A Brief History of Googles Algorithm Updates

Let’s quickly define an algorithm update before we get into the specifics.

An algorithm update is an improvement in the way the search engine ranks websites within search results.

Conducting a Google search is easy. You type in your desired topic or question and hit “Enter,” and Google spits out all the relevant results it can find. But with new information being added to the Internet every second, Google’s algorithm has to be updated to continue delivering the high-quality results we expect.

There are small algorithm updates happening constantly throughout the year, but at times, there are larger updates with more noticeable results. Let’s dive into talking about some of Google’s most significant updates to date.

In the early days of Google, the search engine tended to provide any relevant results it could find without truly considering how those results would bring value to users. The Panda update of 2011 changed that.

With Panda, Google started to weed out “thin” content that offered little to no value, instead favoring results with more thorough and comprehensive content. Much of the content impacted by this update was copied or plagiarized work, as well as low-quality content produced by “content farms” of the time. Today, in order to land on the front page of search engine results, your content has to be both relevant and valuable for the reader.

The next major update came about a year later: Penguin. This update focused on search engine optimization (SEO). More specifically, Penguin started to penalize websites using poor practices to improve their search engine performance, such as unnatural linking, keyword stuffing, and buying backlinks.

With this update, Google demonstrated that simply appealing to the algorithm wasn’t the way to improve SEO performance. Instead, companies had to shift their focus to providing quality content to gain those website visits and links organically.

In 2013, two updates came out almost back to back: Pigeon in August and Hummingbird in September.

The Pigeon update of August 2013 was named as such because of the homing pigeon, a bird that was used for centuries to deliver messages. With this update. Google improved its local SEO capabilities. When a user searches for a local resource (such as “bakeries near me” or “eye doctors near me”), the search results were much more accurate than before the update. Both in the standard search and on Google Maps, results in close proximity to the user were favored over more general results.

The following month, Google’s Hummingbird update launched. This update was quite sizable, changing the way Google interpreted its users’ search queries. With Hummingbird, the algorithm started to consider the context of a search instead of simply looking at the words at face value. This update was also the foundation for voice search, which is still a popular feature nearly a decade later.

The first update of 2015 moved Google into the future of web browsing: mobile usage. As the name suggests, Mobilegeddon was focused on promoting websites with good mobile functionality. If a website couldn’t load or wasn’t readable on mobile devices, Google ranked that website lower in search results. This update effectively incentivized businesses to ensure their sites were mobile-friendly.

Later in 2015, Google launched RankBrain, an update so large that many consider it to be a complete overhaul of the algorithm itself. RankBrain was tested for several months before its official launch, and it continues to be an important part of how the Google algorithm operates. This update uses machine-learning capabilities to properly rank search engine results, ensuring that the most relevant results would always appear first.

Google wouldn’t release another major algorithm update for nearly two years. But in March 2017, users were introduced to Fred. The Fred update focused on weeding out low-quality search results. But unlike the Panda update that targeted “thin” content, Fred went a step further and targeted sites running excessive ads. For a full outline of the Fred update, check out Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines.

The following year, Google’s Mobile First Indexing Update was launched. Upon the update’s release, Google described it like this: “Mobile-first indexing means that we’ll use the mobile version of the page for indexing and ranking, to better help our – primarily mobile – users find what they’re looking for.” The team at Google clearly knew what they were doing; as of 2021, it was estimated that 63% of organic search engine visits came from mobile devices, and this Google update makes it that much easier for us to search on the go.

A few months later, we got the Medic Update, which Google called a “broad core algorithm update.” Most websites impacted by the Medic Update fell into the YMYL category, or “Your Money, Your Life.” These websites discuss a wide range of topics from news and trending topics to finance, health and safety, shopping, and more. This update essentially encouraged these sites to boost their SEO performance and create more valuable content for their readers.

Prior to 2019, it wasn’t uncommon to get multiple results from the same website on one search query. The Site Diversity Update changed that. Google’s users indicated that the wider variety of sources a person receives, the more likely they are to find the information they’re looking for. The Site Diversity Update meant that, in the majority of cases, Google would recommend only one listing from a specific website within the top search results.

Bidirectional Encoder Representations with Transformers, or BERT for short, was called “the biggest leap forward in the past five years, and one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of Search.” With this update, Google focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its natural language processing. BERT allowed Google to better understand how humans actually talk, allowing it to handle longer searches and consider the context of a question. Overall, BERT was a huge improvement in the accuracy of Google search results.

