Google Algorithm Updates

How many times does Google update its search algorithms?

Google search is changing all the time. In 2022, Google launched 4,725 changes to search – including changes to its ranking systems, user interface and more. That means Google search is changing, on average, 13 times per day.

But really, it could change even more than that if you’re opted into one or many experiments. Google also said in 2022 it ran:

13,280 live traffic experiments

894,660 search quality tests

148,038 side-by-side experiments

Many of these changes are minor. But algorithm updates tend to have a bigger, more noticeable impact. Algorithm updates can result in big wins or losses in rankings, traffic and revenue.

The history of Google algorithm updates: 2003-today

Here is a complete history of Google algorithm updates that you need to know about, in reverse chronological order.

2024 Google algorithm updates

Site reputation abuse

May

Google pre-announced this update as part of its rollout of the March 2024 core update and spam updates (March 5).

Third-party content produced primarily for ranking purposes and without close oversight of a website owner will be considered spam. Google used the example of a third party publishing payday loan reviews on a trusted educational website.

Some SEOs refer to this practice as “parasite SEO.”

Google will take both automated and manual actions

March 2024 core update

March 5

A more complex algorithm update, with multiple core systems getting updated and released, resulting in more fluctuations in rankings than a regular core update.

Google said unhelpful content in Search would be reduced by 40%.

Update will take up to a month to rollout.

Google’s helpful content system was incorporated into its overall core ranking system.