Algorithm Update Timeline
Google is always evolving to provide the best search results for its users. This constant development occurs through daily updates to their search algorithms. Due to the sheer volume of changes made, Google does not announce all of them. That’s why when Google releases a statement about the launch of a new update, it’s a big deal.
These software and design changes are significant for their look and feel and have a massive impact on how businesses operate within their ecosystem. One of the most critical keys to success for those who primarily use Google for their marketing efforts is to keep up with the ongoing algorithm updates that span their various platforms.
This page provides a comprehensive summary of exactly what the Google algorithm is and does and keeps an updated timeline of the most recent updates released to the public, available below. Let’s dive in.
Brief Overview of Google Algorithm Updates
The Google algorithm is essentially the software responsible for compiling an official search engine ranking system, which aims to promote results that prioritize users’ search intent based on relevance and the quality of the page itself. Continuous updates are developed to stifle “black hat” tricks or shortcuts and, overall, improve the experience for anyone visiting the webpage in question.
In their early and most basic forms, Google’s algorithm updates focused on eliminating spam and low-quality content, improving search results based on more semantic queries, and even changing the nature of content that appears (showcasing images, video, shopping, etc. in the results rather than simply returning websites).
Different Types of Updates to Google’s Algorithm
There are several different varieties of Google algorithm updates that can occur, with the aforementioned core updates bringing the broader, more comprehensive measures to production, while smaller, more subtle tweaks aim to improve the overall functionality of the search platform for everybody. The following are the main types of updates Google often releases.
Core Updates – Google’s core updates span the length of a few months at the very least, and address wide, sweeping initiatives with the goal of shaking up multiple ranking factors in one major release.
Spam Updates – As the name suggests, spam updates are directly focused on improving search results by eliminating those who are trying to trick the system, helping to remove sites that abuse links, hide text, or overuse AI in order to appear more relevant.
Quality Review Updates – One of the newer initiatives Google is making is to improve the quality of the content it returns in the results. This not only deals with relevancy to the queries, but a larger focus on real-life expertise and the level of trustworthiness.
Local Updates – These are updates focusing on regional-specific queries, helping to prop up small local businesses and other relevant searches that involve your geographical location.
Mobile/AI Etc. Updates – Google also releases a range of updates that deal with their mobile platform, improving user experience for those devices. The same goes for updates specifically garnered to bolster their machine-learning software, which is becoming increasingly crucial to understanding user behavior.
What Google Aims to Achieve with Each Update
While the range of Google’s algorithm updates are wide-spanning and can throw a curveball to digital marketing efforts, the goal is to ultimately improve the ecosystem so that E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness) guidelines are prioritized to the maximum. This means continuous, ongoing adjustments to all algorithms in the form of periodic updates.
Some of the things Google hopes to achieve with each update in terms of enhancing the user experience are things like improving result relevancy, deterring spam, and, as of recently, trying to hone in on user intent in a more prominent way than ever before. With the ongoing collection of data that is constantly occurring, you can only expect these algorithms to become more precise to each person, especially as their machine learning continues to differentiate between the individual and total overall user behavior.
Google Algorithm Timeline Updates
Here’s an overview of the latest updates Google has made to its search platform’s algorithm, along with some of the other more recent improvements to other aspects of its infrastructure. The updates are listed conveniently in reverse chronological order, with the newest updates listed first. This page will be updated periodically in order to keep you informed of Google’s next move.
December 2024 Spam Update
Impact: Tackled measures to continue fighting spam, following the March Core Update and June Spam Update that saw “unhelpful” content reduced by 40% in results. The further effectiveness of this impact should be monitored in 2025.
Winners & Losers: The only real losers in spam updates are those using black-hat SEO practices, as these frequent initiatives aim to make SERPs helpful rather than allowing algorithms to bolster sites that simply check the boxes.
Status: Complete
Start Date: December 19th
End Date: December 26th
December 2024 Core Update
Impact: This shorter core update lasted just six days, but Google’s emphasis on using multiple ranking systems saw search results fluctuate in categories such as e-commerce and information.
