Comprehensive Guide To All Of The Google Algorithm Updates Through Their History
History Of Google Algorithm Updates – An enormous part of maintaining your competitive edge online and making sure you reach more customers is ensuring you are in line with Google algorithm update, other Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) updates and adjusting your search engine optimisation strategy accordingly.
As the dominant search engine worldwide, Google’s search algorithm plays a significant role in your website’s online visibility. And as users’ online behaviour changes and new challenges arise, Google’s algorithm has adapted to more effectively ranking websites for usefulness and quality.
Intro To Google Core Updates
Wondering what makes search engine giants tick? We’ve created this guide to demystify Google Core Updates.
This is NOT a high-level guide listing which sites gain or lose some traffic and/or rankings after the latest algorithm update.
Instead we’ve created an in-depth analysis of Core Updates (backed up by our own research). From an industry tools’ comparison to identifying common trends, we’ve created recommendations that marketers and business owners can use to improve their performance in Google Organic Search.
Why Google?
Google is the most popular search engine in the world (91.89% Market Share Worldwide). It’s maintained its position by ensuring its search results are always relevant and useful for the end user. From a business peresptive, they’re trying to improve user retention and ultimately revenue by charging more money for ads.
The formula is quite simple “Better Search Results = More Users = More Advertisers Paying For Ads = More Revenue”
As you can see, it’s in Google’s best interest to make sure search results are always meeting user expectations. How do they do that? Continuous experimentation, regular updates and ongoing improvements of their algorithms.
How Google improves the performance and reliability of its Search Engine?
At a very high level, Google uses a combination of technological solutions (like machine learning and human supervision) to identify shifts in user behaviours and update search results to achieve small incremental improvements of its products on a regular basis.
Some of these changes are happening quite regularly (on a daily basis) and aren’t noticeable for most people.
There are other types of updates/changes that normally have a broader impact and affect a whole range of industries & the search engine’s overall functionality across different verticals. These types of changes are noticeable for most people and are normally announced by Google (either before or after they released them.) Introducing Google Core Updates.
What is are Google’s Core Updates?
According to Google, “Core Updates” are regular updates the search engine performs to ensure its search engine is consistently presenting relevant and authoritative content to searchers across multiple verticals.
The role of these updates is to ensure that all websites ranking Organically in Google present relevant and authoritative content for the search engine users. Core Updates are strictly related to improve how Google’s systems assess content overall.
Here’s a quick overview of Google Core Updates
- They are broad changes to Google’s search algorithms and systems
- They are normally announced by Google
- They happen several times a year
- They typically take about 1 to 2 weeks to fully roll out.
- They may also affect Google Discover.
Image: Example of Google announcing May 2020 core update
At OMG we know Google core updates can be stressful and challenging for most marketers and business owners, so we have put together this guide to help you:
- Demystify and understand Google Algorithm Updates
- Create your own plan to address and adapt to these updates
Overview of Google Core Updates
- Over the last 4 years Google has announced 3 to 4 core algorithm updates – Almost 1 core update per quarter
- 8 out of the last 10 core updates were announced by Google
- Every time there’s a new core update, there’s a huge number of articles published based on early results, short-term losses/wins and superficial analyses. Everyone is looking for answers but be careful you don’t want to make changes based on corrupted data or misleading advice. More about this in the next section.
Challenges Marketers & Business Owners Go Through Every Time Google Releases A Core Update
Uncertainty
Google’s core updates normally have a significant impact on SERPs, traffic and your businesses bottom line. Even though they aim to improve Google’s user experience, they generate high levels of uncertainty as Google tends to keep the majority of the data confidential.
To deal with high levels of uncertainty, I recommend you to use the cone of uncertainty — a concept developed by PMs and software developers to visually represent uncertainty on software development projects.
The cone of uncertainty helps you understand how at the beginning of a core update very little is known about the update, and so estimates are subject to large uncertainty. The more research and development is done, more information is learned about the update, then the uncertainty tends to decrease.
