13 Years of Google Search Updates

7/29/2019 13 Years of Google Search Updates

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Each year, Google changes its search algorithm around 500600 t imes. While most of these changes are minor, every

few months Google rolls out a major algorithmic update that affect s search results in significant ways.

For search marketers, knowing the dates o f these Google updates can help explain changes in rankings and organicwebsite traffic. Below, weve listed the major algorithmic changes that made the biggest impacts on search.

Underst anding these updates can help with search engine opt imization.

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2013 Updates

Penguin 2.0 (#4) May 22, 2013Aft er months of speculation bordering on hype, the 4th Penguin update (dubbed "2.0" by Google) arrived with only moderate impact . The

exact nature of the changes were unclear, but some evidence suggested that Penguin 2.0 was more finely targeted to the page level.

Penguin 4, With Penguin 2.0 Generation Spam-Fighting, Is Now Live (SEL)

Penguin 2.0/4 - Were You Jarred and/or Jolted? (SEOmoz)

Domain Crowding May 21, 2013Google released an update to control domain crowding/diversity deep in the SERPs (pages 2+). The t iming was unclear, but it seemed t o

roll out just prior to Penguin 2.0 in the US and possibly the same day internationally.

Google Domain Crowding Update: May 2013 (High Position)

Google Domain Clust ering Update (Justin Briggs)

"Phantom" May 9, 2013In the period around May 9th, there were many reports of an algorithm update (also verified by high MozCast act ivity). The exact nature

of this update was unknown, but many sites reported significant traffic loss.

A Google Update Is Happening (Google: Nothing To Announce Now) (SER)

SEO Findings From Googles Phantom Update (GSQi)

Panda #25 March 14, 2013Matt Cutts pre-announced a Panda update at SMX West, and suggested it would be the last update before Panda was integrated into

the core algorithm. The exact date was unconfirmed, but MozCast data suggests 3/13-3/14.

Google's Final Manual Panda Refresh Here? #25 (SER)

Google Panda Update 25 Seems To Have Hit (SEL)

Panda #24 January 22, 2013

Google announced its first official update of 2013, claiming 1.2% of queries affected. This did not seem related to talk of an updatearound 1/17-18 (which Google did not confirm).

Google Announces 24th Panda Refresh; Not Related To January 17t h (SER)

Google Panda Update Version #24; 1.2% Of Search Queries Impacted (SEL)

2012 Updates

Panda #23 December 21, 2012Right before the Christmas holiday, Google rolled out another Panda update. They of ficially called it a "refresh", impacting 1.3% of English

queries. This was a slightly higher impact than Pandas #21 and #22.

Confirmed: A Panda Refresh, Version #23 (SER)

Knowledge Graph Expansion December 4, 2012Google added Knowledge Graph functionality to non-English queries, including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese,

Russian, and Italian. This update was "more than just translation" and added enhanced KG capabilities.

Google Algorithm Change History0

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http://www.seroundtable.com/google-update-now-16762.htmlhttp://www.highposition.com/blog/google-domain-crowding-update-may-2013/http://www.seroundtable.com/google-update-maybe-16121.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-panda-update-version-24-1-2-of-search-queries-impacted-146149http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-24-16255.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-panda-update-25-seems-to-have-hit-151732http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-25-16506.htmlhttp://www.hmtweb.com/marketing-blog/penguin-2-google-phantom-update-may-2013/http://www.seroundtable.com/google-update-now-16762.htmlhttp://justinbriggs.org/google-domain-clustering-updatehttp://www.highposition.com/blog/google-domain-crowding-update-may-2013/http://moz.com/blog/penguin-2-were-you-jarred-and-or-joltedhttp://searchengineland.com/penguin-4-with-penguin-2-0-generation-spam-fighting-is-now-live-160544http://moz.com/loginhttp://moz.com/abouthttp://moz.com/bloghttp://moz.com/communityhttp://moz.com/learn/seohttp://moz.com/productshttp://moz.com/


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Get smarter answers from the Knowledge Graph from Portugus to Japanese to Russian (Google)

Googles Knowledge Graph Expands To More Languages, Including Italian, French, Japanese And Russian (TechCrunch)

Panda #22 November 21, 2012Aft er some mixed signals, Google confirmed t he 22nd Panda update, which appears to have been data-only. This came on the heels of a

larger, but unnamed update around November 19th.

Off icial Google Panda #22 Update: November 21 (SER)

Confirmed: Google Panda Refresh #22 On November 21st; 0.8% Of Queries Impacted (SEL)

Panda #21 November 5, 2012Google rolled out their 21st Panda update, roughly 5-1/2 weeks af te r Panda #20. This update was reported to be smaller, off icially

impacting 1.1% of English queries.

Google Releases Panda Update 21, Impacts 1.1% Of US Queries In English (SEL)

Off icial: Google Panda Refresh On November 5th (Version 21) (SER)

Page Layout #2 October 9, 2012Google announced an update to its original page layout algorithm change back in January, which targeted pages with too many ads above

the fold. It 's unclear whether this was an algorithm change or a Panda-style data refresh.

Its Top Heavy 2 As Google Rolls Out Update To Its Page Layout Algorithm (SEL)

Google Page Layout Algorithm Off icially Updated (SER)

Penguin #3 October 5, 2012Aft er suggest ing t he next Penguin update would be major, Google released a minor Penguin data update, impact ing "0.3% of queries".

Penguin update numbering was rebooted, similar to Panda - this was the 3rd Penguin release.

Google Penguin Update 3 Released, Impacts 0.3% Of English-Language Queries (SEL)

Google Released 3rd Penguin Update: Not Jarring Or Jolting (SER)

August/September 65-Pack October 4, 2012Google published their monthly (bi-monthly?) list of search highlights. The 65 updates f or August and September included 7-result SERPs,

Knowledge Graph expansion, updates to how "page quality" is calculated, and changes t o how local results are determined.