Winners & Losers: With no explicit information about what exactly this Core update entails, Google has reassured that “If we have updates that can improve Search, that have been developed over the course of several months, we release them when they’re ready.”
Status: Complete
Start Date: December 12th
End Date: December 18th
Site Reputation Abuse Update #2
Impact: This initiative was announced earlier this year and is meant to address “parasite SEO” — a practice that aims to penalize established domains that try and bolster rankings using third-party content. Though it’s been a manual process up until now, it’s most likely being implemented into algorithmic updates.
Winners & Losers: The most noticeable high-profile hits seemed to affect third-party content for major brands. Those continuing to create informative and reliable content should see an advantage, especially on smaller specialized websites.
Status: Confirmed/Ongoing
Start Date: September
End Date: November-Present
November 2024 Core Update
Impact: While less volatile than other core updates in the past, the November edition saw a continued focus on creating people-first content and an effort to improve local and industry-specific results. A lot of speculation also surrounded whether or not this was centered around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Winners & Losers: At first glance, the sites most affected by this seemed to be those outside of the U.S., but for the moment, rankings may be affected positively or negatively despite not signaling a specific reason for these changes.
Status: Complete
Start Date: November 11th
End Date: December 5th
August 2024 Core Update
Impact: A high rate of volatility was observed after this update rolled out, however, it may not have been clear as to why some sites saw a hit and others did not. As has been the theme for this year, writing “satisfying content meant for people” remains the priority for webmasters.
Winners & Losers: The real winners of this update are the small and independent sites which Google says are just as high-quality as larger popular ones when serving “useful, original content.” An ongoing effort to connect people to these sites began in response to feedback given after the March core update.
Status: Complete
Start Date: August 15th
End Date: September 3rd
Deep Fake Ranking Update
Impact: Google updated its ranking system to devalue deepfake content, especially those sites using explicit images that are either ambiguous or non-consensual. AI-generated images and deepfakes, which have become prominent in unethical news articles and the spread of misinformation, have become a recent issue.
Winners & Losers: Sites that received a large number of removal requests for containing too many AI deepfakes were immediately demoted in search, further ensuring that Google would not tolerate these types of disingenuous media going forward.
Status: Complete
Start Date: July 31st
End Date: July 31st
June 2024 Spam Update
Impact: This general spam update took about a week to roll out and consisted of updates to automated systems that detect search spam and how they operate. This included a mention of Google’s AI spam-prevention system known as SpamBrain, which they noted Google is continuously improving to make it more effective at catching and identifying new types of spam.
Winners & Losers: Unless you are involved in shady practices, this is a measure that should be welcomed by everyone. If you were impacted negatively, you should evaluate which content on your site is being graded negatively and make the necessary changes in accordance with policy.
Status: Complete
Start Date: June 20th
End Date: June 27th
Site Reputation Abuse Update #1
Impact: The first round of action taken against websites using their reputation to promote low-relevancy content was handled by Google, who made manual adjustments themselves rather than to the algorithm as a whole.
Winners & Losers: This update penalized authoritative sites that were abusing third-party content to increase unique page views, a practice commonly referred to as “parasite SEO.” Individual demotions to offenders had the possibility to help some competitors in their rankings.
Status: Complete
Start Date: May 6th
End Date: May 6th
March 2024 Core Update
Impact: This update was unlike previous core updates because not only did it involve multiple systems being enhanced over a period of six weeks, but it also saw the integration of the helpful content system into Google’s core algorithm. This also showed signs that Google’s identifying more signals, like being able to recognize helpful content at the page level, and they claim this update reduced unhelpful content by 40%.
Winners & Losers: The length and breadth of this update alone provided a lot of uncertainties as many sites saw volatile activity over the 45 days it took for this core algorithm update to complete. Because spam and search quality were the focus, it means these are more the laws of the land and losers are mostly bad actors anyway.
Status: Complete
Start Date: March 5th
End Date: April 19th
November 2023 Reviews Update
Impact: In conjunction with the November core update, this particular one dealt explicitly with landing pages that have review content, which has been an ongoing initiative for Google to improve their search results. However, because it was released during the peak commercial season when results were already disrupted, some sites were negatively affected, while others rebounded from the October core update.
