Google Algorithm Updates: A Complete History and Timeline
Here is every ranking update Google has confirmed since 2022, with official dates and durations from Google’s Search Status Dashboard. Google rolls out several core, spam, and other ranking updates each year, which can significantly impact your website’s search visibility and organic traffic. Below you’ll also find how to check whether an update hit your site and what to do about it.
Latest Confirmed Update: September 2026 Spam Update
- Started: September 24, 2026
- Finished: October 8, 2026 (about 14 days)
- What it covers: a global spam update that applies to all languages
- Google’s notes: dashboard entry about spam updates
Last checked against Google’s dashboard: October 12, 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Google announces major ranking updates on its Search Status Dashboard.
- Google confirmed 10 updates in 2022, 9 in 2023, 7 in 2024, 4 in 2025, and 7 so far in 2026.
- Core updates aren’t penalties; Google says they don’t target specific sites.
- Spam updates target sites that break Google’s spam policies.
- There’s no quick fix after a core update; recovery can take months.
Types of Google Updates, Explained
| Type | What it does | How often | What to do if affected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core update | Broad changes to how Google ranks content overall. Not aimed at specific sites. | Several times a year | Review content quality across the site; avoid quick fixes. |
| Spam update | Improves Google’s systems for detecting pages that break its spam policies. | A few times a year | Find and stop the practice (for example, link schemes or scaled low-value pages). |
| Link spam update | Targets links built to manipulate rankings. | Occasionally | Stop buying or exchanging links; links from spam stop counting. |
| Reviews/product reviews update | Rewards in-depth, first-hand reviews over thin summaries. | Ran 2021-2023 | Add real testing, evidence, and original insight to review pages. |
| Helpful content update | Rewarded content made for people rather than for search engines. | Ran 2022-2023; now part of core ranking | Same as core updates: make content genuinely useful. |
| Discover update | Changes how content is ranked in the Google Discover feed, not regular search results. | Rare | Follow Google’s Discover guidance. |
| Page experience update | Used page experience signals such as Core Web Vitals. | Ran 2021-2022 | Keep pages fast, stable, mobile-friendly, and secure. |
Google Algorithm Update Timeline: 2022 to 2026
Every confirmed ranking update from the Google Search Status Dashboard, newest first. Durations are rounded to whole days.
2026
| Update | Started | Duration | Google’s entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 2026 spam update | Sep 24, 2026 | 14 days | Dashboard |
| August 2026 spam update | Aug 18, 2026 | 3 days | Dashboard |
| June 2026 spam update | Jun 24, 2026 | 2 days | Dashboard |
| May 2026 core update | May 21, 2026 | 12 days | Dashboard |
| March 2026 core update | Mar 27, 2026 | 12 days | Dashboard |
| March 2026 spam update | Mar 24, 2026 | 1 day | Dashboard |
| February 2026 Discover core update (US, English) | Feb 5, 2026 | 22 days | Dashboard |
2025
| Update | Started | Duration | Google’s entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2025 core update | Dec 11, 2025 | 18 days | Dashboard |
| August 2025 spam update | Aug 26, 2025 | 27 days | Dashboard |
| June 2025 core update | Jun 30, 2025 | 17 days | Dashboard |
| March 2025 core update | Mar 13, 2025 | 14 days | Dashboard |
2024
| Update | Started | Duration | Google’s entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2024 spam update | Dec 19, 2024 | 7 days | Dashboard |
| December 2024 core update | Dec 12, 2024 | 6 days | Dashboard |
| November 2024 core update | Nov 11, 2024 | 24 days | Dashboard |
| August 2024 core update | Aug 15, 2024 | 19 days | Dashboard |
| June 2024 spam update | Jun 20, 2024 | 7 days | Dashboard |
| March 2024 spam update | Mar 5, 2024 | 15 days | Dashboard |
| March 2024 core update | Mar 5, 2024 | 45 days | Dashboard |
2023
| Update | Started | Duration | Google’s entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 2023 reviews update | Nov 8, 2023 | 29 days | Dashboard |
| November 2023 core update | Nov 2, 2023 | 26 days | Dashboard |
| October 2023 core update | Oct 5, 2023 | 14 days | Dashboard |
| October 2023 spam update | Oct 4, 2023 | 16 days | Dashboard |
| September 2023 helpful content update | Sep 14, 2023 | 13 days | Dashboard |
| August 2023 core update | Aug 22, 2023 | 16 days | Dashboard |
| April 2023 reviews update | Apr 12, 2023 | 13 days | Dashboard |
| March 2023 core update | Mar 15, 2023 | 12 days | Dashboard |
| February 2023 product reviews update | Feb 21, 2023 | 14 days | Dashboard |
2022
| Update | Started | Duration | Google’s entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2022 link spam update | Dec 14, 2022 | 29 days | Dashboard |
| December 2022 helpful content update | Dec 5, 2022 | 38 days | Dashboard |
| October 2022 spam update | Oct 19, 2022 | 2 days | Dashboard |
| September 2022 product reviews update | Sep 20, 2022 | 6 days | Dashboard |
| September 2022 core update | Sep 12, 2022 | 14 days | Dashboard |
| August 2022 helpful content update | Aug 25, 2022 | 15 days | Dashboard |
| July 2022 product reviews update | Jul 27, 2022 | 6 days | Dashboard |
| May 2022 core update | May 25, 2022 | 15 days | Dashboard |
| March 2022 product reviews update | Mar 23, 2022 | 14 days | Dashboard |
| Page experience update for desktop | Feb 22, 2022 | 9 days | Dashboard |
The dashboard also lists two “ranking is experiencing an ongoing issue” incidents (October 2023 and August 2024). Those were technical problems, not updates, so they aren’t included above.
