Evolution of Google's Algorithm (2002-2022)

How does Google's search algorithm work?

The eternal question, since everyone wonders how Google's algorithm works. There are things we know and things we don't, good and bad practices when it comes to how it interprets your site. It all starts with a crawl and a subsequent indexing; from there your site is evaluated and placed in the position the algorithm determines.

Main Google updates and algorithm changes

As we mentioned before, the algorithm has been evolving and, ultimately, has become more complex. These changes are constant, but there are always core updates that stand out more in how the SERPs are presented to us. Some of these algorithm changes are confirmed and others we simply sense when we see major fluctuations across different websites or searches.

Let's look chronologically, starting with the most recent, at what these changes have been:

December 2020 Core Update

On December 3, 2020, Google announced that, that same day, a new core algorithm update would begin rolling out. The rollout will take between one and two weeks. There is still no further information about this new update.

Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the December 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we've covered before. Please see this blog post for more about that:https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 3, 2020

May 2020 Core Update

Google announced on May 4, 2020 that it would launch its second Core Update of the year that same day, and that it would take between one and two weeks to be fully deployed. On May 18, it announced that it was already 100% operational. It appears to have impacted SERPs with the inclusion of new modules in the results and noticeable fluctuations on YMYL sites. A new Medic Update?

Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the May 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we've covered before. Please see this blog post for more about that:https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 4, 2020

COVID-19 Update / Pandemic Google Update

This wasn't an algorithm update in itself, but any SEO or webmaster has surely noticed major changes since the coronavirus entered our lives. Some changes were genuine shifts in consumer habits and search trends, but others were direct changes in search result positions. After a while, everything stabilized and returned to normal.

January 2020 Core Update

Like the later May update, Google's January Core Update left a trail of visibility losses on YMYL-themed sites: medical, financial, etc.

Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the January 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we've covered before. Please see this blog post for more about that:https://t.co/e5ZQUA3RC6

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) January 13, 2020

Google BERT NLP Update

Rollout in 70 languages in December 2019

Rollout in English in October 2019

One of the biggest updates carried out by Google. The evolution of RankBrain arrived in October for searches made in English from the United States and, in December, was deployed in 70 languages. Google estimated that its impact would be felt in 10% of searches.

Meet BERT, a new way for Google Search to better understand language and improve our search results. It's now being used in the US in English, helping with one out of every 10 searches. It will come to more counties and languages in the future. pic.twitter.com/RJ4PtC16zj

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 25, 2019

September 2019 Core Update

Another major algorithm change without an animal name — where are the pandas, penguins and hummingbirds? Among other things, this update seemed to impact websites that had already been affected by previous updates. The typical rollback where we realize nothing was as good nor as bad as it seemed after a core update.

Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the September 2019 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we've covered before. Please see this blog for more about that: https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) September 24, 2019

Google Maverick Update - July 2019

A new update that was not confirmed by Google. There aren't many details about it, but all SERP volatility measurement tools detected major fluctuations. Where there's smoke, there's fire…

As for the name "Maverick," we're not really sure why...

June 2019 Core Update

An update that was announced, then delayed, and finally launched — that's how the June 2019 Core Update went. It's not clear whether it was a rollback of the March update or a necessary adjustment after the deindexing issues announced by Google during April and May.

Tomorrow, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the June 2019 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we've covered before. Please see this tweet for more about that:https://t.co/tmfQkhdjPL

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 2, 2019

March 2019 Core Update

This Core Update announced by Google brought drops on domains that had already suffered with the Medic Update. Despite this, Google itself denied that this update was focused on that sector.

This week, we released a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. Our guidance about such updates remains as we've covered before. Please see these tweets for more about that:https://t.co/uPlEdSLHoXhttps://t.co/tmfQkhdjPL

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) March 13, 2019

Google Medic Update - August 2018

The famous Medic Update was confirmed by Google as a core algorithm update. According to a lot of published data, it mostly affected sites related to health and wellness, hence the name it was given. The truth is that many other sectors also "suffered" from it, but in health it was fairly widespread.

This week we released a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. Our guidance about such updates remains the same as in March, as we covered here: https://t.co/uPlEdSLHoX

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) August 1, 2018

Google Mobile Speed Update - July 2018

Google had already warned about it a few months before its rollout, which arrived in July 2018. Supposedly, mobile loading speed would become a "ranking factor," but Google announced it would only affect sites that were excessively slow.

Google Mobile-First Index - March 2018

The rollout of the mobile-first index arrived in March 2018. Some Search Console accounts began to show notices if the site had moved to mobile-first index. The rollout was carried out gradually.

Google Brackets Core Update - March 2018

Another update confirmed by Google in early March 2018. Its scope is not fully known, nor whether it was a major change or something more granular. Word has it the name "Brackets" was coined by Glenn Gabe.

Google Maccabees Update - December 2017

Once again earthquakes in the SERPs, and good old Barry Schwartz nicknamed this unconfirmed update "Maccabees." For its part, Google limited itself to pointing out that it was a sum of small updates.

Google Fred Update - March 2017

On March 8, 2017, many changes began to be seen in the search results. This revolutionized the SEO ecosystem on Twitter, but Google never confirmed the change to the algorithm. That said, Gary Illyes thought it funny to say that "we should call every update Fred," and the name stuck.

sure! From now on every update, unless otherwise stated, shall be called Fred

— Gary 鯨理／경리 Illyes (@methode) March 9, 2017

Google Possum Update - September 2016

The Possum Update (we don't know who comes up with these names) was felt in September 2016 and mainly affected local searches. Its impact was focused on organic local results and Google Maps results. The update has not been confirmed by Google.

