We all very much aware of Google algorithm changes every
year. While most of these changes are minor, every few months Google rolls out
a “major” algorithmic update that affects search results in significant ways.
Below, I’ve listed the major algorithmic changes that made
the biggest impacts on search. Am posting this to understand these updates can
help with search engine optimization.
2012 Updates
Page Layout #2 —
October 9, 2012
Google 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.
Penguin #3 — October
5, 2012
After suggesting the next Penguin update would be major,
Google released a minor Penguin data update, impacting "0.3% of
queries". Penguin update numbering was rebooted, similar to Panda - this
was the 3rd Penguin release.
August/September
65-Pack — October 4, 2012
Google published their monthly (bi-monthly?) list of search
highlights. The 65 updates for August and September included 7-result SERPs,
Knowledge Graph expansion, updates to how "page quality" is
calculated, and changes to how local results are determined.
Exact-Match Domain
(EMD) Update — September 27, 2012
Google 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).
Panda #20 — September
27, 2012
Overlapping the EMD update, a fairly major Panda update
(algo + data) rolled out, officially affecting 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).
Panda 3.9.2 —
September 18, 2012
Google 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.
Panda 3.9.1 — August
20, 2012
Google 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 update was dubbed 3.9.1.
7-Result SERPs —
August 14, 2012
Google made a significant change to the Top 10, limiting it
to 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.
DMCA Penalty — August
10, 2012
Google announced that they would start penalizing sites with
repeat copyright violations, probably via DMCA takedown requests. Timing was
stated as "starting next week" (8/13?).
June/July 86-Pack —
August 10, 2012
After 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 "trusted sources", and changes to site clustering.
Panda 3.9 — July 24,
2012
A month after 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.
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 then announced that these new warnings may not actually
represent a serious problem.
Panda 3.8 — June 25,
2012
Google 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.
Panda 3.7 — June 8,
2012
Google 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).
May 39-Pack — June 7,
2012
Google 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.
Penguin 1.1 — May 25,
2012
Google rolled out its first targeted data update after the
"Penguin" algorithm update. This confirmed that Penguin data was
being processed outside of the main search index, much like Panda data.
Knowledge Graph — May
16, 2012
In a major step toward semantic search, Google started
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?!
April 52-Pack — May
4, 2012
Google published details of 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.
Panda 3.6 — April 27,
2012
Barely a week after Panda 3.5, Google rolled out yet another
Panda data update. The implications of this update were unclear, and it seemed
that the impact was relatively small.
Penguin — April 24,
2012
After weeks of speculation about an "Over-optimization
penalty", Google finally rolled out the "Webspam Update", which
was soon after dubbed "Penguin." Penguin adjusted a number of spam
factors, including keyword stuffing, and impacted an estimated 3.1% of English
queries.
Panda 3.5 — April 19,
2012
In the middle of a busy week for the algorthim, Google
quietly rolled out a Panda data update. A mix of changes made the impact
difficult to measure, but this appears to have been a fairly routine update
with minimal impact.
Parked Domain Bug —
April 16, 2012
After a number of webmasters reported ranking shuffles,
Google confirmed that a data error had caused some domains to be mistakenly
treated as parked domains (and thereby devalued). This was not an intentional
algorithm change.
March 50-Pack — April
3, 2012
Google 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.
Panda 3.4 — March 23,
2012
Google announced another Panda update, this time via Twitter
as the update was rolling out. Their public statements estimated that Panda 3.4
impacted about 1.6% of search results.
Search Quality Video
— March 12, 2012
This wasn't an algorithm update, but Google published a rare
peek into a search quality meeting. For anyone interested in the algorithm, 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.
Panda 3.3 — February
27, 2012
Google rolled out another post-"flux" Panda
update, which appeared to be relatively minor. This came just 3 days after the
1-year anniversary of Panda, an unprecedented lifespan for a named update.
February 40-Pack (2)
— February 27, 2012
Google published a second set of "search quality
highlights" at the end of the month, claiming more than 40 changes in
February. Notable changes included multiple image-search updates, multiple
freshness updates (including phasing out 2 old bits of the algorithm), and a
Panda update.
Venice — February 27,
2012
As part of their monthly update, Google mentioned 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.
February 17-Pack —
February 3, 2012
Google released another round of "search quality
highlights" (17 in all). Many related to speed, freshness, and
spell-checking, but one major announcement was tighter integration of Panda
into the main search index.
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 suspected
that a similar factor was in play in Panda. The update had no official name,
although it was referenced as "Top Heavy" by some SEOs.
Panda 3.2 — January
18, 2012
Google confirmed a Panda data update, although suggested
that the algorithm hadn't changed. It was unclear how this fit into the
"Panda Flux" scheme of more frequent data updates.
Search + Your World —
January 10, 2012
Google 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.
January 30-Pack —
January 5, 2012
Google announced 30 changes over the previous month,
including image search landing-page quality detection, more relevant
site-links, more rich snippets, and related-query improvements. The line
between an "algo update" and a "feature" got a bit more
blurred.
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