Winners & Losers: Only pages that contained reviews were affected by this update, but Google was looking for authenticity and relevance, as well as a clear presentation that would make the page helpful for visitors. If you saw declines in performance, updates to the site could revert these impacts in the future.
Status: Complete
Start Date: November 8th
End Date: December 7th
November 2023 Core Update
Impact: The biggest news from this update was the admission from Google that there are, in fact, multiple core systems, as they stated that the November update handled a different algorithm than the previous update in October.
Winners & Losers: Impacting a wide variety of domains and types of content, it’s thought that this update was primarily centered around furthering Google’s interpretation of E-E-A-T practices.
Status: Complete
Start Date: November 2nd
End Date: November 28th
October 2023 Core Update
Impact: Perhaps the most significant update of this period, the October core update saw a massive shift in how Google interprets E-E-A-T, or experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness on a website. Many sites saw ranking volatility, but this was also due to it happening simultaneously with the spam update.
Winners & Losers: It was unclear who was really impacted either way by this update due to the overlap, but it affected all industry and content varieties.
Status: Complete
Start Date: October 5th
End Date: October 19th
October Spam Update
Impact: Specifically targeting manipulative SEO practices, this update honed in on spam detection and largely left sites building links for SEO purposes alone. However, if the content was found to be AI-generated, cloaked, or scraped spam from other sites, it was likely targeted.
Winners & Losers: As we always say, you’re only likely to be targeted during spam updates if you’re doing something you shouldn’t be according to best practices, so negative impacts are usually a wake-up call requiring your site to align with the regulations.
Status: Complete
Start Date: October 4th
End Date: October 20th
September Helpful Content Update
Impact: In its third installment, this version of the helpful content update was targeted at sites that leaned on their SEO practices too much. It called for sites to prioritize people-first content that could provide helpful information without relying solely upon checking boxes.
Winners & Losers: If you operate a site that used SEO to outweigh the lack of E-E-A-T on your landing page, it’s possible you were affected because of perceived “unhelpful” content. Focus on keeping your content current and relevant to your site for optimal adherence under this new and “improved classifier.”
Status: Complete
Start Date: September 14th
End Date: September 28th
August 2023 Core Update
Impact: Due to the extreme amount of fluctuation in rankings over the summer months, thanks to minor adjustments by Google, the effects of this update were underwhelming at best, with no new direction from the search engine.
Winners & Losers: While core updates can instigate massive industry shifts, this one was more subdued.
Status: Complete
Start Date: August 22nd
End Date: September 7th
Search Generative Experience and Topical Authority Update
Impact: AI results straight from Google Bard began showing up for signed-in users as a part of the new Search Generative Experience (SGE), marking the introduction of Google’s own sourced answers to queries.
During this same week, Google also acknowledged their use of “topic authority” for the first time, noting that they have a system in place to elevate relevant and knowledgeable content to Google search and news.
Winners & Losers: Any SEO specialist begrudgingly welcomed the Google SGE, as it effectively pushes organic and paid results further down the page unless you become the site Google deems most expert on the topic. The future implications can only remain to be seen.
Status: Complete
Start Date: May 23rd
End Date: May 25th
April 2023 Reviews Update
Impact: Pulling from their existing infrastructure for product reviews, Google used these criteria to now apply to all general reviews for businesses, destinations, media, and services. This analysis is usually just derived at the page level.
Winners & Losers: Google said this update did not evaluate third-party reviews, and that it is purely focused on “content written with the purpose of providing a recommendation, giving an opinion, or providing analysis.”
Status: Complete
Start Date: April 12th
End Date: April 25th
March 2023 Core Update
Impact: While there wasn’t any clear indicator of this core update’s intentions, like many cases in the past, it was more volatile than normal, seemingly honing in on “helpful content” more and more.
Winners & Losers: Many sites saw fluctuations throughout this two-week period, but negative effects mostly occurred on pages where the intentions were not clearly displayed or properly sourced.
Status: Complete
Start Date: March 15th
End Date: March 28th
February Product Reviews Update
Impact: The increased priority of showcasing high-quality product reviews is being realized, and in this iteration, there were 10 additional languages added to the algorithm, allowing more sites to be indexed and compared.