Misleading Advice
After a core update most business owners and marketers face an excess of general information given by auto proclaimed SEO professionals that have zero or little experience in the field. Most authors provide generic or rather mediocre advice for people who are looking for solutions for complex problems. 99% of the time this type of advice is purely based on assumptions that are not backed up with experience or any type of data and because core updates normally become trending topics, “Industry Mainstream Media” start covering them with light content and the misinformation quickly spreads through the internet.
The above is understandable in an industry where the majority of the workforce (55%) has less than 5 years experience and 79.78% of the global demand for SEO jobs is focused on entry level or beginners candidates.
This basically shows us how the demand for basic SEO content is higher and because there’s not many people with the expertise to differentiate good over bad content.
New Technology Used For Core Updates
Website Representation Vectors
Right after the Medic Core Update back in 2018, Google announced a patent called Website Representation Vectors to classify sites using Neural networks, taking into consideration Google’s Quality Raters’ Guidelines E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness).
So, according to this patent, there’s a machine prioritising rank sites with a better level of expertise, authority and trust for ranking purposes.
Personalisation & Ongoing Experimentation
Google is constantly experimenting with its SERPs to find out the best possible experience for their users. Lately they have been A/B testing search suggestions based on user activity
These types of experiments aim to improve Google’s understanding of the intent behind certain keywords and improve users’ experience through personalisation.
The above technologies will prove crucial to predict Google’s Future Core Updates.
Why is it worth knowing about Google algorithm updates?
Google constantly reiterates its core algorithm, with updates happening several times a year. Some of these may be more or less significant than others, but the fact is even a small change in a behemoth like Google can have significant consequences for the digital landscape around you.
If you’ve received a bump or a drop in your page rankings, it could be because of an update or change you’ve made or the impact of a Google algorithm change. Knowing which is which will define how you respond and ensure your website maintains a competitive ranking on the queries that matter most to you. It will also help to recover from a Google ranking drop.
Sometimes, Google updates greatly impact where sites land in search — such as Google Panda in 2012, which sent many websites plummeting in search. Panda and Penguin (which targeted phoney paid backlinks) were major updates in the last decade that set out to target a malicious SEO practice that ‘cheated’ the system to artificially inflate a site’s visibility.
First Page Of Google Statistics
Ever since these major crackdowns, it’s much less likely that you’ll be downranked into oblivion overnight and more likely that your place may rise or fall by a few spots after a Google update is implemented.
Think of this movement less as a punishment for doing something wrong and more as a refresh of a best-of list. New entries appear on the list that may be more deserving of the top spot. But armed with the knowledge of what each core update focuses on, you can ensure that your content is optimised to rank as highly as it deserves.
If you haven’t stayed on top of all the Google updates and how they’ll affect your web presence, let us give you the complete Google history of updates and algorithm changes, starting with the latest Google update this year.
The latest Google algorithm updates in 2024. What do we know so far?
Every company dreams of securing the top spot or, at least, the first page on Google search results, but 2024 has made one thing crystal clear — Google’s algorithm is smarter than ever. Gone are the days of manipulating search rankings with quick fixes and shady tactics. While these might have yielded temporary results in the past, they ultimately damage a brand’s online reputation and hinder long-term success.
March 2024 — Core update and spam update
Google kicked off 2024 with a one-two punch — a major core update and a spam update, both rolled out in March. The core update, one of the most extensive in recent memory, refined how Google assesses helpfulness, user experience and content quality.
The spam update specifically targeted manipulative tactics like expired domain abuse, scaled content abuse and site reputation abuse. It rolled out globally, impacting all languages and regions. Sites found to be violating these new policies faced penalties ranging from lower rankings to complete removal from search results.
