The Buffy Update (June 2007): A Bundle of Small Changes

When rankings jump, most of us want a name for it. A named update feels like an explanation: "Ah, it was Buffy." But a name is not proof that Google changed anything specific. The Buffy update of June 2007 is one of the best examples of this, because Google's own spam chief said, on the record and at the time, that he wasn't sure it deserved to be called an update at all.

So this post is a little different from most of our update histories. Buffy didn't change much that we can document. What it does show, very clearly, is how update names were born, how forum reports and Google's view can disagree, and how you should judge any "update" you read about today.

You can see where Buffy falls among the bigger changes in our Google algorithm updates timeline.

Buffy at a glance

Question	Answer
When	Mid-June 2007; Search Engine Roundtable reported it on June 18, 2007
Who named it	WebmasterWorld forum members
Why "Buffy"	A tribute to Vanessa Fox, who had just left Google and is a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Confirmed by Google?	No. Matt Cutts said he wouldn't call it an update
What people reported	Ranking changes, mainly for single-word queries
How it's described today	Not a deliberate update but an accumulation of smaller changes
Who was affected	Hard to say; reports centered on sites competing for short, broad keywords

Why an update was named after Vanessa Fox

Vanessa Fox was one of the most important people at Google for site owners in those years. On June 14, 2007, Matt Cutts posted Wishing Vanessa the best, announcing that she was leaving Google for Zillow. He credited her with helping launch and improve Google's webmaster console (now Search Console), improving how Google communicated its policies to webmasters, and helping search engines agree on the Sitemaps standard.

A few days later, WebmasterWorld members noticed ranking changes and needed a name. According to Search Engine Roundtable's June 18, 2007 report, they picked "Buffy" to honor Fox, who knows a lot about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The same report says WebmasterWorld had never before named an update after a real person.

Search Engine Roundtable's weekly roundup on June 22, 2007 joked that in practice "it's the Vanessa update." That tells you something important: the name was about a person leaving, not about what the algorithm did. I cover this habit in more detail in who names Google updates.

What webmasters reported in June 2007

The reports were real, even if their cause was unclear. Search Engine Roundtable summed up the WebmasterWorld discussion like this:

• Big changes for single-word queries. Short, broad searches seemed to move the most.
• Some sites jumped past giants. One member said their single keyword now ranked above Wikipedia; another long-time member saw a similar change.
• It followed an earlier June shift. The report described Buffy as a continuation of a Google update earlier that month.

The same report includes a telling detail. WebmasterWorld's admin said results had been shifting so often since the Jagger update of 2005 that the forum hadn't called a formal update in over a year. In other words, Google had already moved toward constant small changes rather than big monthly "dances." Buffy was the first time in a while that the forum felt a change was big enough to name.

What Google said: "I'm not sure it's worth calling it an update"

This is the most useful part of the Buffy story, and it's often left out. On June 18, 2007, in the comments of his SMX Seattle wrap-up post, Matt Cutts answered a reader asking about the June changes. He replied twice. Here is what he said, in his own words:

“Other than perhaps for some one-word queries, I think most things remain unchanged. And even for most one-word queries, most results remain unchanged. So I'm not sure it's worth calling it an update.”

— Matt Cutts, in a comment reply, SMX Seattle wrap-up

He made three other points in the same replies:

1. Summer was historically "a good time to incorporate ideas into search," but he "wouldn't consider that an update."
2. Google reserved the right to tune scoring or factor weights "even if it only affects a fraction of queries (things such as single-word queries)."
3. Some forum members were "talking about things that I'm pretty sure haven't had algorithmic changes lately," and one was "combining a few unrelated things together."

Read together, this is a calm and fairly clear answer. Yes, Google tuned some things, possibly affecting one-word searches. No, it wasn't a big, single update. And some of what people blamed on "Buffy" probably had nothing to do with it.

Small changes adding up: how Buffy is remembered today

Most update histories now describe Buffy the way Cutts hinted. Wikipedia's timeline of Google Search says: "It is not considered a deliberate update, but rather an accumulation of many smaller changes."

It still appears on update lists because of how those lists were built. SEOmoz's well-known list, reproduced in Search Engine Roundtable's and Search Engine Land's roundups, includes "Buffy – June 2007." Barry Schwartz's own list, built mostly from WebmasterWorld history, doesn't include it at all. That difference tells you how soft the evidence is.

