Google Algorithm Updates

140 updates · newest first · page 3 of 6

• 1 Jul 2021
  Google's July 2021 Core Update: Completing the Summer RolloutCore update

  The July 2021 core update finished what June started. Here are the confirmed facts, what Google said about reversals, and how to analyse a two-part update.

• 23 Jun 2021
  Google's June 2021 Spam Updates: Two Quick Spam RolloutsSpam

  Google ran two one-day spam updates in June 2021. Here is what Google confirmed, what spam updates target, and how they differ from core updates.

• 15 Jun 2021
  The 2021 Page Experience Update: Core Web Vitals Become Ranking SignalsCore update

  The 2021 page experience update made Core Web Vitals part of mobile ranking, with a small expected impact. Here is the timeline, the signals and what changed since.

• 2 Jun 2021
  Google's June 2021 Core Update: Part One of a Two-Part UpdateCore update

  Google split its summer 2021 core update into two parts. Here are the June facts, Google's warning about reversals, and how to analyse overlapping updates.

• 18 May 2021
  Google MUM Explained: What It Does (and Doesn't Do) in SearchAlgorithm

  MUM was billed as 1,000 times more powerful than BERT, yet Google says it isn't used for general ranking. Here is what it actually does in Search.

• 8 Apr 2021
  Google's April 2021 Product Reviews Update: The First Reviews UpdateReviews

  Google's first product reviews update rolled out from 8 to 22 April 2021 for English-language reviews, rewarding in-depth, expert reviews over thin summaries.

• 1 Feb 2021
  Google Passage Ranking: How Individual Passages Get RankedAlgorithm

  Passage ranking lets Google judge a page's relevance from individual sections. Here is what was announced, what it is not, and how to structure content for it.

• 3 Dec 2020
  Google's December 2020 Core Update: A Big Update at Year-EndCore update

  Released just after Cyber Monday, the December 2020 core update was reportedly bigger than May 2020. Here are the facts and how to analyse it.

• 4 May 2020
  Google’s May 2020 Core Algorithm UpdateCore update

  Everything you need to know about Google’s May 2020 Core Update As we know Google launches algorithm updates every year to keep the search results as user-friendly as…

• 22 Jan 2020
  Featured Snippet Deduplication (2020): Why Snippet Pages Lost Their Second ListingAlgorithm

  Since January 2020, a page in a featured snippet no longer gets a second page-one listing. Here is what changed and how to decide whether a snippet is worth keeping.

• 13 Jan 2020
  Google's January 2020 Core Update ExplainedCore update

  The first core update of 2020 rolled out in about three days and stirred up YMYL results. Here are the confirmed facts and a sensible way to analyse it.

• Nov 2019
  Google's November 2019 Local Search Update: Neural Matching Comes to LocalLocal

  Began in early November 2019 and confirmed in December. Google started using neural matching to understand local intent worldwide, reshuffling map pack results and reducing the pull of keyword-stu…

• 25 Oct 2019
  Google BERT Update (2019): How Language Understanding Changed SearchAlgorithm

  BERT changed how Google reads queries rather than how it judges sites. Here is what Google announced, how it expanded and what it means for content in 2026.

• 24 Sep 2019
  Google's September 2019 Core Update ExplainedCore update

  The September 2019 core update rolled out from 24 September and was weaker than June overall, but still hit YMYL sites. Here is the data and Google's guidance.

• 3 Jun 2019
  Google's June 2019 Core Update: The First Pre-Announced Core UpdateCore update

  Google pre-announced the June 2019 core update a day early, a first. It rolled out over about five days alongside a separate site diversity change.

• 12 Mar 2019
  Google's March 2019 Core Update: The First Month-Named Core UpdateCore update

  The March 2019 core update began on 12 March and was the first Google named with its month-year convention. Here is what was confirmed and what tools reported.

• 1 Aug 2018
  The Medic Update (August 2018 Core Update) and YMYL SitesCore update

  Google's 1 August 2018 broad core update, nicknamed Medic, caused big swings for health and finance sites and sparked the E-A-T debate. Here is what was confirmed and what was not.

• 9 Jul 2018
  The Speed Update (2018): When Page Speed Hit Mobile RankingsPage experience

  In July 2018 Google started using page speed in mobile ranking, affecting only the slowest pages. Here is what changed and how it evolved into Core Web Vitals.

• 16 Apr 2018
  Google's April 2018 Core Update: 'Previously Under-Rewarded' PagesCore update

  Rolled out 16 April 2018 and confirmed 20 April. Google's second broad core update in five weeks reinforced its message that drops reflect relevance shifts toward under-rewarded pages, not penalties.

• 26 Mar 2018
  Mobile-First Indexing: The Rollout From 2018 Announcement to DefaultMobile

  Mobile-first indexing changed Google from crawling desktop pages to crawling mobile ones. Here is the full rollout timeline, the common parity problems and what it means today.

• 8 Mar 2018
  The March 2018 'Brackets' Core Update and Google's 'No Fix' MessageCore update

  Google's March 2018 broad core update, nicknamed Brackets, came with a message that reshaped SEO: there is no 'fix' for pages that drop, other than great content.

• 12 Dec 2017
  The Maccabees Update (December 2017): Google's 'Several Minor Improvements'Algorithm

  Hit 12 to 14 December 2017. Google called Maccabees "several minor improvements"; sites with large sets of keyword-permutation landing pages, many of them affiliates, reported the biggest drops.

• 22 Aug 2017
  The Hawk Update (August 2017): Google Loosens the Possum Local FilterLocal

  Spotted 22 August 2017. The unconfirmed Hawk update tightened Possum's proximity filter, so far fewer nearby competitors were hidden from local results, though same-building listings stayed filtered.

• 8 Mar 2017
  The Fred Update (2017): What We Know About an Unconfirmed UpdateAlgorithm

  Fred was a March 2017 ranking change linked by analysts to ad-heavy, low-value content. Google never confirmed its specifics, and its name started as a joke.

• 10 Jan 2017
  Google's Intrusive Interstitials Penalty (2017): Pop-Ups That Hurt RankingsPage experience

  In January 2017 Google began demoting mobile pages whose pop-ups blocked content on arrival from search. Here is what counted, what was exempt and what to use instead.