Google Core Algorithm Updates

A Comprehensive History of Google Search Algorithm Updates

Google’s search algorithms are constantly evolving to deliver the most relevant, helpful, and high-quality search results. Historically, many updates were given specific code names, often animal-themed. In more recent years, Google’s major algorithm changes are officially referred to as “Core Updates.”

2025

• March 2025 Core Update
  • Time: Started March 13, 2025 (currently ongoing).
  • Focus:
    • Overall Ranking System Improvement: Broad adjustments to Google’s core systems for evaluating page quality, relevance, and authority.
    • Content Quality Enhancement: Aims to further reward high-quality, original, and valuable content for users, while reducing the visibility of low-quality or unoriginal content.
    • User Intent Understanding: Continued optimization of understanding user search intent to provide more precise search results.
    • Potentially High Volatility: As a core update, it’s expected to cause significant fluctuations in website rankings across various industries.

2024

• December 2024 Spam Update
  • Time: Started December 19, 2024, lasted approximately 7 days.
  • Focus: Primarily aimed at combating various forms of spam content, including automatically generated content, doorway pages, and cloaking, to improve the relevance and reliability of search results.
• December 2024 Core Update
  • Time: Started December 12, 2024, lasted approximately 6 days.
  • Focus: Adjustments to core ranking signals, fine-tuning the hundreds of signals Google uses to evaluate content and websites, continually enhancing content relevance and quality in search results.
• November 2024 Core Update
  • Time: Started November 11, 2024, lasted approximately 24 days.
  • Focus: Broad adjustments to the overall ranking system, designed to deliver more relevant, helpful, and user-intent-aligned content. Continued evaluation of authority and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
• August 2024 Core Update
  • Time: Started August 15, 2024, lasted approximately 19 days.
  • Focus: Increased visibility for helpful content, prioritizing genuinely useful, valuable, and original content, and continuing to demote low-quality content.
• June 2024 Spam Update
  • Time: June 2024 (specific date not publicly announced, but Google typically confirms after launch).
  • Focus: Strengthening anti-spam measures, utilizing machine learning to more effectively identify and process spam content.
• May 2024 Google AI Overviews Update
  • Time: May 2024 (rolled out in some regions).
  • Focus: Displaying AI-generated summaries (AI Overviews) at the top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), aiming to directly answer questions and consolidate information.
• March 2024 Core Update & Spam Policies Update
  • Time: Core Update started March 5, 2024, lasted approximately 45 days; spam policies went live concurrently.
  • Focus:
    • Core Update Key Points: Integrated the “Helpful Content Update (HCU)” system directly into the core algorithm, aiming to reduce “unhelpful content” in search results by 40%, significantly raising content quality standards.
    • New Spam Policies: Addressed practices negatively impacting search quality, including Expired Domain Abuse (using expired domains to publish low-value content for ranking manipulation), Scaled Content Abuse (generating large amounts of low-value content, whether by AI, humans, or a combination, primarily for ranking manipulation), and Site Reputation Abuse / Parasite SEO (leveraging the reputation of well-known websites, like news or university sites, to publish low-quality content for ranking benefit).

2023

• November 2023 Reviews Update
  • Time: Started November 8, 2023, lasted approximately 29 days.
  • Focus: Improving review quality, rewarding in-depth, informative, user-centric review content, and expanding its scope to all review types.
• November 2023 Core Update
  • Time: Started November 2, 2023, lasted approximately 25 days.
  • Focus: Another broad core algorithm adjustment, continuously refining how Google evaluates content quality and relevance.
• October 2023 Core Update
  • Time: Started October 5, 2023, lasted approximately 14 days.
  • Focus: A routine core algorithm adjustment, aimed at enhancing overall search result quality.
• October 2023 Spam Update
  • Time: Started October 4, 2023, lasted approximately 15 days.
  • Focus: Strengthening spam detection capabilities to ensure the integrity of search results.
• September 2023 Helpful Content Update
  • Time: Started September 14, 2023, lasted approximately 13 days.
  • Focus: Re-emphasized that content should be “for people,” not primarily for search engines, and rewarded content offering genuine depth, unique insights, and rich information. It was also seen as targeting low-quality AI-generated content.
• August 2023 Core Update
  • Time: Started August 22, 2023, lasted approximately 16 days.
  • Focus: Adjustments to core ranking factors, continuously refining the understanding of content quality and user search intent.
• April 2023 Reviews Update
  • Time: Started April 12, 2023, lasted approximately 13 days.
  • Focus: Enhancing product/service review quality, rewarding authentic, in-depth, and valuable review content.
• March 2023 Core Update
  • Time: Started March 15, 2023, lasted approximately 13 days.
  • Focus: Broad ranking adjustments, affecting overall website quality signals.
• February 2023 Product Reviews Update
  • Time: Started February 21, 2023, lasted approximately 14 days.
  • Focus: Encouraging genuine, in-depth product reviews based on actual testing, comparisons, and personal experience.

