Google Algorithm Updates
2012
Panda #23 — December 21, 2012
Google released a new Panda update just before the Christmas holiday. They called it a “refresh,” and it affected 1.3 percent of English queries. Pandas #21 and #22 had a slightly higher impact than this.
Knowledge Graph Expansion — December 4, 2012
Non-English queries, such as Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, and Italian, now have Knowledge Graph functionality. This update added enhanced KG capabilities and was “more than just translation.”
Panda #22 — November 21, 2012
Google confirmed the 22nd Panda update, which appears to be data-only, after some conflicting signals. This followed a larger, but unnamed update released on November 19th.
Panda #21 — November 5, 2012
About 5-1/2 weeks after Panda #20, Google released their 21st Panda update. This update was said to be minor, affecting only 1.1 percent of English queries.
Page Layout #2 — October 9, 2012
In January, Google announced an update to its original page layout algorithm change, which targeted pages with too many advertisements above the fold. It’s unclear whether this was a Panda-style data refresh or an algorithm change.
Penguin #3 — October 5, 2012
Google released a minor Penguin data update, affecting “0.3 percent of queries,” after indicating that the next Penguin update would be major. Penguin’s update numbering was reset, much like Panda’s, and this was the third Penguin release.
August/September 65-Pack — October 4, 2012
Google has released their monthly (bi-monthly?) search highlights list. Seven-result SERPs, Knowledge Graph expansion, updates to how “page quality” is calculated, and changes to how local results are determined were among the 65 updates for August and September.
Panda #20 — September 27, 2012
Google released their monthly (bi-monthly?) summary of search trends. 7-result SERPs, Knowledge Graph expansion, updates to how “page quality” is calculated, and changes to how local results are determined were among the 65 updates for August and September.
Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update — September 27, 2012
Google announced a change in how exact-match domains are handled (EMDs). This resulted in widespread devaluation, with the presence of EMDs in the MozCast data set dropping by over 10%. According to official estimates, this change affected 0.6 percent of queries (by volume).
Panda 3.9.2 (#19) — September 18, 2012
Google has rolled out a new Panda update that appears to be data-only. The fluctuation in rankings was moderate, but not as significant as a large-scale algorithm update.
Panda 3.9.1 (#18) — August 20, 2012
Another Panda data update was released by Google, but the impact appeared to be minor. The new update was dubbed 3.9.1 because the Panda 3.0 series ran out of numbers at 3.9.
7-Result SERPs — August 14, 2012
For many queries, Google made a significant change to the Top 10, limiting it to only 7 results. This change rolled out over a few days, affecting about 18% of the keywords we tracked, according to our research.
June/July 86-Pack — August 10, 2012
The June and July Search Quality Highlights were rolled out in one mega-post after a summer hiatus. Panda data and algorithm refreshes, an improved rank-ordering function (? ), a ranking boost for “trusted sources,” and changes to site clustering were among the major updates.
DMCA Penalty ("Pirate") — August 10, 2012
Google announced that they would begin penalizing websites that violated copyright repeatedly, most likely through DMCA takedown requests. The start date was given as “next week” (8/13?).
Panda 3.9 (#17) — July 24, 2012
Google released a new Panda update a month after Panda 3.8. The rankings fluctuated for 5-6 days, but no single day was particularly high. According to Google, only 1% of queries were affected.
Link Warnings — July 19, 2012
In a repeat of March/April, Google Webmaster Tools issued a large number of unnatural link warnings. They then announced, in a complete 180-degree turn, that these new warnings may not actually represent a serious problem.
Panda 3.8 (#16) — June 25, 2012
Another Panda data refresh was released by Google, but this one appeared to be data-only (no algorithm changes) and had a much smaller impact than Panda 3.7.
Panda 3.7 (#15) — June 8, 2012
Google released yet another Panda data update, claiming that it affected less than 1% of queries. The impact was much greater than previous Panda updates, according to ranking fluctuation data (3.5, 3.6).
May 39-Pack — June 7, 2012
In May, Google released their monthly Search Highlights, which included 39 updates. Penguin updates, improved link-scheme detection, changes to title/snippet rewriting, and Google News updates were among the major changes.
Penguin 1.1 (#2) — May 25, 2012
Following the “Penguin” algorithm update, Google released its first targeted data update. This confirmed that, like Panda data, Penguin data was processed outside of the main search index.
