A complete list of Major Google algorithm updates

Google Algorithm is a complex term to understand if you are a

novice or just recently step in digital marketing world. Why I am
saying so is because understanding the concept of Google
algorithm and its updates are crucial for any digital marketer, SEO,
or webmaster to stay in online industry. Earlier, Google used to
make small amount of updates but now it makes thousands of
update in a year. Sounds shocking no!

Well, if you want to read the major algorithm updates of Google till
now then you are at the right place. This article is a compilation of
all major Google Algorithm updates. But first understand the
concept of Google Algorithm below.

What is Google Algorithm?

Google Algorithm is an intricate system to retrieve data from its

search index and immediately delivers the best possible results for
a query. And updates are made to enhance the overall user
experiencing while visiting any particular website. This can affect
the website in both positive as well as negative ways.

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 Let’s move on to the list of major Google Algorithm updates.

Major Google Algorithm Updates in Chronological order

1. Panda – 24 February, 2011

Image credit: Google

Panda is the first major update of Google Algorithm released on
February 24, 2011. The main purpose of the update was to focus
on content quality score to webpages and de-scale the site with
having low-quality content, spammy, or thin content. Panda used
to assign ‘quality score’ to web pages. This score used as a ranking
factor for websites. In the starting, Panda was a filter rather than a
part of Google’s ranking algo, but in January 2016, it officially
turned into core algorithm.

Panda also updated its versions such as:

 Panda 2.0 in April 11, 2011 – included additional signals like

sites that Google users blocked.
 Panda update 2.1 in May 9, 2011
 Panda update 2.2 in June 21, 2011
 Another Panda update 2.3 in July 23, 2011
 Panda update 2.4 in August 12, 2011

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 Panda update 2.5 in September 28, 2011
 And the last Panda update 3.0 in October 19, 2011

Major emphasis on

Duplicate content, plagiarism, user-generated spam, poor user

experience, thin content, keyword stuffing, all these content would
penalize under Panda update.

Staying safe

To not getting penalized by Google, use site crawler to check

keywords density, thin content, and duplicate content. You can use
SEO PowerSuite’s Website Auditor, Plagiarism checker like
Copyscape, etc.

2. Penguin – 24 April, 2012

Image credit: Google

Next major update comes after Panda is Penguin algorithm update.
Penguin update launched on April 24, 2012. Penguin update goal

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was to de-rank the sites whose links seemed to be manipulative. It
finds unnatural link profiles spamming the search results by using
manipulative link tactics. In 2016, Penguin became a part of
Google’s core ranking algo operating in real-time. It ensures that
penalties are now imposed faster, and recovery also takes less time.

Major emphasis on

Paid links, spammy or irrelevant links, overly optimized anchor text,

and links coming from sites created purely for SEO link building.

Staying safe

Regular audit your site with backlink checker tool SEO SpyGlass.
You can also check for penalty risk. Let me tell you Google doesn’t
penalize your site for having 1-2 spammy links, but a sudden flux of
irrelevant backlinks can be a problem. Moreover, you can leave a
request for the removal of spammy links from the site.

3. Page Layout Algorithm: This update was introduced by Google

on 19 January 2012. After the release, this algorithm was updated
on 9 October 2012 and the last update till now was on 1
November 2016. This algorithm is linked with the user experience.
This algorithm affects those sites which have so many extra
ads. So here in this algorithm, those sites in which ads force the
user to see content, and approximately 1% of sites were affected.

4. Exact Match Domain: This algorithm was introduced in 2012. As

the name suggests it works on the exact name and targets exactly
what the name suggests. This update was to focus on the exact
match of domain despite thin content and the quality of the
site. The major weakness of EDM was that the websites SEOs
would buy domains with exact match keyword phrases, build a
site out, but have extremely thin content with little to no value on
them. And it was so easy to do. The result of this update occurred

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in a way that, non-dot-com domains experienced a more severe
punishment than .com counterparts.

5. Hummingbird – 22 August, 2013

Image credit: Google

Another Google algorithm update launched on August 22, 2013 is
Hummingbird. The main focus of update was on better interpreting
search queries and provides results that match searcher intent. The
speciality of Hummingbird is that it can rank a page for a query
even if it doesn’t contain the exact words the searcher typed. The
use of synonyms also optimized with Hummingbird. So rather than
showing exact keyword match, Google shows more theme-related
results in the SERPs that do not necessarily contain the keyword
from the query in their content.

For Hummingbird update, Google said new algorithm affected

about 90 per cent of searches worldwide.

Major emphasis on

Keyword stuffing, exact-match keyword targeting, and low-quality

content.

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Staying safe

To improve the site ranking, you must develop SEOs keywords to

your content. Don’t use synonyms of keywords and co-occurring
terms. All the Hummingbird-friendly keywords you will find
incorporated into SEO PowerSuite’s Rank Tracker keyword research
module.

6. Pigeon – 24 July, 2014 (US), and 22 December 2014, (UK,

Canada, Australia)

Image credit: Google

Pigeon Google Algorithm update launched back on July 24, 2014 in
US. And another update launched on December 22, 2014 in UK,
Canada, and Australia. The update focused on the quality of On-
page and Off-page SEOs. As per Google, Pigeon created closer ties
between the local algorithm and the core algorithm, meaning
that the same SEO factors are now being used to rank local and
non-local Google results. The key factors which Pigeon update uses
in ranking the results are location and distance.

Major emphasis on

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Poor On-and-Off-page SEO, NAP inconsistency, poorly optimized
pages, lack of citation in local directories, and irrelevant set up of
Google My Business Page.

Staying safe

Invest in On-page and Off-page SEO. You can use Website Auditor
tool to run an On-page analysis. Optimize your pages properly.
Moreover, you can also analyse list of off-page SEO in relevant
business directories. With this approach, your site will rank higher
in Google’s SERP.