Search quality highlights : 65 changes for August and September (Google)

Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update September 27, 2012Google announced a change in the way it was handling exact-match domains (EMDs). This led to large-scale devaluation, reducing the

presence of EMDs in the MozCast data set by over 10%. Official word is that this change impacted 0.6% of queries (by volume).

Google's EMD Algo Update - Early Data (SEOmoz)

The EMD Update: Google Issues Weather Report Of Crack Down On Low Quality Exact Match Domains (SEL)

Panda #20 September 27, 2012Overlapping t he EMD update, a fairly major Panda update (algo + dat a) rolled out, off icially affec ting 2.4% of queries. As the 3.X series

was getting odd, industry sources opted to start naming Panda updates in order (this was the 20th).

20th Google Panda Algorithm Update: Fairly Major (SER)

How Do You Know If Google Panda Or EMD Hurt Your Site? (SER)

Panda 3.9.2 (#19) September 18, 2012Google rolled out another Panda refresh, which appears to have been data-only. Ranking flux was moderate but not on par with a large-

scale algorithm update .

Google Rolls Out Panda 3.9.2 Refresh (SER)

Panda Update 3.92 Rolling Out (Or Is It Panda 20 Time?) (SEL)

Panda 3.9.1 (#18) August 20, 2012Google rolled out yet another Panda data update, but the impact seemed to be fairly small. Since the Panda 3.0 series ran out of

numbers at 3.9, the new u date was dubbed 3.9.1.
http://searchengineland.com/panda-update-3-92-rolling-out-or-is-it-panda-4-0-time-133607http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-392-15720.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-emd-panda-15792.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-20-15789.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/low-quality-exact-match-domains-are-googles-next-target-134889http://moz.com/blog/googles-emd-algo-update-early-datahttp://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/10/search-quality-highlights-65-changes.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-penguin-3-15802.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-penguin-update-3-135527http://www.seroundtable.com/google-page-layout-update-15815.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-page-layout-algorithm-update-135847http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-21-15918.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-releases-panda-update-21-138902http://searchengineland.com/confirmed-google-panda-refresh-22-happened-on-november-21st-141098http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-22-confirmed-16017.htmlhttp://techcrunch.com/2012/12/04/googles-knowledge-graph-expands-to-more-languages-including-italian-japanese-and-russian/http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/12/get-smarter-answers-from-knowledge_4.html


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Confirmed: Google Panda 3.9.1 Update (SER)

Google Panda Refresh On August 19th: Version 3.9.1 (SEL)

7-Result SERPs August 14, 2012Google made a significant change to the Top 10, limiting it t o 7 results for many queries. Our research showed that this change rolled

out over a couple of days, finally impacting about 18% of the keywords we tracked.

SERP Crowding & Shrinkage: It's Not Your Imagination (SEOmoz)

7 Is The New 10? Google Showing Fewer Results & More From Same Domain (SEL)

DMCA Penalty August 10, 2012Google announced t hat they would start penalizing sites with repeat copyright violations, probably via DMCA t akedown request s. Timing

was stated as "starting next week" (8/13?).

An update to our search algorithms (Google)

The Emanuel Update: Google Will Penalize Sites Repeatedly Accused Of Copyright Infringement (SEL)

June/July 86-Pack August 10, 2012After a summer hiatus, the June and July Search Quality Highlights were rolled out in one mega-post. Major updates included Panda data

and algorithm refreshes, an improved rank-ordering function (?), a ranking boost for "t rust ed sources", and changes to site clustering.

Search quality highlights: 86 changes for June and July (Google)

Googles June-July Updates: Site Clustering, Sitelinks Changes & Focus On Page Quality (SEL)

Panda 3.9 (#17) July 24, 2012A month afte r Panda 3.8, Google rolled out a new Panda update. Rankings fluctuated for 5-6 days, although no single day was high

enough to stand out. Google claimed ~1% of queries were impacted.

Off icial: Google Panda 3.9 Refresh (SER)

Link Warnings July 19, 2012

In a repeat of March/April, Google sent out a large number of unnatural link warnings via Google Webmaster Tools. In a complete turn-around, they t hen announced t hat t hese new warnings may not actually represent a serious problem.

Insanity: Google Sends New Link Warnings, Then Says You Can Ignore Them (SEL)

Google Sends Out New Batch Of Unnatural Link Notifications (SER)

Panda 3.8 (#16) June 25, 2012Google rolled out another Panda data refresh, but this appeared to be data only (no algorithm changes) and had a much smaller impact

than Panda 3.7.

Off icial Google Panda Update Version 3.8 On June 25th (SEL)

Google Panda 3.8 Live: June 25th & Refresh Only (SER)

Panda 3.7 (#15) June 8, 2012Google rolled out yet another Panda data update, claiming that less than 1% of queries were affect. Ranking fluctuation data suggested

that the impact was substantially higher than previous Panda updates (3.5, 3.6).

Confirmed: Google Panda 3.7 Update (SER)

The Bigfoot Update (AKA Dr. Pete Goes Crazy) (SEOmoz)

May 39-Pack June 7, 2012Google released their monthly Search Highlights, with 39 updates in May. Major changes included Penguin improvements, better link-

scheme detection, changes to title/snippet rewriting, and updates to Google News.

Search quality highlights: 39 changes for May (Google)

Googles May Updates: Inorganic Backlinks, Page Titles, Fresh Results & More (SEL)

Penguin 1.1 (#2) May 25, 2012Google rolled out its first targeted data update after the "Penguin" algorithm update . This confirmed t hat Penguin data was being
http://searchengineland.com/googles-may-updates-inorganic-backlinks-page-titles-fresh-results-more-123951http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/06/search-quality-highlights-39-changes.htmlhttp://moz.com/blog/the-bigfoot-update-aka-dr-pete-goes-crazyhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-3-7-15281.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-3-8-15350.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/official-google-panda-update-version-3-8-on-june-25th-125945http://www.seroundtable.com/google-links-warnings-15461.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/insanity-google-sends-new-link-warnings-then-says-you-can-ignore-them-128297http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-39-official-15480.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/googles-june-july-updates-130392http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/08/search-quality-highlights-86-changes.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/dmca-requests-now-used-in-googles-ranking-algorithm-130118http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/08/an-update-to-our-search-algorithms.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/7-new-10-google-showing-fewer-results-131006http://moz.com/blog/serp-crowding-shrinkage-its-not-your-imaginationhttp://searchengineland.com/google-panda-refresh-on-august-19th-version-3-9-1-131284http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-391-15606.html


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processed outside of the main search index, much like Panda data.