May 2024 — Site reputation update
Following up on March’s spam update, Google continued its crackdown on manipulative SEO practices in May with a focus on site reputation abuse. This update involved manual actions against sites engaging in link schemes, thin content and other deceptive tactics. If your site’s site’s reputation is questionable, Google is making it clear that rankings will suffer.
This heightened scrutiny underscores the growing importance of establishing and maintaining a positive online reputation. Sites with a history of spammy tactics, misleading content or negative user experiences are increasingly at risk. Google’s message is clear — build trust with your audience through genuine engagement, valuable content and ethical practices, or face the consequences.
May 2024 — The rise of AI-generated overviews (previously search generative experience)
In a move that signals a shift towards AI-powered search, Google introduced AI-generated summaries in May. Powered by their new Gemini model, these summaries aim to provide quick answers at the top of search results. While this feature is still evolving, it clearly indicates that Google is investing heavily in AI to enhance the search experience. For content creators, this means focusing on in-depth, authoritative content that can still shine in a world of AI-generated snippets.
Google Algorithm Updates 2023 – Search refined for relevance and experience
In 2023, Google continued its mission to deliver the most relevant and helpful search results by focusing on passage indexing and user experience (UX). Passage indexing allowed Google to understand specific page sections, improving results for complex queries. Meanwhile, SEO and UX updates aimed to make search faster and more accessible on mobile devices, emphasising that a smooth user journey is key to ranking well.
February 2023 — Product reviews update
This update aimed to reward high-quality product reviews that offered in-depth analysis, original research and genuine user or expert opinions. Sites that provided comprehensive reviews with unique insights and a clear understanding of the products they discussed saw a boost in rankings. Conversely, sites with thin or overly promotional reviews experienced a decline.
March 2023 — E-E-A-T
The Google March 2023 core algorithm update, a broad algorithm refresh, aimed to improve how Google assesses content overall. Sites with high-quality, relevant content saw a boost, while those with lower-quality or outdated content might have experienced a drop. This update emphasised the importance of Google’s E-E-A-T criteria (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) and user experience in ranking well.
The focus on E-E-A-T signals Google’s increasing emphasis on content created by knowledgeable sources with proven expertise and a positive track record. This shift highlights the importance of building domain authority and trust through in-depth, well-researched content that demonstrates a deep understanding of the subject matter.
Google E-E-A-T Criteria
It’s no longer enough to simply have information — you need to showcase your credentials and prove that your content is reliable and trustworthy.
April 2023 — Reviews update
This update targeted review content on a page-level basis, aiming to reward authentic, insightful 5 start reviews while Google started penalising websites with thin or unhelpful ones. Sites that provided detailed, informative reviews with clear pros and cons likely saw improved visibility in search results.
Google broadened the scope of this update beyond product reviews, extending it to services, local businesses, destinations and media. This expansion underscores the growing importance of experience-based reviews in establishing trust and credibility. To thrive in this new landscape, businesses need to focus on gathering authentic feedback from customers and fostering a community of engaged reviewers who are willing to share their in-depth experiences.
October 2023 — Spam update
Google’s October spam update aimed to improve spam detection across multiple languages, including Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi and Chinese. This update tackled various spam types, including cloaking, hacked, auto-generated and scraped content. Sites with genuine, original content benefited, while those relying on spammy tactics suffered.
November 2023 — Core update & reviews update
Google ended the year with a double update, combining a broad core algorithm refresh with a targeted focus on reviews. The core update aimed to improve the overall quality of search results, while the reviews update refined the way Google assesses product, service and local reviews. Sites that consistently produced helpful, high-quality website content and detailed, informative reviews saw a positive impact, reinforcing the importance of user-centric content creation as a core SEO strategy.
2022 – Helpful Content
Last year, Google increased its focus on the quality of content appearing in search results. The updated Google SEO algorithm updates for 2022 shows the long-term focus of the company, wanting to reward sites that think ‘people-first’ — genuinely answering questions and leaving searchers feeling satisfied that they found what they came for.