Winners & Losers: All internet users win when more languages are being analyzed to provide the most accurate response to a query, and this also opens the door to finding answers if you’re multi-lingual or even living in a place that speaks any of the languages added during this, and future updates.
Status: Complete
Start Date: February 21st
End Date: March 7th
December 2022 Link Spam Update
Impact: Google’s SpamBrain software is now able to detect if a site is receiving unnatural links or is linking out unnaturally. Not only will it nullify these sources, but it’s meant to diminish credit to pages using this method to boost rankings.
Winners & Losers: If you were engaging in spammy linking practices, this was probably an update that made you rethink this strategy for a more authentic one.
Status: Complete
Start Date: December 14th
End Date: January 12th
December 2022 Helpful Content Update
Impact: The concept of helpful content is only becoming more prevalent, as this more than month-long update saw Google’s classifier sending new signals, although it did overlap with the link spam update that rolled out the same period.
Winners & Losers: It’s hard to know whether this helpful content update or the link spam update was to blame for rankings shifts, so all webmasters should continue to monitor the effects of this update in the future.
Status: Complete
Start Date: December 5th
End Date: January 12th
October 2022 Spam Update
Impact: This was a global update that spanned all languages, but it was unclear exactly which forms of spam Google was targeting during this rollout. Google claimed it aimed to focus on“behaviors that attempt to narrowly avoid violating [their] quality guidelines, but are still manipulative in nature.”
Winners & Losers: When Google’s SpamBrain gets smarter, authentic and honest sites benefit, while those trying to get away with tricky practices largely begin to get caught. Here, Google is reminding us that SpamBrain will only continue to get better.
Status: Complete
Start Date: October 19th
End Date: October 21st
September 2022 Product Reviews Update
Impact: In tandem with the core update, this update primarily elevated credible product reviews written in English, attempting to make queries for certain items more relevant if customers took the time to write personal accounts.
Winners & Losers: While this only affected English product reviews, it certainly points to Google expanding this priority and oversight to the greater landscape of reviews in general.
Status: Complete
Start Date: September 20th
End Date: September 26th
September 2022 Core Update
Impact: As they notoriously are, this core update was somewhat indistinguishable from the preceding August helpful content update and product reviews update that occurred simultaneously.
Winners & Losers: While less impactful than some core updates in the past, it’s clear that Google’s emphasis on the concept of E-A-T content is only becoming more prevalent.
Status: Complete
Start Date: September 12th
End Date: September 26th
August 2022 Helpful Content Update
Impact: At the time, this marked a major shift in the way Google evaluates content, as they even provided 15 questions content moderators should review to ensure their content is being prioritized for humans first.
Winners & Losers: This move by Google was meant to send the signal that informative content would now supersede pages that are simply trying to outrank each other in search results. Because it marked a turning point, the true outcome of this move would be increasingly felt in the years to follow.
Status: Complete
Start Date: August 25th
End Date: September 9th
July 2022 Product Reviews Update
Impact: This continuation of the product review updates was most likely a tweak to the algorithm, which refined its classification of what makes a quality, authentic review.
Winners & Losers: While there wasn’t much volatility, Google was setting the stage for a more robust analytical tool to determine what makes a high-quality review.
Status: Complete
Start Date: July 27th
End Date: August 4th
May 2022 Core Update
Impact: After more than six months, Google introduced its first core update of the year, which improved how its rankings systems evaluate content, giving insight into what would eventually come later on with helpful content initiatives.
Winners & Losers: Many sites that did not previously emphasize E-A-T standards in their content saw negative fluctuations, giving webmasters a look into the future to understand that user intent would be a huge factor in SERPs going forward.
Status: Complete
Start Date: May 25th
End Date: June 9th
March 2022 Product Reviews Update
Impact: Setting its focus on the validity and quality nature of product reviews, Google made this its own type of update that differed from the core updates, and these would be rolled out over the coming months. The goal here was to find more detailed, thoughtful reviews with dashes of expertise and product comparisons, among other things.