Knowledge Graph — May 16, 2012
Google has begun rolling out “Knowledge Graph,” a SERP-integrated display that provides supplemental objects about specific people, places, and things, in a major step toward semantic search. Over time, “knowledge panels” should appear on an increasing number of SERPs. Danny Sullivan’s favorite Star Trek series is ST:Voyager?!
April 52-Pack — May 4, 2012
In April, Google revealed the details of 52 updates, including those related to the “Penguin” update. A 15% larger “base” index, improved pagination handling, and a number of sitelinks updates were among the other highlights.
Panda 3.6 (#14) — April 27, 2012
Google released another Panda data update just a week after Panda 3.5. The ramifications of this update were unclear, and the impact appeared to be minor.
Penguin — April 24, 2012
Google finally rolled out the “Webspam Update,” which was quickly dubbed “Penguin,” after weeks of speculation about a “Over-optimization penalty.” Penguin tweaked a number of spam factors, including keyword stuffing, and had a 3.1 percent impact on English queries.
Panda 3.5 (#13) — April 19, 2012
Google quietly released a Panda data update in the middle of a busy week for the algorithm. The impact was difficult to assess due to a variety of changes, but it appears to have been a relatively minor update.
Parked Domain Bug — April 16, 2012
Google confirmed that some domains were mistakenly treated as parked domains due to a data error after a number of webmasters reported ranking shuffles (and thereby devalued). This was not a mistake in the algorithm.
March 50-Pack — April 3, 2012
Google released another round of update highlights in March, this time covering 50 changes. Panda 3.4 was confirmed, as were changes to anchor-text “scoring,” image search updates, and how queries with local intent are interpreted.
Panda 3.4 (#12) — March 23, 2012
Another Panda update was announced by Google, this time via Twitter as it was being rolled out. Panda 3.4 impacted about 1.6 percent of search results, according to their public statements.
Search Quality Video — March 12, 2012
Although this wasn’t an algorithm change, Google did provide a rare glimpse into a search quality meeting. The video provides a lot of context to both Google’s process and priorities for anyone interested in the algorithm. It’s also an opportunity to catch a glimpse of Amit Singhal in action.
Venice — February 27, 2012
Google mentioned the code-name “Venice” in their monthly update. This local update appeared to localize organic results more aggressively and integrate local search data more tightly. The exact date of implementation was unknown.
February 40-Pack (2) — February 27, 2012
At the end of the month, Google released a second set of “search quality highlights,” claiming more than 40 changes in February. Multiple image-search updates, multiple freshness updates (including phasing out two old bits of the algorithm), and a Panda update were among the notable changes.
Panda 3.3 (#11) — February 27, 2012
Google released another Panda update following the “flux,” which appeared to be minor. This happened just three days after Panda’s one-year anniversary, a record for a named update.
February 17-Pack — February 3, 2012
Another round of “search quality highlights” has been released by Google (17 in all). Many of the announcements were about speed, freshness, and spell-checking, but one of the most significant was Panda’s tighter integration into the main search index.
Ads Above The Fold — January 19, 2012
Google’s page layout algorithms were updated to penalize sites with excessive ad space above the “fold.” A similar factor was previously suspected to be at work in Panda. Although some SEOs referred to the update as “Top Heavy,” it had no official name.
Panda 3.2 (#10) — January 18, 2012
Google confirmed a Panda data update, but said the algorithm had remained unchanged. It wasn’t clear how this fit into the “Panda Flux” scheme of faster data updates.
Search + Your World — January 10, 2012
Google announced a major shift in personalization, pushing Google+ social data and user profiles into search engine results pages (SERPs). To turn off personalization, Google added a new, prominent toggle button.
January 30-Pack — January 5, 2012
Google announced 30 changes in the previous month, including improved image search landing page quality detection, more relevant site links, more rich snippets, and related-query improvements. The distinction between a “algo update” and a “feature” has become more hazy.
2011
December 10-Pack — December 1, 2011
Google announced the release of a second set of ten updates, stating that they would be released once a month. Refinements to related queries, parked domain detection, blog search freshness, and image search freshness were all included in the updates. Each update was not given a specific date.
Panda 3.1 (#9) — November 18, 2011
After Panda 2.5, Google entered a period known as “Panda Flux,” in which updates became more frequent and minor. Even though there was no official 3.0, some industry analysts dubbed the 11/18 update 3.1. Except for very high-impact changes, we will no longer number Panda updates for the purposes of this history.
