2007 |
Buffy |
Semantic / Query |
Update to single-word search results and other small changes |
2010 |
Negative Reviews |
Trust |
Update to ranking based on negative reviews |
2003 |
Supplemental Index |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Update splitting off results of lesser quality into the "supplemental index" |
2012 |
Search + Your World |
Personalization / Social |
Update pushing Google+ social data and user profiles into SERPs |
2011 |
Freshness Update |
Real-time / Freshness |
Update primarily affecting time-sensitive results signaling a much stronger focus on recent content |
2008 |
Google Suggest |
Semantic / Query |
Update displaying suggested searches in a dropdown below the search box and later powering Instant |
2008 |
Dewey |
Universal |
Unspecified update to the index, reportedly pushing Google's own internal properties, including Google Books |
2009 |
Real-time Search |
Real-time / freshness |
Twitter feeds, Google News, newly indexed content, a.o. were integrated into a real-time feed on some SERPs |
2010 |
Social Signals |
Personalization / Social |
Social signals are included in determining ranking, including data from Twitter and Facebook |
2010 |
Brand Update |
Trust |
Same domains are allowed to appear multiple times on a SERP |
2012 |
Knowledge Graph |
Semantic / Query |
Rolling out a SERP-integrated display providing supplemental object about certain people, places, and things |
2005 |
Personalized Search |
Personalization / Social |
Results take user's search histories into account |
2013 |
In-depth Articles |
Universal |
New type of result, dedicated to more ever-green, long-form content |
2012 |
Venice |
Local |
More localized organic results and more tightly integrate local search data |
2003 |
Boston |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
More emphasis on quality back-links |
2015 |
Mobile Update / "Mobilegeddon" |
Mobile |
Mobile friendliness becomes a stronger ranking factor for mobile searches |
2005 |
Google Local/Maps |
Local |
Maps data is integrated into the Local Business Center |
2010 |
Caffeine |
Real-time / Freshness |
Launch of new web indexing infrastructure resulting in a 50% fresher index |
2004 |
Brandy |
Semantic / Query |
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), anchor text relevance, synonyms and keywords, intro idea of link "neighbourhoods" |
2007 |
Universal Search |
Universal |
Integrating traditional search results with News, Video, Images, Local, and other verticals |
2005 |
Big Daddy |
Infrastructure |
Infrastructure update changing the way URL canonicalization, redirects a.o. technical issues are handled |
2003 |
Dominic |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Improving on counting and reporting backlinks |
2003 |
Emeralda |
Infrastructure |
Improvements on the index infrastructure |
2003 |
Fritz |
Infrastructure |
Improvements on the index infrastructure |
2005 |
Bourbon |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Improvements in how duplicate content and non-canonical (www vs. non-www) URLs were treated |
2014 |
HTTPS/SSL Update |
Trust |
Giving preference to secure sites |
2010 |
Google Instant |
Semantic / Query |
Displaying search results as a query was being typed |
2003 |
Cassandra |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Cracking down on link-quality issues, such as co-linking from domains, hidden text & hidden links |
2011 |
Panda |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on thin content, content farms, sites with high ad-to-content ratios, and a number of other quality issues |
2005 |
Allegra |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on suspicious-looking links |
2014 |
Payday Loan |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on spammy queries |
2012 |
Penguin |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on spam factors, including keyword stuffing and link schemes |
2014 |
Pirate 2.0 |
Anti-piracy |
Crack-down on software and digital media privacy |
2012 |
DMCA Penalty ("Pirate") |
Anti-piracy |
Crack-down on software and digital media piracy |
2004 |
Austin |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on SEO-tactics, inc. deceptive on-page tactics, including invisible text and META-tag stuffing |
2003 |
Florida |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on low-value late 90s SEO tactics, like keyword stuffing |
2010 |
May Day |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on low-quality pages ranking highly for long-tail searches |
2005 |
Jagger |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on low-quality links, including reciprocal links, link farms, and paid links |
2012 |
Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Crack-down on low quality websites that have search terms in their domain names |
2013 |
Hummingbird |
Semantic / Query |
Core algorithm update that powers changes to semantic search and the Knowledge Graph |
2015 |
The Quality Update |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Core algorithm change impacting "quality signals" |
2006 |
Supplemental Update |
Anti-manipulation / Quality |
Change to the supplemental index and how filtered pages were treated |
2014 |
"In The News" Box |
Universal |
Change to News-box results expanding news links to a much larger set of potential sites |
2009 |
Vince |
Trust |
Big brands get a boost in the results |
2014 |
Authorship Removed |
Trust |
Authorship bylines disappearing from all SERPs |
2014 |
Pigeon |
Local |
Altering local results and modifying how location cues are handled, creating closer ties between the local and core algorithm(s) |
2010 |
Google Places |
Local |
"Places" originally only a part of Google Maps was now integrated more closely with local search results |