Google Releases Penguin Update 1.1 (SEL)

Knowledge Graph May 16, 2012In a major st ep t oward semantic search, Google st arted rolling out "Knowledge Graph", a SERP-integrated display providing supplemental

object about certain people, places, and things. Expect to see "knowledge panels" appear on more and more SERPs over time. Also,

Danny Sullivan's favorite Trek is ST:Voyager?!

Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings (Google)

Google Launches Knowledge Graph To Provide Answers, Not Just Links (SEL)

April 52-Pack May 4, 2012Google published details o f 52 updates in April, including changes that were tied to the "Penguin" update. Other highlights included a

15% larger "base" index, improved pagination handling, and a number of updates to sitelinks.

Search quality highlights: 52 changes for April (Google)

Googles April Updates: Bigger & Tiered Index, Document Ranking, Sitelink Changes & More (SEL)

Panda 3.6 (#14) April 27, 2012Barely a week aft er Panda 3.5, Google rolled out yet another Panda data update. The implicat ions of this update were unclear, and it

seemed that the impact was relatively small.

Confirmed: Panda Update 3.6 Happened On April 27th (SEL)

Penguin April 24, 2012Aft er weeks of speculation about an "Over-optimization penalty", Google f inally rolled out t he "Webspam Update", which was soon after

dubbed "Penguin." Penguin adjust ed a number of spam fact ors, including keyword stuffing, and impacted an estimated 3.1% of English

queries.

Another step to reward high-quality sites (Google)

The Penguin Update: Googles Webspam Algorithm Gets Off icial Name (SEL)

Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice (SEL)

Two Weeks In, Google Talks Penguin Update, Ways To Recover & Negative SEO (SEL)

Panda 3.5 (#13) April 19, 2012In the middle of a busy week f or the algorthim, Google quietly rolled out a Panda data update. A mix of changes made the impact

diff icult to measure, but this appears t o have been a fairly routine update with minimal impact.

Google Mocks Me For Missing Panda 3.5 (SER)

Parked Domain Bug April 16, 2012Aft er a number of webmasters reported ranking shuff les, Google confirmed t hat a data e rror had caused some domains to be mistakenly

treated as parked domains (and t hereby devalued). This was not an intentional algorithm change.

Dropped In Rankings? Googles Mistake Over Parked Domains Might Be To Blame (SEL)

Updated: Google Update April 2012? Over SEO Penalty? (SER)

March 50-Pack April 3, 2012Google posted another batch of update highlights , covering 50 changes in March. These included confirmation of Panda 3.4, changes to

anchor-text "scoring", updates to image search, and changes to how queries with local intent are interpreted.

Search quality highlights: 50 changes for March (Google)

Googles March Updates: Anchor Text, Image Search, Navigational Search & More (SEL)

Panda 3.4 (#12) March 23, 2012

Google announced another Panda update , this t ime via Twitte r as the update was rolling out. Their public st atements est imated thatPanda 3.4 impacted about 1.6% of search results.

Google Says Panda 3.4 Is Rolling Out Now(SEL)

Search Quality Video March 12, 2012This wasn't an algorithm update, but Google published a rare peek into a search quality meet ing. For anyone interested in the algorithm,
http://searchengineland.com/google-says-panda-update-is-rolling-out-now-116444http://searchengineland.com/googles-march-updates-anchor-text-image-search-navigational-search-more-117285http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/04/search-quality-highlights-50-changes.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-update-april-2012-15023.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/dropped-in-rankings-google-mistake-over-parked-domains-118979http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-35-15065.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-talks-penguin-update-recover-negative-seo-120463http://searchengineland.com/penguin-update-recovery-tips-advice-119650http://searchengineland.com/the-penguin-update-googles-webspam-algorithm-gets-official-name-119623http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/panda-update-3-6-on-april-27th-120227http://searchengineland.com/googles-april-search-updates-120370http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/05/search-quality-highlights-53-changes.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-launches-knowledge-graph-121585http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/introducing-knowledge-graph-things-not.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-pushes-first-penguin-algorithm-update-122518


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the video provides a lot of context to both Google's process and their priorities. It's also a chance to see Amit Singhal in action.

Video! The search quality meet ing, uncut (Google)

Panda 3.3 (#11) February 27, 2012Google rolled out another post-"flux" Panda update, which appeared to be relatively minor. This came just 3 days aft er the 1 -year

anniversary of Panda, an unprecedented lifespan for a named update.

Google Confirms Panda 3.3 Update (SEL)

Confirmed: Google Panda 3.3 (SER)

February 40-Pack (2) February 27, 2012Google published a second se t of "search quality highlights" at the end of the month, c laiming more than 40 changes in February. Notable

changes included multiple image-search updates, multiple freshness updates (including phasing out 2 old bit s of the algorithm), and a

Panda update.

Search quality highlights: 40 changes for February (Google)

Venice February 27, 2012As part of their monthly update, Google ment ioned code-name "Venice". This local update appeared to more aggressively localize organic

results and more tightly integrate local search data. The exact roll-out date was unclear.

Understand and Rock the Google Venice Update (SEOmoz)

Google Venice Update New Ranking Opportunities for Local SEO (Catalyst eMarket ing)

February 17-Pack February 3, 2012Google released another round of "search quality highlights " (17 in all). Many related to speed, f reshness , and spe ll-checking, but one

major announcement was tighter integration of Panda into the main search index.