10-Pack of Updates — November 14, 2011
This one was a little different. Matt Cutts published a post detailing ten recent algorithm updates in an effort to be more transparent. It’s unclear what the timeline was, and the majority of the changes were minor, but it did signal a change in Google’s approach to communicating algorithm changes.
Freshness Update — November 3, 2011
According to Google, an algorithm change that rewards freshness will affect up to 35% of queries (almost 3X the publicly stated impact of Panda 1.0). This update primarily affected results that were time-sensitive, but it also signaled a much greater emphasis on recent content.
Query Encryption — October 18, 2011
For privacy reasons, Google announced that search queries would be encrypted. Unfortunately, this messed up organic keyword referral data, causing some organic traffic to return “(not provided)”. In the weeks following the launch, this number grew.
Panda "Flux" (#8) — October 5, 2011
“Expect some Panda-related flux in the next few weeks,” Matt Cutts tweeted, giving a figure of “2%.” Panda received minor updates on October 3rd, October 13th, and November 18th.
Panda 2.5 (#7) — September 28, 2011
Google released a new Panda update after more than a month. Although the specifics of what changed are unclear, some sites have reported large-scale losses.
516 Algo Updates — September 21, 2011
This wasn’t a new development, but it was a stunning revelation. According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, the company made 516 updates in 2010. What’s the real surprise? They put over 13,000 updates to the test.
Pagination Elements — September 15, 2011
Google introduced the rel=”next” and rel=”prev” link attributes to help with crawl and duplication issues caused by pagination. Google also announced that automatic consolidation and canonicalization for “View All” pages had been improved.
Expanded Sitelinks — August 16, 2011
Google officially rolled out expanded site-links, most commonly for brand queries, after experimenting for a while. These were originally 12-packs, but Google appeared to reduce the expanded site-links to six shortly after the launch.
Panda 2.4 (#6) — August 12, 2011
Panda was rolled out globally, including for English-language queries as well as non-English queries, with the exception of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. According to Google, this affected 6-9 percent of queries in the affected countries.
Panda 2.3 (#5) — July 23, 2011
According to webmaster chatter, Google has rolled out yet another update. It was unclear whether new factors had been added or if the Panda data and ranking factors had been updated.
Google+ — June 28, 2011
Following a string of social media missteps, Google launched Google+, a serious attack on Facebook. Google+ was based on sharing content in circles and was tightly integrated into products like Gmail. Early adopters were quick to jump on board, and Google+ had surpassed 10 million users in just two weeks.
Panda 2.2 (#4) — June 21, 2011
Panda-affected sites and data were updated again, and version 2.2 was officially acknowledged. Panda updates were done separately from the main index and not in real time, similar to how Google Dance updates were done in the beginning.
Schema.org — June 2, 2011
Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft have announced their support for a unified structured data approach. In an apparent attempt to move toward even richer search results, they also created a number of new “schemas.”
Panda 2.1 (#3) — May 9, 2011
Google appeared to roll out yet another round of changes, dubbed “Panda 3.0” at the time. Google didn’t go into great detail about the changes, and they appeared to be minor.
Panda 2.0 (#2) — April 11, 2011
The Panda update was rolled out globally to all English queries (not limited to English-speaking countries). New signals were also added, such as information about sites that users had blocked directly through the SERPs or through the Chrome browser.
The +1 Button — March 30, 2011
Google launched the +1 button in response to competition from major social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter (directly next to results links). Users could influence both organic and paid search results within their social circle by clicking [+1].
Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011
A major algorithm update wreaked havoc on websites, affecting up to 12% of search results (a number that came directly from Google). Panda appeared to penalize sites with thin content, content farms, high ad-to-content ratios, and a variety of other quality issues. Panda was released over a period of months, with Europe receiving it in April 2011.
Attribution Update — January 28, 2011
Google released an update to help better sort out content attribution and stop scrapers in response to high-profile spam cases. According to Matt Cutts, about 2% of queries were affected. It was a foreshadowing of the Panda updates.
Overstock.com Penalty — January 1, 2011
In a rare turn of events, Overstock.com’s public disclosure of shady SEO practices resulted in a very public Google penalty. In February, JCPenney received a penalty for similar misbehavior. Both instances signaled a change in Google’s attitude and hinted at the Panda update.
2010
Negative Reviews — December 1, 2010
Following a report in the New York Times about how e-commerce site DecorMyEyes was ranking based on negative reviews, Google took a rare step and adjusted its algorithm to target sites that used similar tactics.
