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Google Algorithm Updates - Latest News & History
Throughout the year Google is constantly making updates to their algorithms, and that causes rank fluctuations in the search results. So far In 2019, Google has already rolled out several confirmed core algorithm updates.
Below you’ll find an up-to-date summary of the confirmed and unconfirmed updates with additional resources and links to help you better understand the nature and impact of these changes.
More resources: Rank Risk Index | Google SERP Features | Visual SERP Feature Guide
Below you’ll find an up-to-date summary of the confirmed and unconfirmed updates with additional resources and links to help you better understand the nature and impact of these changes.
More resources: Rank Risk Index | Google SERP Features | Visual SERP Feature Guide
2022 - Google Updates
Rank Risk Index - Mobile Version
November 2022
November 30th Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateNovember 30, 2022
On November 22nd the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of SERP fluctuations on both desktop and mobile. The fluctuations continued the following days and peaked on November 30th. Fluctuations returned to normal on December 4th.
On December 5th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Mobile Version
November 2022
November 18th - 20th Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateNovember 18, 2022
On November 18th the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of SERP fluctuations on both desktop and mobile. Although the fluctuation levels on desktop returned to normal the following day, fluctuations continued on mobile.
On November 21st, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Mobile Version
October 2022
October 28th Unconfirmed Update / Adjustment
Unconfirmed UpdateOctober 28, 2022
On October 28th the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of SERP fluctuations on mobile. SERP fluctuation levels returned to normal the following day.
On November 1st, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported industry chatter. He mentioned that some SEOs were noticing that sites hit by previous updates were seeing big swings in terms of their Google rankings and traffic.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
October 2022
October 22nd Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateOctober 22, 2022
On October 22nd the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of SERP fluctuations on desktop. On mobile the fluctuations started on October 21st. SERP fluctuation levels returned to normal on October 23rd on both mobile and desktop.
On October 24th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported industry chatter. He also speculated that the fluctuations might be related to the recent Spam Update.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
October 2022 Spam Update
Confirmed UpdateOctober 19, 2022
On October 19th, Google announced on Twitter that the October 2022 Spam Updated had been released.
On October 20th, Barry Schwartz or Search Engine Roundtable reported limited industry chatter and ranking fluctuation.
Rank Risk Index - Mobile Version
December 22 Helpful Content Update
Confirmed UpdateOctober 05, 2022
Google announced on Twitter that the December 2022 Helpful Content update began rolling out on December 5th.
On December 5th the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop. Fluctuations increased over the next few days massively spiking on December 8th.
On December 7th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
September 2022
September 2022 Product Reviews Update
Confirmed UpdateSeptember 22, 2022
On September 20th, Google announced on Twitter that the September 2022 Product Reviews update had been released.
On September 22, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
September 2022 Core Update
Confirmed UpdateSeptember 13, 2022
On September 12th Google announced that the September 2022 Core Updated had been released.
The next day, the Rank Risk Index reported a massive increase in SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop.
On September 13th Barry Schwartz or Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
September 2022
Helpful Content Update Fluctuations
Unconfirmed UpdateSeptember 08, 2022
On September 8th the Rank Risk Index reported a spike in SERP features on both mobile and desktop. The fluctuations peaked the next day and returned to normal on September 10th.
It’s interesting to note that these fluctuations happened at the tail end of the Helpful Content Update rollout. What’s also interesting is that the fluctuations ended on the day that Google announced that the update was completed.
On September 9th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable speculated that the fluctuations were related to the update. He also reported on industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
August 2022
Helpful Content Update
Confirmed UpdateAugust 25, 2022
On August 25th, Google confirmed on Twitter that the Helpful Content update was live.
Google pre-announced the update on its blog explaining that the update was designed to weed out low-quality content.
It’s interesting to note that on the day the update went live, the Rank Risk Index reported normal levels of SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop.
