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Google Update History Timeline

Don’t know your Panda from your Penguin? Relax. Google changes its search algorithm almost 600 times a year. That’s an average of almost two tweaks a day. Most of these are only minor. Every few months, however, Google makes major changes that influence search results in meaningful ways. There is no systematic naming structure for these updates. The very first of these updates, “Boston,” was christened at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in 2003, held at the Boston Park Plaza. The first few were named in alphabetical order by members of Webmaster World (WMW) but this system was discontinued with the demise of monthly updates.

Google Update History for 2013 is off to a great start, with one unnamed yet major update within the first three weeks. The biggest highlight of 2012 was the introduction of Penguin as Google Update 25 on May 25. Another unnamed update caused confusion in November 2012 (Google Update 4, November 21, 20120.) December 4, 2012, saw the addition of several foreign languages to the Knowledge Graph, introduced on May 16 as part of Google Update 22. Google ditches its bizarre numbering scheme for Panda updates but fails to learn from its mistake; a similar numbering system is adopted for Penguin updates.

Read here for a description, in reverse order, of the Google SEO update history that you should know about from 2012 and 2013.

Google Update History 2013

Google Update 1

Date: January 22, 2013

Panda #24: This is the first entry in the official Google SEO Update History for 2013, affecting 1.2% of queries.

Google Update 2

Date: January 17, 2013

Not even worthy of a name, this was Google’s first unofficial update of 2013 (will this lead to a new numbering system in Google Search Update History?). Despite the company’s claim that this was an insignificant update, the buzz on the forums suggests that this update was actually more meaningful than Panda #24.

Google Update History 2012

Google Update 1

Date: December 21, 2012

Panda #23: Officially designated a “refresh,” it affected 1.3% of queries, slightly more than its two immediate Panda predecessors, Panda #21 and #22.

Google Update 2

Date: December 4, 2012

Knowledge Graph Expansion: Knowledge Graph functionality was added to non-English queries, including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Japanese. More than a simple translation, enhanced KG capabilities were added.

Google Update 3

Date: November 21, 2012

Panda #22: A mini-update, affecting 08.% of queries in English.

Google Update 4

Date: November 19, 2012

Another unnamed, but nonetheless significant, update. Confusion on the forums. Could this have been a “trailer” for Panda #22? A frustrating day in Google search update history.

Google Update 5

Date: November 5, 2012

Panda #21: This refresh affected 1.1% of English-language queries and probably appeared on the radar of 0.4% of regular Google users worldwide. A quiet day in Google search engine optimization update history.

Google Update 6

Date: October 5, 2012

Page layout #2: This involved an adjustment to the page layout to dispense with unwanted ads ‘above the fold’ by the user. This has often been referred to as the “top heavy update” in Google Search Update History. It was noticeable in around 0.7% of English queries.

Google Update 7

Date: October 5, 2012

Penguin #3: Affecting 0.3% of English queries and 0.4% worldwide. Forum users seemed almost disappointed that Penguin #3 had so little impact.

Google Update 8

Date: October 4, 2012

August/September 65-Pack: These 65 alterations embraced 7-result SERPS, expansion of the Knowledge Graph, altered the way local results are calculated and changed the way page quality was assessed.

Google Update 9

Date: September 27, 2012

Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update: Changing how Google handled EMDs resulted in widespread devaluation, diminishing the number of EMDs in the MozCast data set by greater than 10%. Elimination of low-quality EMDs. Impact on 0.6% of queries (by volume).

Google Update 10

Date: September 27, 2012

Panda #20: Because the 3.X numbering system was becoming unwieldy, industry sources changed the way Panda updates were numbered. This fairly major update affected 2.4 of queries (data and algo).

Google Update 11

Date: September 18, 2012

Panda 3.9.2 (#19): Thankfully the last of the infernal 3.X numbering system.

Google Update 12

Date: August 20, 2012

Panda #3.9.1(#18): Minor refresh, impacting less than 1% of search queries.

Google Update 13

Date: August 14, 2012

7-Result SERPs: Major change, reducing 10 results per page to 7. Made it easier for a given domain to command the page. Affected 18% of keywords tracked. A big day at the office for Google SEO Update History. This one did not stick however, and 10 is now the standard again.

Google Update 14

Date: August 10, 2012

DMCA Penalty: Digital Millennium Copyright Act kicks in. Google start penalizing sites with repeated copyright violations.

Google Update 15

Date: August 10, 2012

June/July 86-pack: Google goes back to school after summer break with a satchel full of Search Quality Highlights. Key updates include a ranking boost for trusted sources, better rank-ordering and Panda algo/data refresh.