2021 – MUM (Multitask United Model)
Google’s update in 2021, known as ‘MUM’, introduced some major changes in search. Namely, it allowed Google to do more than one thing at once. The algorithm learned how to read, understand and learn in over 75 languages simultaneously while also interpreting video and audio sources for information.
MUM sought to develop a more comprehensive understanding of information than Google could, vastly improving on previous models. For example, imagine you’ve just done a bushwalk in Victoria, and next year you’re planning on making a trail at the same time of year in Tasmania.
Deciding what you might do differently to plan your trip would require numerous different searches, comparisons of geography and temperature and manually finding points of comparison yourself.
With MUM, all these separate queries could be answered using the nuance of AI, simply by querying: ‘I’ve done bushwalks in Victoria and want to do walks in Tasmania next year; what should I do differently to prepare?’
How AI impacts search
Google has traditionally been a country-specific and monolingual experience for its users. However, as the trends in web culture more broadly tend toward integrated spaces and diverse international communities, this way of operating is potentially limiting.
MUM broke down language barriers to give users knowledge from a variety of language sources and could also understand information from different formats simultaneously. It reflected Google’s aims for the future, where it anticipates its AI technology could understand the varied, organic ways people communicate and interpret information.
2021 – Page Experience Update
Along with MUM, the Page Experience Update debuted this year, introducing a new ranking signal that preferences pages based on user experience. Loading performance, interactivity and visual stability were all used as metrics for search ranking.
Google Page Experience Ranking Algorithm Updates
What You Need To Know About Google’s 2020 Algorithm Updates
Want to reach page one of Google’s organic search results? The first step: wrapping your head around the biggest Google Algorithm updates from 2020!
Search engine optimization (SEO) is always changing, and you NEED to stay on top of the game if you want to get ahead and reach that elusive spot on page 1.
2020 was a huge year for search. Between the rollout of many Google algorithm updates after algorithm updates, new eCommerce SEO and local SEO features, and massive changes to Google Analytics, a LOT happened that will impact how your website ranks in 2021 and beyond.
Chances are you didn’t read up on the latest SEO developments in 2020 amidst everything else that happened. Don’t worry — we have you covered.
Below, we’ve rounded up the biggest SEO stories from the past year that you need to know now.
Let’s dive in.
- Google algorithm updates
- Major SEO changes
- Reporting and Analytics updates
- eCommerce updates
- Local SEO updates
The Google algorithm updates of 2020
A global pandemic didn’t stop Google from making significant adjustments to its search algorithm in 2020. Google rolled out three core updates throughout the year, and announced more algorithm updates that will roll out in 2021.
What is a core algorithm update?
A core algorithm update happens multiple times in a year and is designed to reassess the existing pages in the top position against new content, or content that was previously overlooked. Understanding when these Google algorithm updates happen is key to understanding whether your website’s search engine ranking has been affected because of a Google update, or because of an issue or update that you’ve made on your website.
Why?
One Google update can have a big impact on where sites land in search (such as Google Panda in 2012, which sent a ton of websites plummeting in search). After it happens, you might find that your website is ranking higher, or you’ve moved down for pages that were previously ranking well.
However, unlike the Google Panda ranking algorithm update that was DESIGNED to weed out thin content, slipping a few spots after a Google algorithm update doesn’t mean that your site is low-quality or has any issues.
As Google sums it up on their Core Update webpage:
“One way to think of how a core update operates is to imagine you made a list of the top 100 movies in 2015. A few years later in 2019, you refresh the list. It’s going to naturally change. Some new and wonderful movies that never existed before will now be candidates for inclusion. You might also reassess some films and realize they deserved a higher place on the list than they had before.
The list will change, and films previously higher on the list that move down aren’t bad. There are simply more deserving films that are coming before them.”
With that being said, Google has also developed a comprehensive list of questions that you can read up on if your website was hit by a core update. These can be helpful if you want to understand how you can provide high-quality content that ranks for search queries in the future.