17 search quality highlights: January (Google)

Googles January Search Update: Panda In The Pipelines, Fresher Results, Date Detect ion & More (SEL)

Ads Above The Fold January 19, 2012

Google updated their page layout algorithms to devalue sites with too much ad-space above the "fold". It was previously suspectedthat a similar factor was in play in Panda. The update had no of ficial name, although it was referenced as "Top Heavy" by some SEOs.

Page layout algorithm improvement (Google)

Pages With Too Many Ads Above The Fold Now Penalized By Googles Page Layout Algorithm (SEL)

Panda 3.2 (#10) January 18, 2012Google confirmed a Panda data update, although suggested that the algorithm hadn't changed. It was unclear how this f it into t he

"Panda Flux" scheme of more frequent data updates.

Confirmed: Google Panda 3.2 Update (SEW)

Google Panda 3.2 Update Confirmed (SEL)

Search + Your World January 10, 2012Google announced a radical shift in personalization - aggressively pushing Google+ social data and user profiles into SERPs. Google also

added a new, prominent toggle button to shut off personalization.

Search, plus Your World (Google)

Real-Life Examples Of How Googles Search Plus Pushes Google+ Over Relevancy (SEL)

January 30-Pack January 5, 2012Google announced 30 changes over the previous month, including image search landing-page quality detect ion, more relevant s ite-links,

more rich snippets, and related-query improvements . The line between an "algo update" and a "feature" got a bit more blurred.

30 search quality highlights - with codenames! (Google)

Google Announces Megasitelinks, Image Search Improvements & Bette r Byline Dates (SEL)
http://searchengineland.com/google-announces-megasitelinks-image-search-improvements-better-byline-dates-106798http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/01/30-search-quality-highlights-with.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/examples-google-search-plus-drive-facebook-twitter-crazy-107554http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/search-plus-your-world.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-panda-3-2-update-confirmed-109321http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-32-update-14632.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/too-many-ads-above-the-fold-now-penalized-by-googles-page-layout-algo-108613http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-improvement.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/googles-january-search-update-110121http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/02/17-search-quality-highlights-january.htmlhttp://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/google-venice-update-local-seo.htmlhttp://moz.com/blog/understand-and-rock-the-google-venice-updatehttp://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/02/search-quality-highlights-40-changes.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-33-14803.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-panda-update-link-evaluation-local-search-rankings-113078http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/03/video-search-quality-meeting-uncut.html


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2011 Updates

December 10-Pack December 1, 2011Google outlined a second set of 10 updates, announcing that these posts would come every month. Updates included related query

refinements, parked domain detection, blog search freshness, and image search freshness. The exact dates of each update were not

provided.

Search quality highlights: new monthly series on algorithm changes (Google)

Google: Parked Domains, Scraper Sites Targeted Among New Search Changes (SEL)

Panda 3.1 (#9) November 18, 2011Aft er Panda 2.5, Google entered a period of "Panda Flux" where updates st arted t o happen more frequently and were relatively minor.

Some indust ry analysts called t he 11/18 update 3.1, even though there was no off icial 3.0. For the purposes of this history, we will

discont inue numbering Panda updates except for very high-impact changes.

Google Panda 3.1 Update: 11/18 (SER)

10-Pack of Updates November 14, 2011This one was a bit unusual. In a bid to be more transparent, Matt Cutts released a post with 10 recent algorithm updates. It's not clear

what the timeline was, and most were small updates, but it did signal a shift in how Google communicates algorithm changes.

Ten recent algorithm changes (Google)

Improved Snippet s, Rank Boost For Off icial Pages Among 10 New Google Algorithm Changes (SEL)

Freshness Update November 3, 2011Google announced t hat an algorithm change rewarding f reshness would impact up to 35% of queries (almost 3X t he publicly st ated

impact of Panda 1.0). This update primarly affected time-sensitive results, but signalled a much stronger focus on recent content.

Giving you fresher, more recent search results (Google)

Google Search Algorithm Change For Freshness To Impact 35% Of Searches (SEL)

Query Encryption October 18, 2011Google announced they would be encrypting search queries, for privacy reasons. Unfortunately, this disrupted organic keyword referral

data, ret urning "(not provided)" for some organic t raffic. This number increased in the weeks f ollowing t he launch.

Making search more secure (Google)

Google Hides Search Referral Data with New SSL Implementat ion (SEOmoz)

Panda "Flux" (#8) October 5, 2011Matt Cutts tweeted: "expect some Panda-related flux in the next few weeks" and gave a figure of "~2%". Other minor Panda updates

occurred on 10/3, 10/13, and 11/18.

Taking a Closer Look at the Googles Panda 2.5 Flux(SEL)

Minor Google Panda Update On November 18th (SEL)

Panda 2.5 (#7) September 28, 2011After more than month, Google rolled out another Panda update. Specific details of what changed were unclear, but some sites reported

large-scale losses.

Confirmed: Google Panda 2.5 Update Arrived This Week (SEL)

Google Panda 2.5: Losers Include Today Show, The Next Web; Winners Include YouTube, Fox News (SEL)

516 Algo Updates September 21, 2011This wasn't an update , but it was an amazing revelation. Google CEO Eric Schmidt t old Congress t hat Google made 516 updates in 2010.

The real shocker? They tested over 13,000 updates.

Eric Schmidt's Congressional Testimony (SEL)

Pagination Elements September 15, 2011To help f ix crawl and duplicat ion problems c reated by pagination, Google introduced the rel="next" and rel="prev" link att ributes . Google

also announced that they had improved automatic consolidation and canonicalization for "View All" pages.