Social Signals — December 1, 2010
Google and Bing both confirmed that social signals, such as data from Twitter and Facebook, are used in ranking. Although many SEOs had long suspected it, Matt Cutts confirmed that this was a relatively new development for Google.
Instant Previews — November 1, 2010
On Google search results, a magnifying glass icon appeared, allowing users to see a preview of landing pages directly from the SERPs. This signaled Google’s renewed focus on the quality, design, and usability of landing pages.
Google Instant — September 1, 2010
Google Instant was launched as an extension of Google Suggest, displaying search results as a query was typed. SEOs all over the world were on the verge of exploding, only to discover that their impact was insignificant.
Brand Update — August 1, 2010
Google began allowing the same domain to appear multiple times on a SERP, despite the fact that this was not a traditional algorithm update. Prior to this, domains could only have 1-2 listings or one listing with indented results.
Caffeine (Rollout) — June 1, 2010
Google has completed the Caffeine infrastructure rollout after months of testing. Caffeine not only increased Google’s raw speed, but also tightened the integration of crawling and indexation, resulting in a 50 percent fresher index, according to Google.
May Day — May 1, 2010
Webmasters noticed a significant drop in long-tail traffic in late April and early May. Matt Cutts later confirmed that May Day was the result of a long-tail algorithm change. Sites with a lot of thin content were particularly hard hit, which foreshadowed the Panda update.
Google Places — April 1, 2010
Despite the fact that “Places” pages were first introduced in September 2009, they were originally only available as part of Google Maps. Google Places rebranded the Local Business Center, integrated Places pages more closely with local search results, and added a number of new features, including new local advertising options, with the official launch of Google Places.
2009
Real-time Search — December 1, 2009
Real-time search was for real this time, as Twitter feeds, Google News, newly indexed content, and a variety of other sources were combined into a real-time feed on some SERPs. Social media was added to the list of sources as time went on.
Caffeine (Preview) — August 1, 2009
Google has released a sneak peek at a major infrastructure overhaul that will speed crawling, expand the index, and integrate indexation and ranking in near real time. The final rollout began in early 2010 in the United States and lasted until the summer of that year.
Vince — February 1, 2009
A major update was reported by SEOs, and it appeared to heavily favor big brands. Vince was described by Matt Cutts as a “minor change,” but others saw it as having far-reaching, long-term implications.
Rel-canonical Tag — February 1, 2009
The Canonical Tag, which allows webmasters to send canonicalization signals to search bots without affecting human visitors, has been announced by Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.
2008
Google Suggest — August 1, 2008
Google introduced Suggest as a major change to their logo-and-a-box home page, displaying suggested searches in a dropdown below the search box as visitors typed their queries. Later on, Suggest would power Google Instant.
Dewey — April 1, 2008
A large-scale reorganization appeared to take place at the end of March and into early April, but the details were hazy. Some speculated that Google was promoting its own internal properties, such as Google Books, but there was little evidence to support this theory.
2007
Buffy — June 1, 2007
The “Buffy” update was named in honor of Vanessa Fox’s departure from Google. Nobody knew what happened, and Matt Cutts suggested that Buffy was the result of a series of small changes.
Universal Search — May 1, 2007
While not an algorithm change, Google combined traditional search results with News, Video, Images, Local, and other verticals, significantly altering their format. The old SERP with ten results was officially defunct. The old 10-listing SERP is still alive and well.
2006
False Alarm — December 1, 2006
There were rumblings about a December update, as well as some reports of major ranking changes in November, but Google reported no significant changes.
Supplemental Update — November 1, 2006
Google appeared to make changes to the supplemental index and how filtered pages were treated throughout 2006. In late 2006, they claimed that supplemental was not a penalty (even if it sometimes felt that way).
2005
Big Daddy — December 1, 2005
Big Daddy was technically an infrastructure update (similar to the more recent “Caffeine”) that took place over a few months and ended in March 2006. Google’s handling of URL canonicalization, redirects (301/302), and other technical issues changed after Big Daddy.
Google Local/Maps — October 1, 2005
Google merged its Maps data into the Local Business Center in March 2005, after launching the LBC in March 2005 and encouraging businesses to update their information. This move would eventually drive a number of changes in local SEO.
Jagger — October 1, 2005
Google rolled out a slew of updates, the majority of which were aimed at low-quality links like reciprocal links, link farms, and paid links. From September to November 2005, Jagger released at least three albums, the most impactful of which was in October.