Google January 2020 Core Update
Google kicked off the year with a broad algorithm update, which was announced via the Search Liaison Twitter account. The update rolled out almost immediately afterwards across search results.
According to Moz, the main categories affected in this core update included health, family & community, and beauty & personal care. On top of this, Moz found that sites which have been impacted by one core update generally seem to be more likely to be affected in future core updates as well.
Image source: Moz
Google May 2020 Core Update
The January 2020 Core Algorithm Update was big, but the May 2020 Core Algorithm Update was even bigger and broader. In fact, this is one of the largest Google core updates since 2018, and some experts in the SEO community have even called this update an “absolute monster”.
Why?
Essentially, this major update went beyond evaluating the classic Google content ranking factors such as E.A.T. criteria (Expertise, Authority, Trust) to evaluating brand factors, such as user behaviour on websites.
According to SEO agency expert Marcus Tober from Search Metrics:
“[This] update seems to be broader than former updates…With former updates you normally have a large medical site between the winners like the WebMDs or Mayoclinics. That wasn’t the case here. From my just a few hour analysis it seems that Google was working again on content factors combined with brand factors (maybe including CTR/user data).”
This was also the time when the pandemic was in full swing across the globe, which may have influenced which sectors were the hardest hit. In fact, data from SEMRush shows that travel, real estate, and health websites were the most affected during this time:
Google December 2020 Core Update
Just when everyone thought the dust had settled, Google finished off the year with the December 2020 core algorithm update — and reports said it was EVEN bigger than May 2020. This update took place after Black Friday / Cyber Monday and Click Frenzy, but still had a major impact on a lot of brands as it was done just before the holiday season.
According to SEMRush, the most volatile categories during the December 2020 core algorithm updates included health, real estate, travel, finance, law and government on desktop. Meanwhile, the mobile changes mainly affected websites in health, law and government, jobs and education, pets & animals, and real estate:
Google Page Experience Ranking Algorithm Updates
In May 2020, Google also announced a big update that will begin affecting rankings in 2021. This new algorithm will consider user experience as a ranking factor that impacts where websites land in search engine results.
Google will do this by combining a set of metrics called Core Web Vitals with existing quality signals for user experience, such as mobile-friendliness, load time, and SSL encrypted browsing.
So what are Core Web Vitals?
“[Core Web Vitals are] a set of metrics related to speed, responsiveness and visual stability, to help site owners measure user experience on the web.” – Google
These ranking factors can be broken down into three categories:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This number measures the perceived load speed from a user’s perspective by marking the point in the page load timeline when the main content has likely loaded. According to Google, sites should aim to have an LCP score below 2.5 seconds.
- First Input Delay (FID): FID measures the interactivity of websites by measuring the time from when a user first interacts with a page to the time when a browser is able to respond to the interaction. The lower the FID, the better, with Google recommending that websites should have an FID of less than 100 milliseconds.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This metric measures the visual stability of a page based on how often a user experiences unexpected layout shifts, such as if a button on the page moves right before you’re about to click on it. Websites should aim for a CLS score of less than 0.1.
All of these numbers can be tracked via the Search Console Core Web Vitals report, or via the individual links above.
These Google algorithm updates will come together with existing ranking factors from updates such as Google Panda, in order to determine where a site lands in search:
It’s a lot, but luckily these updates won’t come into play until May 2021. This means there’s plenty of time to wrap your head around the changes and make sure your website stacks up.
Passage-based Indexing Update
Last but not least on the Google algorithm updates front is the rollout of passage-based indexing. This HUGE update is one of the biggest since Panda and Penguin, and will allow Google to go beyond indexing entire web pages to indexing individual passages from each page.
According to Google, this update will impact many sites, with roughly 7% of all search engine results affected when fully rolled out. For context, the Google Panda update hit almost 12% of English language search results (and Google Panda was one of the most significant changes in the search giant’s history).
