"Google updates its algorithm all the time" is true, but not very helpful. How many confirmed core updates are there in a typical year? How long do they take to roll out? How much breathing space is there between them? Those numbers shape how you plan content work, report to clients and judge whether a traffic change is likely to be update-related.
We went through Google's Search Status Dashboard, which lists confirmed ranking updates since November 2021, and counted every core and spam update through to mid-October 2026. For 2021 we added updates from before the dashboard existed using Search Engine Land's 2021 year in review.
Below you will find counts per year, rollout lengths, gaps between updates, and what the data means for your SEO planning. All figures are our own calculations from the listed start dates and durations, so you can check them yourself.
Key Takeaways
- The dashboard lists 16 core updates from November 2021 to May 2026: two to four per full calendar year.
- Core update rollouts averaged about 17 days, with a median of roughly two weeks; the range ran from about 6 days (December 2024) to 45 days (March 2024).
- The gap between core update start dates ranged from about four weeks to just over six months, averaging around 110 days.
- The dashboard lists 12 spam updates in the same period, with rollouts from under a day to 29 days.
- Confirmed updates are a tiny fraction of change: Google reports 4,781 launches to Search in 2023.
Where the data comes from
Google's Search Status Dashboard ranking history lists 42 ranking incidents as of October 2026, from the November 2021 spam update onward. Each entry shows a start date and duration in US/Pacific time. Two entries are not updates but "Ranking is experiencing an ongoing issue" incidents (October 2023 and August 2024), which we excluded from update counts.
Earlier 2021 updates (June and July core updates, two June spam updates and the July link spam update) are taken from Search Engine Land's 2021 review because they predate the dashboard. Our guide to the Google Search Status Dashboard explains how to read it.
Confirmed updates per year
| Year | Core updates | Spam updates | Other confirmed ranking updates on the dashboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3 (June, July, November) | 4 (two in June, July link spam, November) | December product reviews update (dashboard began in November) |
| 2022 | 2 (May, September) | 2 (October spam, December link spam) | Desktop page experience; product reviews in March, July, September; helpful content in August and December |
| 2023 | 4 (March, August, October, November) | 1 (October) | Product reviews (February), reviews (April, November), helpful content (September) |
| 2024 | 4 (March, August, November, December) | 3 (March, June, December) | None besides one "ongoing issue" incident |
| 2025 | 3 (March, June, December) | 1 (August) | None |
| 2026 (to 14 Oct) | 2 (March, May) | 4 (March, June, August, September) | February 2026 Discover core update |
Two trends stand out. First, separately announced system updates (product reviews, reviews and helpful content) disappeared after 2023. Google's reviews system documentation now says the system "is improved at a regular and ongoing pace", and no reviews update has been listed on the dashboard since November 2023, and the helpful content system became part of core ranking in March 2024. Second, 2026 has had more spam updates than any previous dashboard year, many of them short. See why Google stopped announcing some updates and our 2026 spam updates round-up.
How long core updates take to roll out
| Update | Start date | Duration (dashboard) |
|---|---|---|
| November 2021 core update | 17 Nov 2021 | 13 days |
| May 2022 core update | 25 May 2022 | 15 days |
| September 2022 core update | 12 Sep 2022 | 14 days |
| March 2023 core update | 15 Mar 2023 | 13 days, 7 hours |
| August 2023 core update | 22 Aug 2023 | 16 days, 3 hours |
| October 2023 core update | 5 Oct 2023 | 13 days, 23 hours |
| November 2023 core update | 2 Nov 2023 | 25 days, 21 hours |
| March 2024 core update | 5 Mar 2024 | 45 days |
| August 2024 core update | 15 Aug 2024 | 19 days, 4 hours |
| November 2024 core update | 11 Nov 2024 | 23 days, 13 hours |
| December 2024 core update | 12 Dec 2024 | 6 days, 4 hours |
| March 2025 core update | 13 Mar 2025 | 13 days, 21 hours |
| June 2025 core update | 30 Jun 2025 | 16 days, 18 hours |
| December 2025 core update | 11 Dec 2025 | 18 days, 2 hours |
| March 2026 core update | 27 Mar 2026 | 12 days, 4 hours |
| May 2026 core update | 21 May 2026 | 11 days, 21 hours |
Converting those durations to days, the 16 core updates averaged roughly 17.4 days, and the median was about 14.5 days. Only three exceeded three weeks: November 2023, November 2024 and the unusually complex March 2024 update, which folded the helpful content system into core ranking. The shortest, December 2024, began just one week after November 2024 had finished. Read more in our posts on the helpful content integration and how core update rollouts work.
