18 Aug 2026
Spam Update
August 2026 Spam Update
Google recorded an August spam update in the Search Status Dashboard.
Official Google source2 days, 16 hours
Google Updates
Track the Google changes that matter.
A year-by-year timeline of major Google Search ranking updates, spam updates, Discover changes and important Search policy announcements.
2026
Official Google Search ranking updates and notable Search announcements.
24 Jun 2026
Spam Update
June 2026 Spam Update
A short spam update recorded by Google in late June.
Official Google source2 days, 1 hour
21 May 2026
Core Update
May 2026 Core Update
Google rolled out a broad core ranking update over nearly twelve days.
Official Google source11 days, 21 hours
15 May 2026
AI Search
Google publishes new generative AI optimization guidance
Google released guidance for appearing in generative AI features in Search, while emphasizing that core SEO best practices still matter.
Official Google sourceGuidance
13 Apr 2026
Spam Policy
Back button hijacking added to spam policies
Google explicitly added back button hijacking to malicious-practice spam policies.
Official Google sourcePolicy
27 Mar 2026
Core Update
March 2026 Core Update
A broad core ranking update recorded by Google at the end of March.
Official Google source12 days, 4 hours
24 Mar 2026
Spam Update
March 2026 Spam Update
A short spam update immediately before the March core update.
Official Google source19 hours, 30 minutes
5 Feb 2026
Discover
February 2026 Discover Update
Google announced changes intended to surface more locally relevant, original and timely content while reducing sensational content and clickbait in Discover.
Official Google source21 days, 17 hours
2025
Major ranking updates recorded by Google.
11 Dec 2025
Core Update
December 2025 Core Update
Google's final recorded core update of 2025.
Official Google source18 days, 2 hours
26 Aug 2025
Spam Update
August 2025 Spam Update
A broad spam update that rolled out for more than three weeks.
Official Google source26 days, 15 hours
30 Jun 2025
Core Update
June 2025 Core Update
A core ranking update that continued through mid-July.
Official Google source16 days, 18 hours
13 Mar 2025
Core Update
March 2025 Core Update
The first recorded core ranking update of 2025.
Official Google source13 days, 21 hours
2024
Major ranking updates recorded by Google.
19 Dec 2024
Spam Update
December 2024 Spam Update
A spam update that followed the December core update.
Official Google source7 days, 2 hours
12 Dec 2024
Core Update
December 2024 Core Update
A short core update recorded in mid-December.
Official Google source6 days, 4 hours
11 Nov 2024
Core Update
November 2024 Core Update
A core update that ran into early December.
Official Google source23 days, 13 hours
15 Aug 2024
Core Update
August 2024 Core Update
A broad core ranking update that rolled out over roughly nineteen days.
Official Google source19 days, 4 hours
20 Jun 2024
7 days, 1 hour
5 Mar 2024
45 days
5 Mar 2024
Spam Update
March 2024 Spam Update
A spam update launched on the same day as the March core update.
Official Google source14 days, 21 hours
2023
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Mar 2023
Core Update
March 2023 Core Update
A broad ranking update affecting many site types and search categories.
Google Search Central2023
Aug 2023
Core Update
August 2023 Core Update
Another broad core update focused on Google's overall ranking systems.
Google Search Central2023
Sep 2023
Helpful Content
September 2023 Helpful Content Update
A major helpful content system update that affected sites with large amounts of low-value or search-first content.
Google Search Central2023
Oct 2023
Core Update
October 2023 Core Update
A broad core update that overlapped with other ranking changes.
Google Search Central2023
Nov 2023
Core Update
November 2023 Core Update
Google released another broad core update near the end of the year.
Google Search Central2023
2022
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
May 2022
Core Update
May 2022 Core Update
A broad core ranking update affecting search results across many verticals.
Google Search Central2022
Aug 2022
Helpful Content
Helpful Content Update
Google introduced a system aimed at rewarding content made primarily for people rather than search engines.
Google Search Central2022
Sep 2022
Core Update
September 2022 Core Update
A broad ranking update rolled out shortly after the first helpful content update.
Google Search Central2022
Sep 2022
Product Reviews
September 2022 Product Reviews Update
Google refined its systems for evaluating detailed and useful product review content.
Google Search Central2022
Dec 2022
Link Spam
December 2022 Link Spam Update
Google strengthened systems aimed at neutralizing unnatural links.
Google Search Central2022
2021
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Feb 2021
Passage Ranking
Passage Ranking Rollout
Google improved its ability to understand and rank relevant passages within longer pages.