Google RankBrain - October 2015

The biggest announcement of 2015 and one of the biggest in the evolution of the search engine's algorithm arrived in October. Google revealed that it was using Machine Learning in its algorithm to determine rankings. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence had arrived in the SERPs with RankBrain to stay.

Google Quality Update - May 2015

After a while calling this update "Phantom 2," Google admitted that it affected and recognized "quality signals" on web pages. What these signals are was never revealed, although there are many conjectures about it.

Google Mobile Update or Mobilegeddon - April 2015

We all remember this one, mobilegeddon, in April 2015. In the end, it seems it wasn't such a big deal, right? You just had to be logical and show users a website adapted to mobile devices to face this change, which meant differentiation of search results on mobile.

Google Penguin Everflux - December 2014

In December 2014 Google announced that our beloved "Penguin" was moving to a continuous update mode. No more major changes every few months — small improvements in short periods of time, continuously over time.

Google Pigeon Update - July 2014

The "Pigeon" update came in July 2014 and primarily affected English searches made from the US. Local results changed and with them the localization signals as well.

Google Hummingbird - September 2013

In September 2013 Google announced the launch of the Google Hummingbird update, the famous hummingbird. According to Google, Hummingbird would have affected 90% of searches, so we're looking at a full-fledged Core Update. This algorithm allowed the search engine to better understand some complex searches it hadn't handled as well before.

Google Phantom Update - May 2013

News of significant traffic losses spread like wildfire on Twitter, but Google never confirmed this algorithm update, which ended up being nicknamed "Phantom" and arrived during May 2013.

Google Penguin - April 2012

In April 2012 the penguin came into our lives to stay with us forever. Its update against spam was launched for the first time, although countless updates followed up to Penguin Everflux. Some bad practices considered as spam could be link buying, keyword stuffing or the use of PBNs.

Google Freshness Update - November 2011

In November 2011, Google announced that "freshness" of content would begin to impact organic results. The idea was to reward updated content over obsolete content.

Google Panda - February 2011

Google announced the rollout of the Panda Update in February 2011. This important algorithm update focused on content quality or sites with a high percentage of advertising within their content.

Google May Day - April 2010

Between April and May 2010, several websites may have noticed drops in long-tail search traffic. The May Day Update affected sites that could mostly be considered thin content.

Google Caffeine - August 2009

Google announced in August 2009 the launch of Caffeine to improve its crawling, indexing and classification capabilities. It would finally be able to perform these functions practically in real time. Eventually, the change was rolled out in June 2010 in the US, gradually extending to the rest of countries and languages. It was a structural and technical change that would define how Google would classify websites going forward.

Google Vince Update - February 2009

Although Matt Cutts said this update was a minor change, many SEOs and webmasters observed changes that favored big-brand traffic. This February 2009 algorithm update has not been confirmed by Google.

Google Dewey Update - April 2008

With the arrival of Dewey, between March and April 2008, Matt Cutts was asked about a possible update that might favor Google's own products. Ambiguous answers, but at least this ended up naming the update Dewey. This was because Matt asked people to put that word in the additional details field when leaving their questions about it.

Google Buffy Update - June 2007

The Buffy Update was an update without clear patterns that took place in June 2007, and Google itself hinted it was just a succession of small changes.

Google Supplemental Update - November 2006

In November 2006 came the Supplemental Update. A strange update where there was talk of a "supplemental" index for some queries. The question was whether being in that Supplemental Index was good — we were only told it wasn't bad...

Google Big Daddy Update - December 2005

In December 2005 Google announced Big Daddy, an update it launched in March 2006. It was an update to the technical infrastructure that, among other things, changed the way Google handles 301 redirects.

Google Jagger Update - October 2005

By 2005 Google no longer liked link farms, so in October it launched Jagger, which was actually a series of updates aimed at detecting some bad link building practices.

Google Bourbon Update - May 2005

After Brandy, in May 2005 came another update with an alcoholic drink name. This time it was the Bourbon Update. Much speculation placed the changes of this update around duplicate content but, once again, Google was not entirely clear in its explanations.

Google Brandy Update - February 2004

The Brandy Update led to much more exhaustive keyword studies thanks to Google starting to be able to understand synonyms and associate words. Maybe it was the previous step to content clusters, but in February 2004 it was a small great revolution.

Google Austin Update - January 2004

Spam out. That's how what "Austin" did in January 2004 could be summed up. It focused on those actions many repeated, such as hidden text or stuffing hundreds of meta tags. It could be considered the logical continuation of the Florida Update.

Google Florida Update - November 2003

Until then, the SEO world and algorithm updates didn't have much impact, but in November 2003 "Florida" arrived to carry out the first massive penalty for keyword stuffing and other things being done. Google never called it a "penalty," but given that countless sites saw themselves drop in the rankings, we could consider it as such.

Google Fritz Update - July 2003

It was July 2003 and we had already had four consecutive months of Google Dance, attributed to three unconfirmed updates: "Esmeralda," "Dominic" and "Cassandra." But after them, "Fritz" arrived which, as Google confirmed, meant that the search engine's index would now change daily.

Google Boston Update - February 2003

Named this way because it was announced at the SES in Boston, this could be understood as the first update of Google's algorithm. It took place in February 2003 and the Mountain View team came out to say that they were going to begin carrying out an important monthly update. This resulted in the so-called "Google Dance" that ended with the Fritz Update.

First documented update - September 2002

The first time there was news of an update, the information from Google was not very clear. It was September 2002 and something was looming. Webmasters could feel it in the traffic of their sites, but there was no official confirmation from Google. So this could be considered the first unconfirmed update, since to see the first confirmed one we'd have to wait 5 months until the arrival of "Boston."

Did you know something? Very soon, you'll be able to see all Google updates directly in our SEO Software so you can analyze the impact of each one on your organic performance. What are you waiting for to try it?