Pagination with rel=next and rel=prev(Google)

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http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/09/pagination-with-relnext-and-relprev.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/figz/wp-content/seloads/2011/09/Eric-Schmidt-Testimony.pdfhttp://searchengineland.com/google-panda-losers-today-show-winners-youtube-95257http://searchengineland.com/confirmed-google-panda-2-4-update-arrived-this-week-95222http://searchengineland.com/minor-google-panda-update-on-november-18th-101891http://searchengineland.com/taking-a-closer-look-at-the-googles-panda-2-5-flux-97603http://moz.com/blog/google-hides-search-referral-data-with-new-ssl-implementation-emergency-whiteboard-fridayhttp://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/making-search-more-secure.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-search-algorithm-change-for-freshness-to-impact-35-of-searches-99856http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/giving-you-fresher-more-recent-search.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/improved-snippets-rank-boost-for-official-pages-among-10-new-google-algorithm-changes-100969http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/11/ten-recent-algorithm-changes.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-31-14348.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-parked-domains-scraper-sites-targeted-amongsearch-changes-103302http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/12/search-quality-highlights-new-monthly.html


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Google Provides New Options for Paginated Content (SEL)

Expanded Sitelinks August 16, 2011After experimenting for a while, Google officially rolled out expanded site-links, most often for brand queries. At first, these were 12-

packs, but Google appeared to limit the expanded site-links to 6 shortly after the roll-out.

The evolution of site links: expanded and improved (Google)

Off icial: Google Site links Expands To 12 Pack (SEL)

Panda 2.4 (#6) August 12, 2011Google rolled Panda out internationally, both for English-language queries globally and non-English queries except for Chinese, Japanese,

and Korean. Google reported that this impacted 6-9% of queries in affected countries.

High-quality sites algorithm launched in additional languages (Google)

Googles Panda Update Launches Internationally in Most Languages (SEL)

Panda 2.3 (#5) July 23, 2011Webmaster chatter suggested that Google rolled out yet another update. It was unclear whether new factors were introduced, or this

was simply an update to the Panda data and ranking factors.

Off icial: Google Panda 2.3 Update Is Live (SEL)

A Holistic Look at Panda with Vanessa Fox (Stone Temple)

Google+ June 28, 2011Aft er a number of social media failures, Google launched a serious at tack on Facebook with Google+. Google+ revolved around circles for

sharing content, and was t ightly integrated into products like Gmail. Early adopters were quick t o jump on board, and within 2 weeks

Google+ reached 10M users.

Introducing t he Google+ project : Real-life sharing, rethought f or the web (Google)

Larry Page On Google+: Over 10 Million Users, 1 Billion Items Being Shared Per Day (TechCrunch)

Panda 2.2 (#4) June 21, 2011Google continued t o update Panda-impacted sites and data, and version 2.2 was of ficially acknowledged. Panda updates occurred

separate ly from the main index and not in real-time, reminiscent o f early Google Dance updates.

Off icial: Google Panda Update 2.2 Is Live (SEL)

Why Google Panda Is More A Ranking Factor Than Algorithm Update (SEL)

Schema.org June 2, 2011Google, Yahoo and Microsoft jointly announced support for a consolidated approach to st ructured data. They also created a number of

new "schemas", in an apparent bid t o move toward even richer search results.

Google, Bing & Yahoo Unite To Make Search Listings Richer Through Structured Data (SEL) What is Schema.org? (Schema.org)

Panda 2.1 (#3) May 9, 2011Initially dubbed Panda 3.0, Google appeared to roll out yet another round of changes. These changes werent discussed in detail byGoogle and seemed to be relatively minor.

Its Panda Update 2.1, Not Panda 3.0, Google Says (SEL)

Google Panda 3.0 (SERoundtable)

Panda 2.0 (#2) April 11, 2011Google rolled out the Panda update to all English queries worldwide (not limited to English-speaking countries). New signals were also

integrated, including data about s ites users blocked via the SERPs directly or the Chrome browser.

High-quality sit es algorithm goes global, incorporates user feedback (Google)

Panda 2.0: Google Rolls Out Panda Update Internationally & Incorporates Searcher Blocking Data (SEL)

The +1 Button March 30, 2011Responding to competit ion by major social sites, including Facebook and Twitter, Google launched the +1 butt on (direct ly next to results

links). Clicking [+1] allowed users to influence search results within their social circle, across both organic and paid results.

Recommendations when you want them (Google)
http://www.google.com/+1/button/http://searchengineland.com/google-rolls-out-its-panda-update-internationally-and-begins-incorporating-searcher-blocking-data-72497http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/04/high-quality-sites-algorithm-goes.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-3-13379.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/its-panda-update-2-not-3-google-says-76508http://searchengineland.com/schema-org-google-bing-yahoo-unite-79554http://searchengineland.com/why-google-panda-is-more-a-ranking-factor-than-algorithm-update-82564http://searchengineland.com/official-google-panda-update-2-2-is-live-82611http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/14/larry-page-on-google-over-10-million-users-1-billion-items-shared/http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/introducing-google-project-real-life.htmlhttp://www.stonetemple.com/a-holistic-look-at-panda-with-vanessa-fox/http://searchengineland.com/official-google-panda-2-3-update-is-live-87230http://searchengineland.com/googles-panda-update-launches-internationally-in-most-languages-89214http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/08/high-quality-sites-algorithm-launched.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/official-google-sitelinks-expands-to-12-pack-89555http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/08/evolution-of-sitelinks-expanded-and.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-provides-new-options-for-paginated-content-92906


8/13

Meet +1: Google's Answer To The Facebook Like Button (SEL)

Panda/Farmer February 23, 2011A major algorithm update hit sites hard, affect ing up to 12% of search results (a number that came direct ly from Google). Panda

seemed to crack down on thin content, content farms, sites with high ad-to-content ratios, and a number of other quality issues. Panda

rolled out over at least a couple of months, hitt ing Europe in April 2011.

The 'Panda' That Hates Farms: A Q&A With Google's Top Search Engineers (Wired)

Google's Farmer/Panda Update: Analysis of Winners vs. Losers (SEOmoz)

Attribution Update January 28, 2011In response to high-profile spam cases, Google rolled out an update to help better sort out content attribution and stop scrapers.

According to Matt Cutts, this affected about 2% of queries. It was a clear precursor to the Panda updates.

Algorithm Change Launched (Matt Cutts)

Latest Google Algorithm change (Search News Central)

Overstock.com Penalty January 2011In a rare turn of events, a public outing of shady SEO pract ices by Overstock.com resulted in a very public Google penalty. JCPenney was

hit with a penalty in February for similar bad behavior. Both s ituations represented a shift in Google's attit ude and foreshadowed the

Panda update.

