month after the Payday Loan 2.0 anti-spam update, Google launched another major iteration. The official statement indicated that version 2.0 targeted specific sites, while 3.0 targeted spam queries.

Panda 4.0 (May 19, 2014)

Google confirmed a Panda update that likely included algorithm updates and data refreshes. Officially, around 7.5% of English-language queries were affected by this update.

Payday Loan 2.0 (May 16, 2014)

Google updated the Payday Loan algorithm targeting queries containing spam.

Updates in 2013

Here are the Google algorithm updates that occurred in 2013:

Penguin 2.1 (October 4, 2013)

After a 4.5-month gap, Google launched another Penguin update. This update was data-focused and not a significant change to the Penguin algorithm. The overall impact seemed moderate, although some webmasters reported being significantly affected by this update.

Hummingbird (September 26, 2013)

Hummingbird appears to be a core algorithm update that may drive changes in semantic search and the Knowledge Graph in the coming months.

Panda 26 (July 18, 2013)

Google confirmed a Panda update, but it was unclear whether this was part of ongoing updates or something new. This update was algorithmic and may have "softened" some previous Panda penalties.

Payday Loan Update (June 11, 2013)

Google announced an algorithm update targeting niche markets notorious for spammy results, specifically payday loans, gambling, and pornography.

Penguin 2.0 (May 22, 2013)

This update did not provide clear information but may have targeted pages at a deeper level.

Panda 24 (January 22, 2013)

Google announced its first official update of 2013, claiming that 1.2% of queries were affected by this update.

Updates in 2012

Below is the complete lists and explanation of the Google algorithm updates in 2012:

Panda 23 (December 21, 2012)

Google launched another Panda update, officially calling it a "refresh," which affected 1.3% of English queries. This impact was slightly higher than Panda 21 and 22.

Panda 22 (November 21, 2012)

Google confirmed the 22nd Panda update, which seemed to be data-focused. This update followed a larger, unnamed update around November 19.

Panda 21 (November 5, 2012)

Google released the 21st Panda update about five weeks after Panda 20. This update was reported to be smaller than the previous one and officially affected 1.1% of English queries.

Penguin 3 (October 5, 2012)

After hinting that the next Penguin update would be significant, Google released a small data update for Penguin that affected 0.3% of queries.

Panda 20 (September 27, 2012)

Alongside the EMD update, Google launched a fairly large Panda update (including both algorithm and data changes) that affected 2.4% of queries.

Panda 3.9.2 (September 18, 2012)

Google launched a data update for Panda.

Panda 3.9.1 (August 20, 2012)

Google released another Panda data update, but the impact was quite small. As the Panda 3.0 series ran out of numbers at 3.9, this new update was dubbed 3.9.1.

Panda 3.8 (June 25, 2012)

This update only involved a data refresh and impacted 1% of queries globally.

Panda 3.7 (June 8, 2012)

This update was a data refresh that affected 1% of queries globally and 1% in the United States.

Penguin 2 (May 25, 2012)

This update was solely a data refresh and impacted less than 0.1% of English queries.

Panda 3.6 (April 27, 2012)