Winners & Losers: The major impacts of product review improvements will be seen as pages invest more time in making sure these types of content are relevant, valuable, and authentic. Ultimately, it sets the standards higher for everyone.
Status: Complete
Start Date: March 23rd
End Date: April 11th
February 2022 Page Experience Update
Impact: In an effort to match a previous update released to mobile devices, Google released a page experience update to desktops, affecting a number of ranking factors from core web vitals to the use of https. The main question they’re now asking is how quickly people can find the information they’re looking for on your page.
Winners & Losers: If you find that your site decreased in rankings after this page experience update, it’s worth analyzing what competitors are doing and seeing how they achieve a more streamlined experience.
Status: Complete
Start Date: February 22nd
End Date: March 3rd
December 2021 Product Reviews Update
Impact: Following the November core update, this product-oriented improvement focused on insightful reviews while also emphasizing the importance of linking to multiple sellers. Review pages also learned that providing evidence in the form of media would help pages rank more favorably.
Winners & Losers: The only pages really affected by these types of updates are sites reviewing products for a certain industry, so unless you’re specializing in informing readers about the competition, it’s unlikely the whole site will see drastic effects.
Status: Complete
Start Date: December 1st
End Date: December 20th
November 2021 Core Update
Impact: This core update was broader, but Google reminded webmasters to continue to follow their guidance on improving page relevancy and site navigation, in addition to eliminating any spammy practices.
Winners & Losers: Because of its general nature, this core update puts everyone in a similar position to follow Google’s guidelines, as the continuous nature of any algorithm update will tell you that things continue to become more and more tailored by query specificity.
Status: Complete
Start Date: November 17th
End Date: November 30th
November 2021 Spam Update
Impact: Google reiterated that sites should follow their Webmaster Guidelines in order to be in compliance with search’s best practices while also not being picked up by the spam detection system, which was at the heart of this update.
Winners & Losers: The removal of spam is better for everyone, so maintaining ethical website practices puts you in the good graces of Google as they look to weed out bad actors.
Status: Complete
Start Date: November 3rd
End Date: November 11th
The Evolution of Google Algorithm Updates Over Time
Google algorithm updates are nothing new, but they’re certainly becoming more refined and advanced, digging deeper into page interactions, better comprehending user data, and continuously learning who is actually looking for what. While the early 2000s comprised of addressing spammy tactics like keyword stuffing, the 2010s saw a much larger focus on query semantics and the quality of content.
In recent years, AI has taken the wheel, as updates like BERT in 2019 and MUM in 2021 put emphasis on natural language processing and multi-modal understanding of complex queries. Recurring updates to core web vitals also make indexing billions of web pages much easier when sorted by overall user experience, including ease of use like speed and interactivity.
How It’s Affected SERPS
As you can imagine, search engine result pages (more commonly referred to as SERPs) are the main component affected by each one of these updates, whether it’s directly related to the algorithm, or just one of the many thousands of experimental tests Google runs to gain a working knowledge of potential changes they’re considering implementing.
The most important conclusion we’ve made in regard to how Google’s updates have changed SERPs as we know them are the penalties, discrimination, and elimination of manipulative, black-hat SEO tactics. Where once these tricky practices could slide under the radar, Google’s technology has become so good that it’s nearly impossible to evade them any longer.
This has directly resulted in the ability to reward quality content to a greater degree, prioritizing those pages with authority and relevancy in Google’s dynamic rankings, which constantly change in order to keep up with ongoing modifications that webmasters are making as they learn about the stipulations of these updates.
This has allowed Google to become more proficient in returning localized results when called for, as well as the ability to showcase snippets to use in featured results where applicable.
How to Respond to Negative Impacts From Google Algorithm Updates
One of the easiest ways for digital marketing specialists to notice the negative impacts of a Google algorithm update is to analyze performance using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, which allow you to track and analyze clients and keywords after an update goes live. While Google is ultimately the one in control, staying on top of the best practices and conducting periodical site audits will help you align the content and structure on your pages to be in accordance with the latest guidelines.
And while keeping up with what Google is doing is important, it’s just as critical for you as an SEO specialist to work with your content team to make sure your pages fall in line with E-E-A-T to guarantee accuracy and expertise while also providing a secure and intuitive experience. These can include things like optimizing site speed, cleaning up dead pages and broken links, or enhancing the mobile experience.