Here’s an image illustrating how the update will work:
“We’ve recently made another breakthrough, and are now able to not just index webpages, but individual passages from those pages. This helps us find that needle in a haystack because now the whole of that one passage is relevant…This technology will improve 7% of search queries across all languages, and that’s just the beginning.” -Google
Some in the SEO community believe that the passage-based indexing update will use BERT, Google’s machine learning update that helps the search engine better understand user queries and content based on natural language processing.
This ranking change means that it’s even more important for sites to keep an eye on on-page optimisation, and structure pages effectively using heading and title tags. The passage-based indexing Google update started late last year for English language pages and is expected to roll into 2021.
Other major SEO changes
Going beyond the core updates and ranking algorithm updates, Google rolled out a number of changes to how pages are displayed in Google Search and how links are attributed between sites.
Evolving the “nofollow” link attribute
On top of the existing rel=”nofollow” link attribute for link building strategies, Google has also introduced the rel=”sponsored” for links that are advertisements or paid placements (such as a sponsored blog post), and rel=”ugc” for links to comments, forum posts, and other user-generated content.
Changes to structured data markup
In January 2020, Google announced that all sites that used data-vocabulary.org structured data markup will be ineligible for Google rich results, and website owners have until January 29, 2021 to switch to schema.org markup. If you’re unsure whether your site supports rich results, run the Rich Results Test to see which rich results can be generated based on the structured data on your site.
Changes to featured snippets
Previously, sites that appeared as a featured snippet could also appear on page one of Google search results. However, in January 2020, Google announced that they decluttered the first page of search so that pages that have earned a snippet won’t show up again as a regular listing. These snippets are now also counted as part of the top 10 organic results, and Google has also launched its featured snippet to web page highlight feature.
Updates to reporting and analytics tools
Both Google and Bing made significant updates to their analytics platforms in 2020. These changes included additional insights and reports, new tools, and new performance metrics such as Core Web Vitals.
Launch of the new removals tool in Google Search Console
This tool allows site owners to hide URLs from appearing in search results. On top of this, site owners can also see which pages have been filtered by SafeSearch, and which content isn’t displaying in search because users have made requests via the public Remove Outdated Content tool.
New and revamped Search Console reports
As we touched on earlier, Google has rolled out the Core Web Vitals report ahead of the new Page Experience Google Update. In addition, Search Console also revamped its crawl stats report to provide more actionable data for any site crawl issues.
Introduction of Search Console Insights
In August 2020, Google launched a closed beta for Search Console Insights. This view combines data from Search Console and Google Analytics to help publishers identify top-performing content, see how people are discovering their content, and more.
Google unveils Google Analytics 4
Google Analytics 4 is one of the biggest changes to the Analytics platform that the SEO community has seen in recent years. GA4 comes with a number of features and updates, including:
- AI-powered insights and predictions that can alert marketers to shifting data trends, and predict outcomes such as churn rates or the potential revenue that could be earned from a particular customer segment.
- Google Ads integration that allows businesses to create audiences from their website visitors and app users. GA4 will also provide cross-platform metrics across YouTube, Google Search and the Google Display Network.
- Reorganised reports that are centred around the customer lifecycle. Businesses can now get granular and drill down to particular aspects of the customer journey, such as acquisition, engagement and retention.
Microsoft Revamps Bing Webmaster Tools
Alongside the Google update to Analytics and Search Console, Microsoft has also overhauled its Bing Webmaster Tools with new features and tools.
Some of the highlights include a new site scan tool that crawls a site and identifies any common technical SEO issues, a backlinks comparison tool that allows site owners to compare their backlink profile to another site’s, and an enhanced robots.txt tester.
eCommerce SEO updates
eCommerce saw a surge in 2020, largely due to lockdowns and social distancing brought about by the pandemic. In turn, both Google and Bing have made a number of updates to their eCommerce search results.