Google Penalizes Overstock for Search Tactics (WSJ)

Overstock.com's Google Rankings - Too Good? (WMW)

2010 Updates

Social Signals December 2010Google and Bing confirmed that they use social signals in determining ranking, including data f rom Twitt er and Facebook. Matt Cutts

confirmed that this was a relatively new development for Google, although many SEOs had long suspected it would happen.

What Social Signals Do Google & Bing Really Count? (SEL)

Google Webmaster Video Reconfirms Use Of Social Signals (SEL)

Negative Reviews December 2010Aft er an expose in the New York Times about how e-commerce site DecorMyEyes was ranking based on negative reviews, Google made a

rare move and reactively adjusted the algorithm to target sites using similar tactics.

A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web (NY Times)

Being bad to your customers is bad for business (Google)

Instant Previews November 2010A magnifying glass icon appeared on Google search results, allowing search visitors to quickly view a preview of landing pages directly

from SERPs. This signaled a renewed focus for Google on landing page quality, design, and usability.

Beyond Instant Results : Inst ant Previews (Google)

Google Instant September 2010Expanding on Google Sugges t, Google Inst ant launched, displaying search results as a query was be ing t yped. SEOs everywhere nearly

spontaneously combusted, only to realize t hat the impact was ultimately fairly small.

About Google Instant (Google)

Google Instant: Fewer Changes to SEO than the Average Algo Update (SEOmoz)

Brand Update August 2010Although not a t raditional algorithm update , Google st arted allowing the same domain to appear multiple t imes on a SERP. Previously,

domains were limited to 1-2 listings, or 1 list ing with indented results.

Google Search Results Dominated By One Domain (SEL)
http://searchengineland.com/google-search-results-dominated-by-one-domain-49025http://moz.com/blog/google-instant-fewer-changes-to-seo-than-the-average-algo-updatehttp://www.google.com/instant/http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/beyond-instant-results-instant-previews.htmlhttp://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/being-bad-to-your-customers-is-bad-for.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?_r=1&pagewanted=allhttp://searchengineland.com/google-webmaster-video-reconfirms-use-of-social-signals-59320http://searchengineland.com/what-social-signals-do-google-bing-really-count-55389http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4252178.htmhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704520504576162753779521700.htmlhttp://searchnewscentral.com/20110131124/Latest/latest-google-algorithm-change.htmlhttp://www.mattcutts.com/blog/algorithm-change-launched/http://moz.com/blog/googles-farmer-update-analysis-of-winners-vs-losershttp://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/the-panda-that-hates-farms/http://searchengineland.com/meet-1-googles-answer-to-the-facebook-like-button-70569


9/13

Caffeine (Rollout) June 2010After months of testing, Google finished rolling out the Caffeine infrastructure. Caffeine not only boosted Google's raw speed, but

integrated c rawling and indexation much more t ightly, resulting in (according to Google) a 50% fresher index.

Our new search index: Caffeine (Google)

Googles New Indexing Infrastructure Caffeine Now Live (SEL)

May Day May 2010In late April and early May, webmasters noticed s ignificant drops in their long-tail traffic. Matt Cutts later confirmed t hat May Day was an

algorithm change impact ing t he long-tail. Sites with large-scale thin content seemed to be hit especially hard, foreshadowing the Panda

update.

Google Search Results Dominated By One Domain (SEL)

Video: Google's Matt Cutts On May Day Update (SERoundtable)

Google Places April 2010Although "Places" pages were rolled out in Sept ember of 2009, they were originally only a part of Google Maps. The off icial launch of

Google Places re-branded t he Local Business Center, integrated Places pages more closely with local search results , and added a number

of feat ures, including new local advertising opt ions.

Google Local Business Center Becomes "Google Places" (SEL)

Introducing Google Places (Google)

2009 Updates

Real-time Search December 2009This time, real-time search was for real- Twitt er feeds, Google News, newly indexed content, and a number of other sources were

integrated into a real-time f eed on some SERPs. Sources continued to expand over time, including social media.

Google Launches Real Time Search Results (SEL)

Caffeine (Preview) August 2009Google released a preview of a massive infrastructure change, designed t o speed crawling, expand the index, and integrate indexation

and ranking in nearly real-time. The timeline spanned months, with the final rollout starting in the US in early 2010 and lasting until the

summer.

Google Caffeine: A Detailed Test of the New Google (Mashable)

Help test some next-generation infrastructure (Google)

Rel-canonical Tag February 2009Google, Microsoft , and Yahoo jointly announced support for the Canonical Tag, allowing webmasters t o send canonicalization signals t o

search bot s without impact ing human visitors.

Learn about the Canonical Link Element in 5 minutes (MattCutts.com)

Canonical URL Tag - The Most Important Advancement in SEO Pract ices Since Sitemaps (SEOmoz)

Vince February 2009SEOs reported a major update that seemed to strongly favor big brands. Matt Cutts called Vince a "minor change", but others felt it had

profound, long-term implications.

Big Brands - Google Brand Promotion: New Search Engine Rankings Place Heavy Emphasis on Branding (SEO Book)

Google's Vince Update Produces Big Brand Rankings; Google Calls It A Trust "Change" (SEL)

2008 UpdatesGoogle Suggest August 2008In a major change t o t heir logo-and-a-box home-page Google introduced Suggest, displaying suggest ed searches in a dropdown below

the search box as visitors typed their queries. Suggest would later go on to power Google Instant.