Here's how Buffy compares with its neighbors, which all landed within about a year:

Change	When	Confirmed by Google?	What we actually know
Supplemental index changes	Late 2006 to 2007	Discussed, not announced as an update	Google explained supplemental placement depended mainly on PageRank
Universal Search	May 16, 2007	Yes, officially announced	Blended news, images, video, maps and books into web results
Buffy	June 2007	No; Cutts doubted it was an update	Reported changes for single-word queries; likely several small tweaks
Dewey	Late March 2008	Google asked for feedback but explained little	Large reshuffle; causes never explained

Why a name can mislead you

Names are handy, but they cause three problems that come up again and again when people analyze ranking changes.

• A name suggests one cause. Buffy got one name, but Cutts suggested several unrelated things were being lumped together.
• A name suggests a size. Calling something an "update" makes it sound big. Cutts said most results, even for most one-word queries, stayed the same.
• A name sticks around. Twenty years later, Buffy is still on update lists, next to genuinely huge changes like Florida and Panda.

The scale of Google's normal changes makes this even more true today. Google's own How Search Works testing page says that in 2023 it ran over 700,000 experiments, resulting in more than 4,000 improvements to Search. That works out to more than ten launches a day on average. With that many changes, plenty of ranking movement happens between named updates. I explain this in why rankings change between announced updates.

A worked example

Example (hypothetical): imagine you sell running shoes. In the third week of June 2007, your rank for "sneakers" drops from 4 to 9, while your ranks for 200 longer phrases like "women's trail running shoes size 8" barely move. A forum names the "Buffy update," and you decide Buffy hit you.

But look at the numbers. One broad keyword moved; 200 specific ones held steady. That matches what Cutts described: tuning that touched some single-word queries. The right response isn't to rebuild your site. It's to check whether the broad term's results now favor a different kind of page, such as big brands or category hubs, and decide if that keyword is worth chasing.

How to analyze a so-called update without guessing

Buffy offers a simple lesson for any unconfirmed update you hear about. Here's the process I suggest:

1. Check whether Google confirmed anything. Today, look at the Google Search Status Dashboard and Google's Search Central channels. Our guide to confirmed vs unconfirmed updates explains why this matters.
2. Find the exact date your numbers changed. Use Search Console's Performance report and compare day by day. Beginners can start with our Google Search Console lesson.
3. Split by query type. Compare short and long queries, branded and non-branded. Buffy-style changes often touch one group only.
4. Look at who replaced you. Search the affected keywords and note what kind of pages now rank.
5. Rule out your own changes. Site migrations, template edits, lost links and indexing problems can look exactly like an update.
6. Wait a week or two before big changes. Many swings settle on their own.

For a fuller checklist, see our guide on what to do when rankings move but Google confirms nothing.

Questions people ask about the Buffy update

Was the Buffy update real?

Webmasters did see ranking changes in June 2007, especially for single-word queries. But Matt Cutts said he wasn't sure it was worth calling an update, and histories now describe it as an accumulation of smaller changes.

Why is it called Buffy?

WebmasterWorld named it after Vanessa Fox, who had just left Google and is a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was a tribute, not a description of what changed.

Did Google confirm Buffy?

No. The only Google comment I found is Cutts' reply on his blog, where he said most results remained unchanged and he wouldn't consider it an update.

Does Buffy matter for SEO today?

Not as an algorithm. It matters as a reminder to check evidence before blaming a named update for your traffic changes.

What I would take from Buffy before reacting to the next update

Buffy is a gentle story: a name chosen out of affection for someone who helped webmasters, attached to changes that Google itself thought were minor. The useful part is the habit it teaches. Before you blame an update, check what Google said, look closely at your own data, and separate one cause from many.

If your rankings have moved and you can't tell why, we can help you sort real updates from noise. Take a look at our SEO services, or get a free quote and tell us what you're seeing.

Google updates around the same time

Before this update:

• Google Universal Search (May 2007): Blended Results and the End of Ten Blue Links (May 2007)
• Google's Supplemental Index Update (2006): When Pages Fell Into the 'Supplemental Hell' (Nov 2006)

After this update:

• The Dewey Update (March 2008): A Big Shuffle and Claims of Google Self-Preference (Mar 2008)
• The Vince Update (2009): Did Google Start Favoring Big Brands? (Feb 2009)

Or browse every Google update on one timeline, newest first.

Sources for this Buffy update history

1. Search Engine Roundtable: Google Buffy Update - June Google.com Update (June 18, 2007)
2. Search Engine Roundtable: Weekly Search Buzz Roundup, June 22, 2007
3. Matt Cutts: SMX Seattle wrap-up, with comment replies (June 2007)
4. Matt Cutts: Wishing Vanessa the best (June 14, 2007)
5. Wikipedia: Timeline of Google Search
6. Search Engine Roundtable: Google update lists
7. Search Engine Land: Major Google updates documented
8. Google: How Search Works, rigorous testing