2022

• December 2022 Link Spam Update
  • Time: Started December 14, 2022, lasted approximately 29 days.
  • Focus: Combating all forms of unnatural links and link manipulation, utilizing the SpamBrain AI to identify and neutralize link spam.
• December 2022 Helpful Content Update
  • Time: Started December 5, 2022, lasted approximately 38 days.
  • Focus: Expanding the reach of the helpful content system to all languages, penalizing low-quality content primarily designed for search engines rather than people, and labeling it as a “site-wide signal.”
• October 2022 Spam Update
  • Time: Started October 19, 2022, lasted approximately 2 days.
  • Focus: Anti-spam algorithm adjustments, quickly adapting to new or existing spam patterns.
• September 2022 Product Reviews Update
  • Time: Started September 20, 2022, lasted approximately 6 days.
  • Focus: Encouraging high-quality product reviews that offer original research, in-depth analysis, and genuinely help users make purchasing decisions.
• September 2022 Core Update
  • Time: Started September 12, 2022, lasted approximately 14 days.
  • Focus: Broad ranking adjustments, continuously improving the understanding of content quality and user search intent.
• August 2022 Helpful Content Update
  • Time: Started August 25, 2022, lasted approximately 15 days.
  • Focus: First introduction of the “Helpful Content System,” aimed at demoting low-quality content “created for search engines” and rewarding content genuinely “created for people” that fulfills user needs.
• July 2022 Product Reviews Update
  • Time: Started July 27, 2022, lasted approximately 6 days.
  • Focus: Encouraging deeper product reviews, providing more information on product usage experience, pros and cons, and comparative analysis.
• May 2022 Core Update
  • Time: Started May 25, 2022, lasted approximately 15 days.
  • Focus: Comprehensive ranking adjustments, aimed at improving overall search result quality, and continuously evaluating authority and trustworthiness (E-A-T).
• March 2022 Product Reviews Update
  • Time: Started March 23, 2022, lasted approximately 14 days.
  • Focus: Rewarding product reviews based on actual testing, comparisons, and personal experience, rather than just rehashed product information.
• Desktop Page Experience Update
  • Time: Started February 22, 2022, lasted approximately 9 days.
  • Focus: Incorporating Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal for desktop websites, evaluating site loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.

2021

• December 2021 Product Reviews Update
  • Time: Started December 1, 2021, lasted approximately 20 days.
  • Focus: Rewarding high-quality product reviews that genuinely assist users in making purchasing decisions.
• November 2021 Core Update
  • Time: Started November 17, 2021, lasted approximately 13 days.
  • Focus: Broad core algorithm adjustment, affecting all websites and languages.
• November 2021 Spam Update
  • Time: Started November 3, 2021, lasted approximately 8 days.
  • Focus: Combating various spam websites and strategies.
• July 2021 Link Spam Update
  • Time: Started July 26, 2021, lasted approximately 29 days.
  • Focus: Combating link manipulation (e.g., mass link buying) and emphasizing proper use of rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc" tags.
• July 2021 Core Update
  • Time: Started July 1, 2021, lasted approximately 11 days.
  • Focus: The second part of the June core update, further adjusting Google’s core ranking algorithms.
• June 2021 Spam Update
  • Time: June 28 and June 23, 2021 (two separate updates).
  • Focus: Detecting and combatting spam content.
• Page Experience Update (Mobile)
  • Time: Started June 15, 2021, lasted approximately 79 days.
  • Focus: Incorporating User Experience (UX) factors like Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS security, and absence of intrusive interstitials as ranking signals for mobile search.
• June 2021 Core Update
  • Time: Started June 2, 2021, lasted approximately 10 days.
  • Focus: Significant adjustments to the core ranking algorithm, aimed at better rewarding high-quality, relevant, and authoritative content.
• April 2021 Product Reviews Update
  • Time: Started April 8, 2021, lasted approximately 14 days.
  • Focus: Encouraging in-depth analysis, unique insights, and reviews based on actual user experience for products.