Proactive Ways To Appear More Favorable To Google
To be seen more favorably in the eyes of Google, you’ll want to implement some well-known SEO best practices into your web management routine. Here are a few ways we recommend doing this.
- Understand the User Experience – Staying on top of a page’s presentation and performance is crucial to offering a smooth navigation experience, so prioritizing loading speed, eliminating clutter or invasive ads, and optimizing across devices are all preferred.
- Focus on Quality Content First – Think E-E-A-T before anything else. These have long been Google’s four pillars, and relevant and engaging content has never been more important as the company continues to weed out anyone cutting corners or spewing misinformation.
- Embrace Ethical SEO Tactics – While this should be a given, there are still plenty of webmasters trying to manipulate the system. It’s much more effective to simply spend the extra time sourcing legitimate material, providing quality backlinks, and structuring your text in a strategic manner that doesn’t involve keyword stuffing. In other words, be conscious of your decisions.
- Be Willing to Use New Tech – There are plenty of digital marketing tools out there, from Google’s own to SEO services and the advent of new AI programs popping up everywhere. We recommend using these tools proactively, meaning to improve your workflow and fill in gaps, rather than expecting them to do the work for you.
Look Out For Future Updates – Stay alert and be willing to learn about the details of each update Google rolls out, whether it’s to the algorithm at large, or the numerous smaller tweaks they’re making on a weekly basis.
Google Algorithm Update FAQs
Here are some of the most common questions SEO specialists and other digital marketers have concerning Google’s algorithm updates.
How Often Do Algorithm Updates Happen, and What Do They Entail?
Crawling and indexing websites isn’t just a one-time thing, and Google runs these operations periodically in order to follow data points derived from users’ behavior, site performance, and more. In addition to refining these processes, it also aims to adjust the importance of other ranking signals, such as backlinking, content quality, metadata, and other metrics dealing with user experience.
At times, there are even new experimental features like the implementation of AI that are simultaneously being tested alongside more proven updates. In about a year’s time, digital marketers using Google for SEO initiatives can expect to see about 3-5 core updates in a calendar year, with numerous weekly and sometimes even daily updates being rolled out to initiate minor fixes. However, you won’t want to ignore these more frequent, minor improvements, as they can have serious incremental impact over time.
Are All Algorithm Updates Officially Announced By Google?
The short answer is no. While core updates are more formally announced, there are countless ongoing changes, experiments, and AI-reliant processes that Google is running constantly on a daily basis. These are meant to provide continuous improvements, which the SEO community keeps an ongoing track record of.
How Can I Tell if an Update Affected My Website?
Other than staying on top of news of rollouts and regularly monitoring performance, specialists should rely on Search Console and Analytics to track their pages and be alert for any significant fluctuations. Sometimes, the effects of an update may not become apparent until days or even weeks later.
How Do I Recover From a Rankings Drop, and How Long Will It Take?
While there is no explicit way to directly improve your rankings overnight, conducting a thorough audit and focusing on optimizing the overall user experience should continue to be the main point of focus. Ensuring you’re in line with Google’s guidelines for content and page quality will only improve your rankings in the long run.
Is There a Way to Predict Future Updates?
You may not be able to pinpoint the exact date when a core update begins, but all SEO specialists should expect them to occur anywhere from three to six times per year, on average. However, it’s the many smaller updates and improvements that are constantly being rolled out that should be followed, providing initiatives to stay relevant in their rankings system.
Do Google Updates Affect All Industries Equally?
No, different updates released by Google actually target specific industries more often than they are overarching. For instance, e-commerce, health, and information are all analyzed differently to better understand intent, audiences, and, ultimately, the quality of a website in relation to its competition.
Additional Resources
Here are some of the most helpful resources Google offers in order to stay ahead of the curve as an SEO professional.
We also encourage all webmasters to follow industry news, use SEO monitoring tools of their choice, and keep up with community discussions regarding trends and impacts to gain a better idea of how these Google updates affect the greater online search ecosystem as a whole.