Gaps between core updates
Measuring from one core update's start date to the next, the gaps ranged from 28 days (October to November 2023) to 189 days (November 2021 to May 2022). The average gap was about 110 days, or roughly three and a half months. Gaps of three to six months were the norm; back-to-back updates happened only in late 2023 and late 2024.
Overlaps are common too. The September 2022 core update overlapped a product reviews update, October 2023 overlapped both a spam update and a ranking issue incident, and March 2024's core and spam updates launched on the same day. Our guide to analysing overlapping updates explains how to untangle them.
Spam update frequency and length
The dashboard lists 12 spam updates from November 2021 to October 2026 (one of them, December 2022, a link spam update). Their durations ranged from 19 hours 30 minutes (March 2026) to 29 days (December 2022 link spam update). Converting to days, the average was about 11 days and the median about a week. The longer ones in recent years were August 2025 (26 days, 15 hours) and September 2026 (13 days, 16 hours).
The bigger picture: thousands of unannounced changes
Confirmed updates are the visible tip of a much larger iceberg. Google's How Search Works site describes the scale of testing:
“In 2023, we ran over 700,000 experiments that resulted in more than 4,000 improvements to Search.”
— Google, How Search Works: Rigorous testing
The same page lists 4,781 launches, 16,871 live traffic experiments and 719,326 search quality tests for 2023. Most of those launches are small and never announced, which is why confirmed and unconfirmed updates should be treated differently.
What the numbers mean for your planning
- Expect two to four core updates a year. Plan major content and technical projects so they are not launched in the middle of a likely rollout window, which makes analysis harder.
- Budget two to three weeks per rollout. Most core updates take about two weeks; allow extra time before drawing conclusions.
- Add a week after completion. Google recommends waiting at least a full week after a core update completes before analysing in Search Console.
- Don't assume a cycle. Gaps varied from four weeks to six months, so no fixed calendar exists.
- Watch spam updates separately. They are frequent in 2026 and often short; check your practices against the spam policies.
- Annotate everything. Keep a log of update dates next to your own site changes.
Common mistakes when reading update frequency
- Counting unconfirmed volatility as updates. Tool spikes without dashboard entries are not confirmed updates.
- Ignoring the end date. Rankings can move throughout a rollout, not just on day one.
- Treating "ongoing issue" incidents as updates. They are bugs, listed separately.
- Assuming seasonality of updates. March has hosted several core updates, but Google has not committed to any schedule.
- Forgetting Discover. The February 2026 Discover core update affected Discover only, not web search rankings.
For full context on each update, see our Google algorithm updates hub and the 2026 updates overview.
Related Guides
- Do Algorithm Updates Affect AI Overviews and AI Mode Visibility?
- Google Search Bugs That Looked Like Algorithm Updates
- What the US Antitrust Trial Revealed About Google Ranking
Frequently Asked Questions
How many core updates does Google release per year?
Between two and four per full calendar year from 2022 to 2025, based on the Search Status Dashboard. 2026 had two by mid-October.
How long does a core update take to roll out?
About two weeks typically. Across 16 dashboard-listed core updates, the average was roughly 17 days, ranging from about 6 to 45 days.
How often are spam updates released?
Irregularly: one to four per year since 2022, with 2026 having four by October. Rollouts ranged from under a day to 29 days.
Does Google change rankings between confirmed updates?
Yes. Google reports 4,781 launches to Search in 2023, most of them unannounced.
Is there a fixed schedule for core updates?
No. Gaps between core update start dates ranged from about four weeks to six months.
Conclusion
From late 2021 to 2026, Google confirmed two to four core updates a year, each usually taking around two weeks, with several months between them and a growing number of spam updates in 2026. Use those patterns to plan calmly, not to predict exact dates. If you want help building an update-aware SEO plan, explore our SEO services or request a quote.