2020

• December 2020 Core Update
  • Time: Started December 3, 2020.
  • Focus: Broad core algorithm adjustment, affecting all languages and countries.
• May 2020 Core Update
  • Time: Started May 4, 2020.
  • Focus: Another broad core algorithm update, aiming to improve overall search result quality.
• January 2020 Core Update
  • Time: Started January 13, 2020.
  • Focus: Routine core algorithm adjustment.

2019

• September 2019 Core Update
  • Time: Started September 24, 2019.
  • Focus: Broad core algorithm adjustment.
• June 2019 Core Update
  • Time: Started June 3, 2019.
  • Focus: Broad core algorithm update, which garnered significant attention from many websites.
• March 2019 Core Update (Also known as “Florida 2” or continuation of “Medic Update” by some)
  • Time: Started March 12, 2019.
  • Focus: A core update that was seen by many in the SEO community as a continuation of the “Medic Update” or “Florida 2,” especially impactful for YMYL (Your Money Your Life) websites (e.g., health, finance, legal), emphasizing E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) even further.

2018

• August 2018 Core Update (“Medic Update”)
  • Time: Started August 1, 2018.
  • Focus: Although Google called it a “core update,” it had a particularly significant impact on YMYL websites and E-A-T, leading the community to dub it the “Medic Update.” Many health, medical, and financial websites saw significant ranking fluctuations.
• April 2018 Core Update
  • Time: Started April 16, 2018.
  • Focus: Broad core algorithm adjustment.
• Speed Update
  • Time: July 9, 2018.
  • Focus: Mobile page loading speed officially became a ranking factor for mobile search.

2017

• Fred Update
  • Time: March 8, 2017.
  • Focus: Aimed at penalizing low-quality, ad-heavy, or content farm-like websites whose primary purpose was monetization rather than providing value to users.

2016

• Penguin 4.0
  • Time: September 23, 2016.
  • Focus: This was the final version of the Penguin algorithm, after which Penguin became part of the core algorithm. It enabled real-time updates and allowed for more granular demotion of specific links rather than entire sites.
• Possum Update
  • Time: September 1, 2016.
  • Focus: Primarily impacted local search results. It increased the relevance of businesses to the user’s geographical location and filtered out duplicate or similarly addressed businesses, even if they had different addresses but were in the same building.

2015

• RankBrain
  • Time: Confirmed implementation October 26, 2015.
  • Focus: A machine-learning component of Google’s search algorithm. It helps Google better understand the intent behind user queries, especially for ambiguous or novel queries, by learning to improve the relevance of search results, becoming one of the top three most important ranking signals.
• Mobile-Friendly Update (“Mobilegeddon”)
  • Time: April 21, 2015.
  • Focus: Made website mobile-friendliness a ranking factor for mobile search, impacting websites that were not mobile-responsive.

2014

• Pigeon Update
  • Time: July 24, 2014 (U.S.).
  • Focus: Significantly impacted local search results. It more tightly integrated traditional web ranking signals (like links, content, etc.) with the local ranking algorithm, making local search results behave more like traditional web search.

2013

• Hummingbird Update
  • Time: August 20, 2013.
  • Focus: This was not a simple overlay on existing algorithms but a complete rewrite of the core underlying Google search algorithm. It allowed Google to better understand the semantics and context of search queries, as well as the user’s intent behind the query, rather than just matching keywords. This was particularly important for long-tail and conversational queries.

2012

• Penguin Update
  • First Launched: April 24, 2012.
  • Primary Focus: Spam links and link manipulation. Aimed to penalize websites that tried to manipulate search rankings through unnatural means (e.g., buying large numbers of links, participating in link farms, excessive keyword-rich anchor text). It underwent multiple updates and was eventually integrated into the core algorithm.
• Top Heavy Update
  • Time: January 19, 2012.
  • Focus: Penalized websites with excessive advertising at the top of the page, as this negatively impacted user experience.

2011

• Panda Update
  • First Launched: February 24, 2011.
  • Primary Focus: Content quality. It aimed to combat low-quality, duplicate, thin, automatically generated, or plagiarized website content, and to boost the rankings of high-quality, original, and valuable websites. It went through multiple updates and was eventually integrated into the core algorithm.