It took almost two years after BERT for us to get the Page Experience update, but it was worth the wait. There wasn’t much change to the search rankings, but the search process itself was impacted. The Page Experience update focused on improving three critical metrics within Google’s Core Web Vitals, which plays into how Google ranks results. Google offers more details about the elements of Core Web Vitals and how to measure and monitor them here. It’s important to note that this update focused on mobile usage (more on that in a moment).

During 2021, Google released a handful of updates with the goal of reducing spam in search results. Google created its own “spam-fighting AI” to recognize spam trends like auto-generated content and excessive amounts of ads. This update also helped shield users “against disruptive content and malicious behaviors” from websites trying to spam users or hack websites.

Along with the Spam Update, Google spent 2021 rolling out several iterations of the Product Reviews Update. Before the update, it was a relatively common practice for businesses to buy fake reviews or create their own reviews for their websites, which came off as “spammy” and didn’t hold the same credibility as genuine reviews from users. This new update penalized websites that featured untrustworthy reviews while simultaneously giving favor to websites with genuine, high-quality reviews.

The Page Experience Update of June 2021 focused on mobile usage, as we pointed out. It wasn’t until February 2022 that the desktop version of the update was rolled out. This update brought all the same changes and requirements of the previous Page Experience update; the only exception was that Google didn’t require mobile friendliness to consider a website as having a good page experience.

Another of Google’s most highly anticipated updates was the Helpful Content Update, which launched in August 2022. With this update, Google reiterated that websites should be creating content that’s helpful for their readers, not simply appealing to search engines. The update also focused on identifying and devaluing content Since the update is still relatively new, we haven’t seen its effects too widely yet. However, it seems that the Helpful Content Update may shift the ranking algorithms over the next few months or even years.

Google has long used the concept of E-A-T to evaluate how well the search ranking systems are providing accurate results. The algorithm prefers content that shows Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This new update adds another E for Experience. In short, Google is seeking to recommend content with an air of Experience, whether that means product reviews from actual product users or travel guides from people who have visited the area themselves. This update ensures that users can find information from others who have first-hand experience with the topic in question. Learn more about Google’s rating guidelines here.

In May 2023, Google Started sending out invites to its Search Generative Experience. These invites went out to select users as well as users who had joined the waitlist. The new AI-powered search generative experience makes searching easier by helping you understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights and find information more easily. Instead of typing out multiple questions and piecing together that information yourself, Google’s AI-powered search can now do some of that heavy lifting for you.

This is an experimental version of Google Search, though we don’t know what Google will eventually launch down the road, we expect Google to be heading in an AI-focused direction in the future.

While Google tends to put out anywhere from 1-3 core updates per year, the March 2024 update was a rather significant one. This update focused on eliminating low-quality and unoriginal content, aiming to rank more useful and relevant content in search results. This core update also included enhancements to Google’s core ranking systems to improve the quality of search results, targeting clickbait content and spammy practices.

Several websites were de-indexed following this update, and Google aimed to remove around 40% of low-quality websites from search results. There are clear signals that this update targeted sites that produce content using AI-generative tools such as ChatGPT which further emphasizes the need for producing high-quality, unique content that is actually useful to your audience.

Over the last decade, Google has overhauled the way we search for and retrieve information online, and in doing so, it has changed how businesses approach their own digital content creation strategies.

As we’ve seen, Google launches major updates every few months, and staying on top of these updates is critical to a business’s SEO success. Google is constantly researching and testing how best to meet searchers’ needs and create an improved user experience. But to do that, Google must keep analyzing what types of content and information should be prioritized.

If your website isn’t in line with Google’s latest updates, your SEO performance could take a nosedive. A strategy may have worked well last year, but that doesn’t mean it’s still the best approach.

Remember that many of Google’s updates cause websites to see their SEO performances drop at first. But after a brief period of adjustment, SEO performance usually returns to normal. While you’re looking into the latest updates and shifting your SEO strategies, don’t get discouraged at small dips in performance. If you’re following the latest best practices, you can rest easy knowing you’re on the right track.

You don’t have to try to keep up with Google’s constant updates alone. OneClick Media Group can help. Our team has combined decades of experience in SEO and digital marketing, so we can help you create dynamic strategies to gain organic traffic and boost brand awareness.

OneClick Media Group has worked in countless verticals and can collaborate with you to craft a unique strategy focused on your specific goals for your website. In addition to helping with content strategy, we also specialize in SEO and local SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social advertising, and web design.

Boosting your SEO performance and expanding your digital presence is easier than you may think. Reach out to OneClick Media Group to get a free site audit today.