Google.com Finally Gets Google Suggest Feature (SEL)
http://searchengineland.com/googlecom-finally-gets-google-suggest-feature-14626http://searchengineland.com/google-searchs-vince-change-google-says-not-brand-push-16803http://www.seobook.com/google-brandinghttp://moz.com/blog/canonical-url-tag-the-most-important-advancement-in-seo-practices-since-sitemapshttp://www.mattcutts.com/blog/canonical-link-tag/http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/08/help-test-some-next-generation.htmlhttp://mashable.com/2009/08/10/google-caffeine/http://searchengineland.com/google-launches-real-time-search-31355http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/introducing-google-places.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-local-business-center-becomes-google-places-40307http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/022293.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-mayday-update-impacts-long-tail-traffic-43054http://searchengineland.com/googles-new-indexing-infrastructure-caffeine-now-live-43891http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/our-new-search-index-caffeine.html


10/13

Dewey April 2008A large-scale shuffle seemed to occur at the end of March and into early April, but the specifics were unclear. Some suspected Google

was pushing its own inte rnal properties, including Google Books, but the evidence of that was limited.

Google's Cutts Asking for Feedback on March/April '08 Update (SERoundtable)

2007 Updates

Buffy June 2007In honor of Vanessa Fox leaving Google, the "Buffy" update was christened. No one was quite sure what happened, and Matt Cutts

suggested that Buffy was just an accumulation of smaller changes.

Google "Buffy" Update - June Google.com Update (SERoundtable)

SMX Seattle wrap-up (MattCutts.com)

Universal Search May 2007While not your typical algorithm update, Google integrated t raditional search results with News, Video, Images, Local, and ot her verticals,

dramatically changing their format. The old 10-listing SERP was officially dead. Long live the old 10-listing SERP.

Google 2.0: Google Universal Search (SEL)

2006 Updates

False Alarm December 2006There were st irrings about an update in December, along with some reports of major ranking changes in November, but Google reported

no major changes.

Google Update Debunked By Matt Cutts (SERoundtable)

Supplemental Update November 2006Throughout 2006, Google seemed to make changes to the supplemental index and how filtered pages were treated. They claimed in late

2006 that supplemental was not a penalty (even if it sometimes felt that way).

Confusion Over Google's Supplemental Index (SERoundtable)

2005 Updates

Big Daddy December 2005Technically, Big Daddy was an infrastructure update (like the more recent "Caffeine"), and it rolled out over a few months, wrapping up in

March of 2006. Big Daddy changed the way Google handled URL canonicalization, redirect s (301/302) and other technical issues.

Indexing timeline (MattCutts.com)

Todd, Greg & Matt Cutts on WebMasterRadio (SEOmoz)

Jagger October 2005Google released a series of updates, mostly targeted at low-quality links, including reciprocal links, link farms, and paid links. Jagger rolled

out in at least 3 stages, from roughly September to November of 2005, with the greatest impact occurring in October.

A Review Of The Jagger 2 Update (SERoundtable)

Dealing With Consequences of Jagger Update (WMW)

Google Local/Maps October 2005Aft er launching the Local Business Center in March 2005 and encouraging businesses to update their information, Google merged its Maps

data into the LBC, in a move that would eventually drive a number of changes in local SEO.

Google Merges Local and Maps Products (Google)

Gilligan September 2005Also called t he "False" update ? webmasters saw changes (probably ongoing), but Google claimed no major algorithm update occurred.
http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/local_merge.htmlhttp://www.webmasterworld.com/forum30/32004.htmhttp://www.seroundtable.com/archives/002711.htmlhttp://www.seomoz.org/blog/todd-greg-matt-cutts-on-webmasterradiohttp://www.mattcutts.com/blog/indexing-timeline/http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/006740.htmlhttp://searchengineland.com/google-20-google-universal-search-11232http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/smx-seattle-wrap-up/http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/013882.htmlhttp://www.seroundtable.com/archives/016754.html


11/13

Matt Cutts wrote a blog post explaining that Google updated (at the time) index data daily but Toolbar PR and some other metrics only

once every 3 months.

Google's Cutts Says Not An Update - I Say An Update, Just Not A Dance (SEW)

What?s an update? (MattCutts.com)

Personalized Search June 2005Unlike previous att empts at personalization, which required custom set tings and profiles, the 2005 roll-out of personalized search tapped

directly into users? search histories to automatically adjust results . Although the impact was small at f irst , Google would go on to use

search history for many applications.

Google Relaunches Personal Search - This Time, It Really Is Personal (SEW)

Search gets personal (Google)

XML Sitemaps June 2005Google allowed webmasters t o submit XML sitemaps via Webmaster Tools, bypass ing t raditional HTML sitemaps, and giving SEOs direct

(albeit minor) influence over crawling and indexation.

New "Google Sitemaps" Web Page Feed Program (SEW)

Bourbon May 2005"GoogleGuy" (likely Matt Cutts) announced t hat Google was rolling out "something like 3.5 changes in search quality." No one was sure

what 0.5 of a change was, but Webmaster World members speculated t hat Bourbon changed how duplicate content and non-canonical

(www vs. non-www) URLs were treated.

Google Update "Bourbon" (Batelle Media)

Bourbon Update Survival Kit (SERoundtable)

Allegra February 2005Webmasters witnessed ranking changes, but the specifics of the update were unclear. Some thought Allegra affected the "sandbox"

while others believed that LSI had been tweaked. Additionally, some speculated that Google was beginning to penalize suspicious links.

Google's Feb. 2005 Update (SEW)

Nofollow January 2005To combat spam and control outbound link quality, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft collect ively introduce the "nofollow" att ribute. Nofollow

helps clean up unvouched for links, including spammy blog comments. While not a traditional algorithm update, this change gradually has a

significant impact on the link graph.

Google, Yahoo, MSN Unite On Support For Nofollow Attribute For Links (SEW)

2004 Updates

Google IPO August 2004Although obviously not an algorithm update, a major event in Google's history - Google sold 19M shares, raised $1.67B in capital, and set

their market value at over $20B. By January 2005, Google share prices more than doubled.

Google IPO priced at $85 a share (CNN)

Brandy February 2004Google rolled out a variety of changes, including a massive index expansion, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), increased att ention to

anchor text relevance, and the concept of link "neighborhoods." LSI expanded Google's ability t o understand synonyms and took

keyword analysis to the next level.