Google and Bing opens up Shopping to unpaid organic listings
By far one of the most welcome updates amongst eCommerce businesses and the broader SEO community, Google and Bing have both opened up Shopping search results for unpaid organic listings — a domain that was previously reserved for paid ads only. Paid placements will still appear at the top and bottom of the page and, like paid Shopping Ads, these product feeds need to be uploaded to Google and Bing Merchant Centre.
Google updates popular products section to mobile search
In addition to Google Shopping listings, Google added a Popular Products section to search results for apparel, shoes, and other retail categories. This section is purely organic for the time being, and draws data from product schema and product feeds uploaded to Google Merchant Centre.
Image source: Search Engine Land
Local SEO updates
Despite COVID-19 significantly affecting local businesses, local SEO still saw its share of updates in 2020. Google My Business (GMB) had significant updates rolled out throughout the year, which impact how local businesses can be searched for and discovered online.
Improved performance metrics for GMB
In December, Google released an update that gives GMB businesses access to improved performance metrics. Local businesses using GMB can now see whether customers found them via Google Maps or via search engines, while the expanded messaging feature allows customers to message with businesses in real-time via their Business Profile on Google.
On top of this, Google Maps now displays web search results for individual businesses below the Google Maps search listings — giving companies an even higher chance of ranking in local search results.
Google introduces ‘nearby’ feature to Shopping tab
As more customers choose to shop online and pick up in-store, Google has added a more prominent “nearby” filter within the Shopping tab. This feature allows users to search only for products that are available from local stores, and check whether these items are in stock like so:
Image source: 9to5 Google
In light of COVID-19, local business cards now also include a store’s name, location, hours, and services offered (such as curbside pickup, in-store pickup and delivery). Business owners can optimise their listings for features via Google Merchant Centre.
Launch of ‘upgraded’ GMB profile
The Google Guaranteed certification was introduced for paid advertisers alongside Local Services Ads as a way to boost confidence for users looking to shop locally. For the first time this year, Google has started offering the ‘Google Guaranteed’ badge for non-advertisers as part of a new subscription-based GMB service.
Business owners who ‘upgrade’ their GMB profile will have a certification appear on their local business profile, as well as potentially on local search results:
Image source: Search Engine Land
This service costs $50 a month and businesses need to meet Google’s eligibility criteria, which includes background checks and licensing checks.
2019 – BERT
With this algo update, Google started to move towards machine learning and AI technology in a significant way. BERT is a machine learning algorithm, a large language learning model which uses neural networks to better process language.
Pre Vs Post Bert
Perhaps the biggest change with BERT was its ability to glean the full context of a keyword by looking at what words came before and after it. Rather than assessing words individually in the order they appear, the algorithm could use context and the relation between all the words in a sentence to better establish meaning, relevance and readability for users.
2018 – Medic
Medic was one of those Google updates that spelled big shifts in search rankings. As one of the broadest core updates, it tackled medical sites and information with a keener eye. Many of these medical-related sites were slugged with lower rankings, focusing on better catering to searcher’s needs and intent.
2018 – (Mobile) Speed Update
This is another one of Google’s updates for 2018 that reflected user behaviour. The SEO update acknowledged that users want information delivered fast. Page loading speed for mobile searches became a ranking factor in meeting this need, and mobile-first web design has only grown in popularity since.
2016 – Possum
Possum was all about improving Google’s local ranking filter to provide better local search results. By taking into account the physical location of the user and the phrasing of the query, local landing pages became a lot more varied.
2015 – RankBrain
RankBrain was the start of machine learning playing a role in Google’s search algorithm. It could make educated guesses about words it doesn’t know, find words with similar meanings, and offer relevant results based on these connections. As a machine-learning model, RankBrain analysed the volume of past searches to determine how it could improve its results.