Google Update 16

Date: July 24, 2012

Panda 3.9 (#17): No biggie. Rankings fluctuated for a few days but less than 1% of sites were affected.

Google Update 17

Date: July 19, 2012

Link Warnings: Google sends out a truckload of unnatural link warnings then almost immediately retracts them. Not the finest moment in Google Update History.

Google Update 18

Date: June 18, 2012

Panda 3.8 (#16): Data only refresh. Smaller impact than its immediate predecessor, Panda #15.

Google Update 19

Date: June 8, 2012

Panda 3.7 (#15): Google claimed that fewer than 1% of queries were affected but ranking fluctuation data suggested otherwise.

Google Update 20

Date: June 7, 2012

May 39-Pack: Major changes including improvements in link-scheme detection, Google News updates and alterations in title/snippet rewriting.

Google Update 21

Date: May 25, 2012

Penguin 1.1 (#2): Determined to confuse users with yet another awkward numbering system, Google introduced what the rest of us refer to as “Penguin 2.” Google called it a data refresh, affecting less than 0.1% of English queries. Users plunged into turmoil on a holiday weekend. Were they better off? Worse off? Will anybody ever know?

Google Update 22

Date: May 16, 2012

Knowledge Graph: Another watershed in Google search optimization update history. Google rolls out Knowledge Graph, integrated with SERP, providing supplemental info about certain places, people and things. Knowledge panels expected to make regular appearances on SERPs as time goes by.

Google Update 23

Date: May 4, 2012

April 52-Pack: Google SEO changes including changes linked to Penguin update, an expanded base index (+15%), updates to sitelinks and better handling of pagination. A productive day in Google update history.

Google Update 24

Date: April 27, 2012

Panda 3.6 (#14): Busy week for pandas, less so for Google-watchers. Update released less than a week after previous Panda. It is unclear what happened but the impact was negligible.

Google Update 25

Date: April 24, 2012

Penguin: A watershed day in Google search engine optimization update history and a bad day for black hat-makers. Google rolls out over-optimization penalty in a long-awaited webspam update that was subsequently nicknamed “Penguin.” Spam factors such as keyword stuffing were adjusted. Penguin affected a whopping 3.1% of English-language queries.

Google Update 26

Date: April 19, 2012

Panda 3.5 (#13): A quiet Panda update with minimal impact.

Google Update 27

Date: April 16, 2012

Parked Domain Bug: Unintentional algorithm change. Some domains devalued as a result of Google data error.

Google Update 28

Date: April 3, 2012

March 50-Pack: In this batch of Google SEO changes, Panda 3.4 was confirmed, changes were made to anchor-text scoring, method for interpreting queries with local intent was changed and image search updates were introduced.

Google Update 29

Date: March 23, 2012

Panda 3.4 (#12): Update announced on Twitter simultaneously with actual rollout of changes. Impact estimated at 1.6% of search results.

Google Update 30

Date: March 12, 2012

Search Quality Video: Not so much an algorithm update, but a rare opportunity to see the quality team in action. View uncut, annotated video here: http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/video-search-quality-meeting-uncut.html.

Google Update 31

Date: February 27, 2012

Panda 3.3 (#11): Minor, post-”flux” update, three days after Panda’s first anniversary. No party hats, just enhanced accuracy and sensitivity.

Google Update 32

Date: February 27, 2012

February 40-Pack (2): These Google SEO changes incorporated more than 40 updates. Updates included phasing out of two old pieces of algorithm, image search updates and slipping in a crafty Panda update.

Google Update 33

Date: February 27, 2012

Venice: Organic results were fiercely localized; local search data became more tightly integrated.

Google Update 34

Date: February 3, 2012

February 17-Pack: Comparatively small as far as monthly updates go. Major edit was integration of Panda into the main search index. Minor edits thrown in included tweaks related to spell-checking, freshness and speed. Updated efficiency and meaner Panda.

Google Update 35

Date: January 19, 2012

Ads Above the Fold: Updated to penalize sites with excessive ad space “above the fold.”

Google Update 36

Date: January 18, 2012

Panda 3.2 (#10): A confirmed data update rather than an algorithm update. Weakening of sites with excessive ratio of ads to credible content.

Google Update 37

Date: January 10, 2012

Search + Your World: Aggressive push of Google+ user profiles and social data into SERPs. Addition of a permanent new toggle button to switch off personalization.

Google Update 38

Date: January 5, 2012

January 30-Pack: Richer snippets, more relevant site-links, improvements in related-queries, introduction of quality detection of image search landing page.

Did we miss something in Google Update History! Tell us below!

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