Gilligan — September 1, 2005
Webmasters noticed changes (which are likely still occurring) after the “False” update, but Google claimed no major algorithm update had occurred. Matt Cutts explained in a blog post that Google updated index data daily (at the time), but Toolbar PR and other metrics only once every three months.
XML Sitemaps — June 1, 2005
Webmaster Tools now allows webmasters to submit XML sitemaps instead of traditional HTML sitemaps, giving SEOs direct (albeit minor) control over crawling and indexation.
Personalized Search — June 1, 2005
Personalized search, unlike previous attempts at personalization that required custom settings and profiles, tapped directly into users’ search histories to automatically adjust results in 2005. Although the impact was initially minor, Google would go on to use search history in a variety of ways.
Bourbon — May 1, 2005
No one knew what the 0.5 of a change was, but Webmaster World members speculated that Bourbon changed how duplicate content and non-canonical (www vs. non-www) URLs were treated. “GoogleGuy” (likely Matt Cutts) announced that Google was rolling out “something like 3.5 changes in search quality.”
Allegra — February 1, 2005
Webmasters noticed changes in their rankings, but the details of the update were unclear. Some speculated that Allegra had tampered with the “sandbox,” while others speculated that LSI had been altered. Furthermore, some speculated that Google was starting to penalize suspect links.
Nofollow — January 1, 2005
The “nofollow” attribute was introduced by Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft to combat spam and control the quality of outbound links. Nofollow assists in the removal of untrusted links, such as spammy blog comments. While this is not a traditional algorithm update, it has a significant impact on the link graph over time.
2004
Google IPO — August 1, 2004
Although not an algorithm update, this was a significant event in Google’s history: the company sold 19 million shares, raised $1.67 billion in capital, and increased its market value to over $20 billion. Google’s stock price had more than doubled by January 2005.
Brandy — February 1, 2004
A massive index expansion, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), increased attention to anchor text relevance, and the concept of link “neighborhoods” were all implemented by Google. LSI improved Google’s ability to understand synonyms and advanced keyword analysis.
Austin — January 1, 2004
Austin came in to make up for what Florida had missed. Google has been cracking down on deceptive on-page tactics like invisible text and META-tag stuffing. Some speculated that Google implemented the “Hilltop” algorithm and began to prioritize page relevance.
2003
Florida — November 1, 2003
This was the update that catapulted updates (and, by extension, the SEO industry) into the spotlight. Many websites were penalized, and business owners were enraged. Low-value late-90s SEO tactics like keyword stuffing died in Florida, and the game became a lot more interesting as a result.
Supplemental Index — September 1, 2003
Google split off some results into the “supplemental” index in order to index more documents without sacrificing performance. Until the index was later reintegrated, the dangers of having results go supplemental became a hotly debated SEO topic.
Fritz — July 1, 2003
With the “Fritz” update, the monthly “Google Dance” came to an end. Instead of overhauling the index completely on a monthly basis, Google took a more gradual approach. The index was now fluctuating on a daily basis.
Esmeralda — June 1, 2003
This was the last of Google’s monthly updates before a more continuous update process took over. “Everflux” has taken the place of “Google Dance.” Esmerelda most likely signaled some significant infrastructure changes at Google.
Dominic — May 1, 2003
While there were many changes in May, the nature of Dominic remained a mystery. Many sites reported bounces after Google bots “Freshbot” and “Deepcrawler” scoured the web. Backlinks appeared to be counted or reported differently by Google.
Cassandra — April 1, 2003
Some basic link-quality issues, such as massive linking from co-owned domains, were penalized by Google. Hidden text and hidden links were also frowned upon by Cassandra.
Boston — February 1, 2003
This was the first named Google update, which was announced at SES Boston. The first few updates were a combination of algorithm changes and major index refreshes, as Google aimed for a major monthly update (the so-called “Google Dance”). The monthly idea quickly died as updates became more frequent.
2002
1st Documented Update — September 1, 2002
There was a major shuffle in the Fall of 2002, prior to “Boston” (the first named update). The specifics are unknown, but it appeared to be something more than the monthly Google Dance and PageRank update. “They move the toilet in the middle of the stream,” one webmaster said of Google.
2000
Google Toolbar — December 1, 2000
Google launched their browser toolbar, and with it, Toolbar PageRank, ensuring SEO arguments for years to come (TBPR). The Google Dance began as soon as webmasters began to pay attention to TBPR.