Google Search Central2021
Apr 2021
Product Reviews
Product Reviews Update
Google began rewarding more in-depth product reviews with original research and evidence.
Google Search Central2021
Jun 2021
Page Experience
Page Experience Update
Core Web Vitals and other page experience signals became part of mobile ranking systems.
Google Search Central2021
Jun 2021
Core Update
June 2021 Core Update
The first part of a two-stage summer core update.
Google Search Central2021
Jul 2021
Core Update
July 2021 Core Update
A second broad core update followed the June rollout.
Google Search Central2021
2020
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Jan 2020
Core Update
January 2020 Core Update
A broad ranking update affecting a wide range of search results.
Google Search Central2020
May 2020
Core Update
May 2020 Core Update
A large core update rolled out during a period of major shifts in search behavior.
Google Search Central2020
Dec 2020
Core Update
December 2020 Core Update
Google ended the year with another broad core ranking update.
Google Search Central2020
2020
Understanding
Passage Ranking Announced
Google announced improved passage-level understanding, with wider rollout following in 2021.
Google Search Central2020
2019
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Mar 2019
Core Update
March 2019 Core Update
A broad update later nicknamed Florida 2 by the SEO community.
Google Search Central2019
Jun 2019
2019
Jun 2019
SERP Diversity
Site Diversity Update
Google reduced how often one domain could dominate top organic results for some queries.
Google Search Central2019
Oct 2019
Language Understanding
BERT
Google began using BERT to better understand context and natural language in queries.
Google Search Central2019
2018
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Mar 2018
Core Update
March 2018 Broad Core Update
A broad ranking update centered on Google's core relevance systems.
Google Search Central2018
Jul 2018
Speed
Mobile Speed Update
Page speed became a ranking factor for mobile search.
Google Search Central2018
Aug 2018
Core Update
August 2018 Core Update
A broad update widely nicknamed Medic after strong impact in several health-related niches.
Google Search Central2018
2017
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Jan 2017
Mobile UX
Intrusive Interstitial Penalty
Google began demoting mobile pages where intrusive interstitials made content difficult to access.
Google Search Central2017
Mar 2017
Unconfirmed
Fred
The SEO community used the name Fred for ranking changes associated with low-value content and aggressive monetization.
Google Search Central2017
2017
SERP Feature
Google for Jobs
Google introduced a dedicated jobs search experience in search results.
Google Search Central2017
2016
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
May 2016
Mobile
Mobile-Friendly Update 2
Google strengthened mobile-friendly ranking signals.
Google Search Central2016
Sep 2016
Links
Penguin 4.0
Penguin became part of Google's core systems and began operating in real time.
Google Search Central2016
Sep 2016
Local
Possum
A major local search change altered filtering and location sensitivity in local results.
Google Search Central2016
2015
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Apr 2015
Mobile
Mobile-Friendly Update
The update nicknamed Mobilegeddon increased the importance of mobile-friendly pages in mobile search.
Google Search Central2015
May 2015
Quality
Quality Update
Google adjusted core quality systems, affecting many content-heavy websites.
Google Search Central2015
Jul 2015
Content
Panda 4.2
A slow Panda refresh continued Google's focus on thin and low-quality content.
Google Search Central2015
Oct 2015
Machine Learning
RankBrain
Google publicly revealed RankBrain, a machine-learning system used to help interpret queries.
Google Search Central2015
2014
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
May 2014
Content
Panda 4.0
A major Panda update refined Google's evaluation of low-quality and thin content.
Google Search Central2014
Jul 2014
Local
Pigeon
Google changed how local search connected with traditional web ranking signals.
Google Search Central2014
Aug 2014
Security
HTTPS Ranking Signal
Google announced HTTPS as a lightweight ranking signal.
Google Search Central2014
Oct 2014
Links
Penguin 3.0
A major Penguin refresh targeted manipulative link practices.
Google Search Central2014
2013
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
May 2013
Links
Penguin 2.0
A major Penguin update expanded Google's handling of webspam and manipulative links.
Google Search Central2013
Jun 2013
2013
Aug 2013
Understanding
Hummingbird
A major search system overhaul improved interpretation of conversational and semantic queries.
Google Search Central2013
Oct 2013
Privacy
Encrypted Search Expansion
Google moved more searches to encrypted connections, reducing visible keyword referral data.
Google Search Central2013
2012
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Feb 2012
Local
Venice
Google increased the influence of location on ordinary organic results.
Google Search Central2012
Apr 2012
Links
Penguin
The first Penguin update targeted manipulative link-building and webspam.