7. Mobile-friendly Google update – 21st April, 2015

Image Credit: Google

The mobile-friendly update was launched back on April 21, 2015.
The update (aka Mobilegeddon) launched to make sure that the
website can easily access using smartphone devices. Mobile-
friendly website will rank at the top of mobile search and the pages
not optimized for mobile will be penalized and get filter out from
SERPs or down- rank. Moreover, desktop searches are not affected
by this update. Since 2015, all the digital marketing
companies started developing mobile-friendly websites.

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Major emphasis on

Illegible content, lack of a mobile version of a site, improver

viewpoint configuration, poor mobile usability, and non-mobile
friendly website.

Staying safe

Saving oneself from getting penalized, focus on speed and usability

of the site on mobile devices. Use Google’s mobile-friendly test to
see what pages you need to improve. To track the friendliness of
your pages, you must use the tool integrated into SEO PowerSuite’s
WebSite Auditor.

8. RankBrain – 26 October, 2015

Image credit: Google

Another major Google algorithm update launched on October 26,
2015. Rank Brain is a part of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm.
Basically, it is a machine learning system that helps Google better
understand the meaning behind queries and server respond best to
those queries. RankBrain can also summarize what a page is all
about; evaluate the relevancy of search results. According to
Google, RankBrain is the third most important ranking factor. The

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algorithm identifies relevant features for web pages ranking for a
given query that are query-specific ranking keywords.

Major emphasis on

Poor user experience, shallow or no-quality content, and lack of

query-specific relevance features.

Staying safe

To provide great user experience, you must need to optimize

content for relevance with the help of competitive analysis. With
Google Analytics, keep an eye on your users such as bounce rate,
session duration, etc. You can also do competition research.

9. Possum – 1September, 2016

Image credit: Google

The Possum update released on September 1, 2016. This algorithm
update is famous for number of changes in Google’s local ranking
filter. The closer you are to a business’s address, the more likely
you are to see it among local results. After Possum update, Google
returned more varied results depending on the physical location of

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the searcher. Moreover, Possum also gave a boost to businesses
that are outside the physical city area.

Major emphasis on

Tense competition in your target location, sharing a physical

address with a similar business, and look for competitors whose
business is closer to the searcher’s location.

Staying safe

You can expand your keyword list and do location-specific rank

tracking. It is crucial for you to track your positions for every
variation specifically. To search for variations, open SEO
PowerSuite’s Rank Tracker to create and open a project. Now go to
the keyword research module and click suggest keywords.

10. Fred – 8 March, 2017

Image credit: Google

Fred Google algorithm update came in the year 2017. The update
focused on websites that violate Google’s webmaster guidelines.
So most of the affected sites are blogs having low-quality posts.

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These posts created mostly for the purpose of generating ad
revenue or affiliate revenue. Marketers or webmasters creating
these types of sites to generate revenue would penalize under this
update.

Major emphasis on

Low-quality, ad-centered content, thin and affiliate heavy content.

Staying safe

Read what’s there in Google Search Quality Guidelines and look for
thin content. Even if you show ads, make sure the pages are of
high-quality and offer-relevant, and ample information. You can’t
trick Google by having a page full of affiliate links. If you do so, soon
your site will be penalized.

11. Broad Core Algorithm Update – 9 March, 2018

Image credit: Google

On March 2, Google announced Broad Core Algorithm Update on
Twitter. This update focused on understanding the user’s search
queries and website. The main goal is to enhance Google’s
accuracy in matching search queries provide better user experience

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and satisfaction. So the pages that not rewarded earlier now will
rank better.

Major emphasis on

Targeting sites for ranking signals, quality checking, incorporate

new features to improve user-experience.

Staying safe

All you need to do is just focus on producing quality content,

building quality backlinks, and sending out social signals. Make sure
your content is relevant to audience for the keyword and phrase
they are searching for.

12. Medic

Date: May 4, 2018

Hazards: Lack of authority on YMYL websites; weak E-A-T signals.

How it works: The Google Medic update seemed to

disproportionately affect medical websites as well as other
websites that have to do with potentially life-altering decisions
(finance, law, education). Although not explicitly confirmed, Google
representatives have hinted that the update implemented some of
the E-A-T (expertise, authority, trust) signals from the Quality Rater
Guidelines document.

How to adjust: To date, there is no proven recovery strategy for

the Medic update. Some SEOs suggest hiring expert writers to lend
credibility to your website, others claim the solution is in building
entities for your brand. But, if we were to stick to the facts, the
only reliable way to increase the authority of your website is by
growing your backlink profile.

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13. BERT Update – 25 October, 2019

Image credit: Google

BERT is the biggest algorithm update released in October 25, 2019.
Google used BERT model to better understand search engine
queries. As per Google, this change impacted both search rankings
and featured snippets. This update is all about deep learning
algorithm related to natural language-processing. It helps machine
learn what the word means in a sentence with all the nuances of
the context.

Major emphasis on

Understanding the context of the sentence, improve search query

understanding, no use of sloppy content.

Staying safe

To stay safe, you need to keep optimizing your articles including

images or videos you publish on your website.

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14. January 2020 Core Update

Image credit: Google

So this is the last major update which launched in January 2020.
This algorithm update had a major impact on all search queries or
results on a worldwide scale. Google says core updates are
significant broad changes to our search algorithms and systems to
present relevant and authoritative content to searchers.

Major emphasis on

Focus on generating quality content, excellent content is awarded,

and ultra-spammy content will de-index.

Staying safe

Don’t stuff your site with abundance of affiliate links, you can’t
trick Google in anyway. Generate quality content and don’t add
poor quality links to the site.

Blogs:
https://www.seroundtable.com/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/

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