On August 25th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported that the update was live
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
August 2022
August 9th Outage
Unconfirmed UpdateAugust 09, 2022
On August 9th, Google suffered a massive outage that caused:
- Indexing issues
- Pages dropping out of Google’s index
- Low-quality outdated search results
The outage was apparently caused by a fire in one of Google’s data centers.
The outage caused massive SERP fluctuations which were picked up on the Rank Risk Index on August 9th and 10th on both desktop and mobile. SERP fluctuations returned to normal on August 11th.
On August 9th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported the incident.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
July 2022
July 2022 Product Reviews Update
Confirmed UpdateJuly 27, 2022
On July 27th, Google announced on Twitter that the July 2022 Product Reviews update was released.
It’s interesting to note that on July 27th the Rank Risk Index reported normal levels of SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop.
On July 28th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported minimal levels of industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
June 2022
June 2022 Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateJune 20, 2022
On June 20th the Rank Risk Index began tracking high levels of SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop. The tremors began increasing during the following days.
On June 21st, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported high levels of industry chatter. He also commented on how search fluctuations occurred both before and after the May Core update.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
May 2022
Google May 2022 Core Update
Confirmed UpdateMay 26, 2022
On May 25th 2022, Google announced that the May 2022 Core update was live. The following day on May 26th, the Rank Risk Index reported a huge spike in rank fluctuations on both desktop and mobile. Although fluctuation levels returned to normal the next day, a core update typically takes two weeks to roll out completely.
On May 26th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on the update commenting on high levels of industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
May 2022
May 16th Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateMay 16, 2022
On May 16th, the Rank Risk Index tracked a moderate increase in SERP fluctuations. On mobile the fluctuations continued for a few days finally returning to normal on May 20th. On Desktop the fluctuations returned to normal on May 18th.
On May 17th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported high levels of industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
May 2022
Mother's Day Weekend Search Algorithm Update
Unconfirmed UpdateMay 08, 2022
On May 7th, the Rank Risk Index reported high levels of rank fluctuations on mobile. The following day on May 8th, rank fluctuations spiked dramatically on both mobile and desktop. Fluctuations gradually decreased over the next few days returning to normal by May 13th.
On May 8th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on significant industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
March 2022
March 2022 Product Reviews Update
Confirmed UpdateMarch 23, 2022
On March 23, Google announced on their blog that the March 2022 Product Reviews Update went live. Two days later on March 25th, the Rank Risk Index reported a small spike in SERP fluctuations. The fluctuations decreased the next day.
On Mar24th Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported what the focus of the update was and what it included. He also mentioned low levels of rank fluctuations and industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
March 2022
Spring 2022 Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update
Unconfirmed UpdateMarch 20, 2022
On March 18th the Rank Risk Index reported a small increase in SERP fluctuations on both mobile and desktop. The fluctuations increased reaching a peak on March 20th and slowly decreased over the next few days.
On March 20th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported large amounts of industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
March 2022
March 4th Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateMarch 04, 2022
On March 4th the Rank Risk Index reported a spike in rank fluctuations on both desktop and mobile. The fluctuations died down the next day.
On March 6th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
January 2022
January 22nd Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateJanuary 22, 2022
On January 22nd the Rank Risk Index reported high rank fluctuations on both desktop and mobile. The fluctuations peaked substantially the next day and fluctuations returned to normal on January 24th.
On January 23rd, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported about industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
January 2022
January 14th and 15th Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateJanuary 15, 2022
On January 14th the Rank Risk Index reported moderate levels of rank fluctuations which were followed by a massive spike in fluctuations the next day on both mobile and desktop. The fluctuations returned to moderate levels on January 16th and died down the next day.
On January 17th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported moderate amounts of industry chatter.
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
January 2022
January 12th Unconfirmed Update
Unconfirmed UpdateJanuary 12, 2022
On January 12th the Rank Risk Index reported moderate rank fluctuations primarily on desktop. The fluctuations returned to normal the next day.
On January 12th, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reported on industry chatter.
2021 - Google Updates
Rank Risk Index - Desktop Version
December 2021