Google's Brandy Update Exposed (WebProNews)

How To Beat Google's "Brandy" Update (SitePoint)

Austin January 2004What Florida missed, Aust in came in to clean up. Google cont inued to crack-down on decept ive on-page tactics , including invisible text

and META-tag st uffing. Some speculated that Google put the "Hilltop" algorithm into play and began to t ake page relevance seriously.

The latest on update Austin (Google's January update) (SEJ)

Google Update Aust in: Google Update Florida Again (Search-Marketing.info)
http://www.search-marketing.info/newsletter/articles/austin-florida.htmhttp://www.searchenginejournal.com/the-latest-on-update-austin-googles-january-update/237/http://blogs.sitepoint.com/brandy-google-update/http://www.webpronews.com/googles-brandy-update-exposed-2004-02http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/08/19/google.ipo/http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2062985/Google-Yahoo-MSN-Unite-On-Support-For-Nofollow-Attribute-For-Linkshttp://searchenginewatch.com/article/2047678/Googles-Feb.-2005-Updatehttp://www.seroundtable.com/archives/002130.htmlhttp://battellemedia.com/archives/2005/06/google_update_bourbonhttp://searchenginewatch.com/article/2061916/New-Google-Sitemaps-Web-Page-Feed-Programhttp://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/06/search-gets-personal.htmlhttp://searchenginewatch.com/article/2061728/Google-Relaunches-Personal-Search-This-Time-It-Really-Is-Personalhttp://www.mattcutts.com/blog/whats-an-update/http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2061165/Googles-Cutts-Says-Not-An-Update-I-Say-An-Update-Just-Not-A-Dance


12/13

2003 Updates

Florida November 2003This was the update that put updates (and probably the SEO industry) on the map. Many sites lost ranking, and business owners were

furious. Florida sounded the death knell for low-value late 90s SEO tact ics, like keyword stuff ing, and made the game a whole lot more

interesting.

What Happened To My Site On Google? (SEW)

Supplemental Index September 2003In order to index more documents without sacrificing performance, Google split off some results into the "supplemental" index. The

perils of having results go supplemental became a hot ly debated SEO topic, until the index was later reintegrated.

Search Engine Size Wars & Google's Supplemental Results (SEW)

Fritz July 2003The monthly "Google Dance" finally came to an end with t he "Fritz" update. Instead of completely overhauling t he index on a roughly

monthly basis, Google switched to an incremental approach. The index was now changing daily.

Explaining algorithm updates and data refreshes (Matt Cutts)

Exclusive: How Googles Algorithm Rules the Web (Wired)

Esmerelda June 2003This marked the last of the regular monthly Google updates, as a more cont inuous update process began to emerge. The "Google

Dance" was replaced with "Everflux". Esmerelda probably heralded some major infrast ruct ure changes at Google.

Google Update Esmeralda (Kuro5hin)

Dominic May 2003While many changes were observed in May, the exact nature of Dominic was unclear. Google bot s "Freshbot" and "Deepcrawler" scoured

the web, and many sites reported bounces. The way Google counted or reported backlinks seemed to change dramatically.

Underst anding Dominic - Part 2 (WMW)

Cassandra April 2003Google cracked down on some basic link-quality issues, such as massive linking from co-owned domains. Cassandra also came down hard

on hidden text and hidden links.

Google - Update "Cassandra" is here (Econsultancy)

Boston February 2003Announced at SES Boston, this was the f irst named Google update. Originally, Google aimed at a major monthly update, so the f irst few

updates were a combination of algorithm changes and major index refreshes (t he so-called "Google Dance"). As updates became more

frequent, t he monthly idea quickly died.

2002 Updates

1st Documented Update September 2002Before "Bost on" (the first named update), t here was a major shuffle in the Fall of 2002. The details are unclear, but this appeared t o be

more than the monthly Google Dance and PageRank update. As one webmaster said of Google: "they move the toilet mid stream".

September, 2002 Google Update Discussion - Part 1 (WMW)

Dancing The Google Dance (Level343)

2000 Updates

Google Toolbar December 2000Guaranteeing SEO arguments for years t o come, Google launched their browser toolbar, and with it , Toolbar PageRank (TBPR). As soon as

webmasters started watching TBPR, the Google Dance began.
http://level343.com/article_archive/2011/03/14/dancing-the-google-dance-one-algo-change-two-algo-change-go/http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/5688.htmhttp://econsultancy.com/us/forums/other-topics/google-update-cassandra-is-herehttp://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/13088-1-30.htm?highlight=dominic#msg160172http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/6/23/201523/090http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm/all/1http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/explaining-algorithm-updates-and-data-refreshes/http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2067049/Search-Engine-Size-Wars-Googles-Supplemental-Resultshttp://searchenginewatch.com/article/2066309/What-Happened-To-My-Site-On-Google


13/13

Google Launches The Google Toolbar (Google)

Did we miss an update? Email us [email protected]

Naming SchemesNaming Schemes

Theres been no single rhyme or reason to how Google updates are named. The first named update was christ ened "Boston" byTheres been no single rhyme or reason to how Google updates are named. The first named update was christ ened "Boston" by

Webmaster World users, as it was announced at SES Boston. The next f ew updates ("Cassandra", "Dominic", "Esmerelda") were alsoWebmaster World users, as it was announced at SES Boston. The next f ew updates ("Cassandra", "Dominic", "Esmerelda") were also

named by WMW usersnamed by WMW users, in a style similar to how hurricanes are named. Once the monthly "Google Dance" ended, t hat syst em fe ll into, in a style similar to how hurricanes are named. Once the monthly "Google Dance" ended, t hat syst em fe ll into

disuse. Later updates were named by various sources , including WMW, and major search blogs and forums. Google themselves have coineddisuse. Later updates were named by various sources , including WMW, and major search blogs and forums. Google themselves have coined

the occasional name ("Caff eine"), while a few names have been Google-inspired ("Vince" and "Panda" were named after Google engineers).the occasional name ("Caff eine"), while a few names have been Google-inspired ("Vince" and "Panda" were named after Google engineers).

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13 Years of Google Search Updates