Google Search Central2012
May 2012
Entities
Knowledge Graph
Google launched Knowledge Graph features that connected people, places and things as entities.
Google Search Central2012
Sep 2012
Domains
Exact Match Domain Update
Google reduced the advantage of low-quality sites ranking mainly because of keyword-rich domain names.
Google Search Central2012
Oct 2012
Copyright
Pirate Update
Google began demoting sites associated with large numbers of valid copyright removal notices.
Google Search Central2012
2011
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Feb 2011
Content
Panda
One of Google's most influential quality updates targeted thin content, content farms and low-value pages.
Google Search Central2011
Jun 2011
Structured Data
Schema.org Launch
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo backed a shared structured data vocabulary.
Google Search Central2011
Nov 2011
Freshness
Freshness Update
Google increased the importance of recent content for queries where freshness matters.
Google Search Central2011
2010
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Apr 2010
Long Tail
May Day Update
Google adjusted ranking for many long-tail queries, exposing weaknesses in thin or low-value pages.
Google Search Central2010
Jun 2010
Infrastructure
Caffeine
Google completed a major indexing infrastructure upgrade designed for faster and fresher indexing.
Google Search Central2010
Sep 2010
2010
Oct 2010
Local
Places Search
Google integrated local listings and map-based information more deeply into results.
Google Search Central2010
2009
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Feb 2009
Brands
Vince
An update associated with stronger visibility for established brands on some competitive queries.
Google Search Central2009
Aug 2009
Infrastructure
Caffeine Preview
Google previewed a new indexing infrastructure designed to improve speed and freshness.
Google Search Central2009
Dec 2009
Real Time
Real-time Search
Google began integrating more real-time sources directly into search results.
Google Search Central2009
2008
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Mar 2008
2008
2008
SERP Evolution
Search result experimentation
Google continued expanding blended search and testing richer result layouts.
Google Search Central2008
2007
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
May 2007
SERP
Universal Search
Google began blending images, video, news, local results and other verticals into standard search.
Google Search Central2007
Jun 2007
2007
2007
Links
Paid Link Crackdown
Google increased action against links intended primarily to manipulate PageRank.
Google Search Central2007
2006
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
2006
Indexing
Supplemental Index Changes
SEOs observed significant changes in Google's supplemental index and treatment of lower-priority pages.
Google Search Central2006
2006
Infrastructure
Continuous ranking changes
Google increasingly shifted toward smaller continuous changes rather than a few obvious named updates.
Google Search Central2006
2005
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Jan 2005
Links
Nofollow Attribute
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft introduced rel=nofollow to help combat comment spam.
Google Search Central2005
Feb 2005
Unconfirmed
Allegra
A widely observed update associated with link and quality changes.
Google Search Central2005
May 2005
2005
Jun 2005
Crawling
XML Sitemaps
Google introduced a formal way for webmasters to submit XML sitemaps.
Google Search Central2005
Oct 2005
Links
Jagger
A major multi-stage update targeting manipulative and low-quality link patterns.
Google Search Central2005
Late 2005
Infrastructure
Big Daddy
A major infrastructure change affecting crawling, indexing and canonicalization.
Google Search Central2005
2004
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Jan 2004
Ranking
Austin
A continuation of Google's fight against aggressive on-page SEO tactics after Florida.
Historical source2004
Feb 2004
Ranking
Brandy
A major update associated with better handling of synonyms, anchor text and link relevance.
Historical source2004
2004
Indexing
The Sandbox discussion
SEOs widely reported difficulty for some new domains to rank quickly, though Google never announced a named Sandbox update.
Historical source2004
2003
Major Google search changes and historically documented updates.
Feb 2003
Index
Boston
An early named update associated with Google's regular index refresh cycle.
Historical source2003
Apr 2003
Links
Cassandra
An update associated with stronger action against manipulative linking and hidden text.
Historical source2003
May 2003
Ranking
Dominic
A widely observed update with major ranking movement and link-related changes.
Historical source2003
Jun 2003
Index
Esmeralda
One of the final monthly-style updates before Google moved toward more continuous index changes.
Historical source2003
Jul 2003
Indexing
Fritz
Google shifted away from the monthly Google Dance toward more continuous indexing.
Historical source2003
Nov 2003
Ranking
Florida
The first major Google update to shake the wider SEO industry, strongly affecting sites using aggressive optimization tactics.
Historical source2003
Source note
Recent updates use Google's official Search Status Dashboard and Search Central. Older updates, especially before 2005, rely on well-documented historical SEO sources because Google did not publish detailed update logs at the time.
Related resources
Use the timeline alongside your own search performance data and wider SEO notes.