2015 – Mobile Update
By 2015, iPhone was onto its sixth iteration, and mobile data was transforming the way searchers sought information. In response to the increased use of mobile for searches, Google launched its first update, which rewarded mobile-friendly sites with better rankings in search results.
2014 – HTTPS / SSL
Very much an SEO update that focused on webmasters getting their house in order, HTTP / SSL was all about website security. The update gave a small ranking boost to sites that followed proper protocol and correctly implemented HTTPS, providing a more secure connection between the site and the user.
Business Guide To SSL / Secure Sockets Layer
2014 – Pigeon
The results page and Google Maps were affected by Pigeon, a local SEO update that led to more accurate localisation favouring results near the user’s location. Organic ranking factors were also considered to give searchers more relevant, higher-quality search results.
2013 – Hummingbird
Hummingbird laid the foundations for voice search as the rise of devices like Alexa and Google Home increased in popularity. Before this Google update, only particular words in a query were taken into account for search. After Hummingbird, the whole phrase was assessed to give users a clear answer rather than just a list of results.
Its biggest impact was enforcing as SEO best practice that copy should always read naturally, be clear and easily comprehensible, and not over-optimised in an artificial sounding way.
2012 – Pirate
As the name suggests, this Google update clamped down on illegally spreading copyrighted content. How copyright functions online, in general, is still a contentious topic, but Google’s line in the sand established a somewhat traditional publishing approach.
2012 – Penguin
Penguin is one of those Google algorithms changes that people seem to have heard of, but may not understand the details around. Essentially, it introduced backlinks as a ranking factor but also applied more scrutiny to them.
Google Penguin Algorithm Update
Whereas in the past, any link from a website might have boosted your ranking, Penguin assessed whether these backlinks were genuine or if they’d been bought to artificially inflate a site’s rank. Overnight, sites that had been engaging in this practice were removed, making bought links a useless metric for ranking highly.
2012 – Venice
Venice was one of the earliest changes that reflected user needs. Based on the understanding that searchers were often looking for results local to them, the local SEO for businesses was born. Following the Venice update, Google’s search results included pages based on a location set by the user, or their IP address.
2011 – Panda
Google’s Panda algorithm update brings us all the way back to the beginning of Google’s history of algorithm updates. Focused mainly on on-page factors, Panda was designed to determine whether a website genuinely offered relevant information to a search term, and it permanently affected how we approach SEO.
Google Panda Algorithm SEO Update Of 2011
In the Panda update, two types of sites were hit hardest; affiliate sites, which existed mainly to link to other pages, and sites with very thin content. The length of SEO copy, the number of links used on a page and other on-page factors were still a huge component of SEO best practice.
What is the future of Google algorithm updates?
At this point, Google is a highly effective, ubiquitous and powerful search engine. Gone are the days of transformative core updates, which change rankings completely overnight. In the future, Google algorithm updates will be more about fine-tuning a well-oiled machine than turning the internet on its head.
Predicting the future of Google updates means looking at its key focus areas:
- Perfecting search queries and styling results pages — Google is continuously working to better interpret the information it indexes and present the results in ways that provide an integrated user experience. Google E-A-T criteria, featured snippets and other information syntheses can be expected to continue.
- UX and user-friendliness — This point goes hand in hand with the one before. Providing answers without having to navigate off the page, summarising information sources and contextualising results to give a better user experience are all coming down the pike.
- Mobile experience and mobile search — Mobile is, by far, the dominant device used by searchers, and a Google mobile-first indexing approach will likely become the future for all but a handful of sites as Google prioritises the mobile experience. So mobile SEO may be a huge game changer.
- Continued integration of AI and search — With the recently announced soft launch of Google’s Bard AI, machine learning is moving firmly from behind-the-scenes elements of the search algorithm to be front and centre of the user experience. Conversational results and added context will likely become the norm as Google anticipates the future of AI virtual assistants, voice search and other changing user behaviours. Wondered how other search engines fair? Discover Yandex’s ranking factors.
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