How Many Times Does Google Update Its Algorithm Each Year?
Counting only the ranking updates Google confirmed on its dashboard:
| Year | Confirmed updates | Core updates | Spam updates (incl. link spam) | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 (3 product reviews, 2 helpful content, 1 page experience) |
| 2023 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 (3 reviews, 1 helpful content) |
| 2024 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 2025 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2026 (to Oct 12) | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 (Discover) |
Google also makes many smaller changes to Search that it doesn’t announce. Google’s own core updates guide describes core updates as happening “several times a year”, which matches the numbers above.
What Changed in 2024-2026
Helpful content joined core ranking (March 2024)
With the March 2024 core update, Google said it had enhanced its core ranking systems to show more helpful results and that “there’s no longer one signal or system used to do this.” That’s why there have been no separate helpful content updates since September 2023.
Google added three spam policies (March 2024)
In the same announcement, Google added:
- Expired domain abuse: buying an expired domain and reusing its reputation to rank low-value content.
- Scaled content abuse: generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings rather than help users, however the content is produced.
- Site reputation abuse: third-party pages hosted with little or no oversight by the host site, to borrow its ranking signals. Google said this policy took effect on May 5, 2024.
INP replaced FID (March 12, 2024)
Interaction to Next Paint replaced First Input Delay as the Core Web Vital for responsiveness. The three Core Web Vitals are now LCP, INP, and CLS.
Discover received its own core update (February 2026)
Google released a Discover core update for English-language users in the US, saying it was “designed to improve the quality of Discover overall” and that it plans to expand it to other countries and languages.
Spam updates became more frequent
2026 has already had four spam updates, more than any recent year.
Was My Site Hit by a Google Update? How to Check
- Find the date your traffic changed: In Google Search Console, open Performance > Search results and look at clicks and impressions over the last 16 months.
- Compare it with the timeline above: If the change started during an update’s rollout, the update is a likely cause. Google recommends waiting until the rollout has finished and then at least a full week before comparing data.
- Check whether it’s site-wide or a few pages: Use the Pages tab to see which URLs lost the most clicks. A few pages usually points to content or competition; the whole site at once points to a broader quality issue or a technical problem.
- Rule out technical causes: Check the Pages (indexing) report for new 404s, server errors, or redirects. Our guide to HTTP status codes explains what each one means for SEO, and why Google might not be indexing your site covers indexing problems.
- Check for a manual action: In Search Console, open Security & Manual Actions > Manual actions. A spam update is automatic, but a manual action comes with a notice and can be fixed and reviewed.
What to Do If a Google Update Hurt Your Traffic
After a core update
Google’s guidance on core updates says core updates “don’t target specific sites or individual web pages.” A drop doesn’t mean your site broke a rule; other pages may simply be judged more helpful. Google’s advice:
- Small drop: Google recommends “avoiding making changes to content that’s already performing well.”
- Large, lasting drop: Review your most affected pages and the site as a whole against Google’s helpful content self-assessment questions.
- Avoid quick fixes: Google warns against quick changes and says “deleting content is a last resort.”
- Be patient: Some improvements show within days, but site-wide changes can take several months, and sometimes not until the next core update.
After a spam update
Find the practice that breaks Google’s spam policies and stop it: for example, paid or exchanged links, large numbers of thin pages, or third-party content hosted without oversight. Improvements can take months to show, because Google’s systems need to see the change over time.
Whatever the update
Keep a simple log of your own site changes (redesigns, migrations, content pruning). When traffic moves, you can then tell your own changes apart from Google’s.
Not sure whether an update caused your drop or something on your own site? Our SEO team can look at your Search Console data and tell you what changed and what to fix first.
Older Major Google Updates (2003-2019)
These updates are widely known by their nicknames. Google confirmed some; the SEO community named others.
| Update | Year | What it was about |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | 2003 | One of the first big updates; hit sites relying on keyword stuffing and other manipulative tactics. |
| Panda | 2011 | Lowered rankings for thin, low-quality, and copied content. Later became part of Google’s core ranking. |
| Penguin | 2012 | Targeted manipulative link building such as paid links and link schemes. |
| Exact Match Domain (EMD) | 2012 | Reduced the advantage of low-quality sites using a keyword-rich domain name. |
| Hummingbird | 2013 | A rebuild of Google’s core algorithm to better understand the meaning of whole queries, not just keywords. |
| Pigeon | 2014 | Changed how Google ranks local results, so local searches work more like regular web searches. |
| Mobile-friendly update | 2015 | Made mobile-friendliness a ranking signal for mobile searches. |
| RankBrain | 2015 | A machine-learning system that helps Google interpret queries it hasn’t seen before. |
| “Medic” | 2018 | The SEO community’s nickname for the August 2018 broad core update, which hit many health, finance, and other “your money or your life” sites. |
| Mobile-first indexing | 2018 | Google began using the mobile version of a page for indexing and ranking. It rolled out gradually over the next few years. |
| BERT | 2019 | Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers: a language model that helps Google understand the context of words in a query. |
About E-E-A-T: In December 2022, Google added “Experience” to E-A-T, making it E-E-A-T, in its Search Quality Rater Guidelines. This was a change to the guidelines that human raters use to evaluate results, not an algorithm update, and Google says the guidelines “don’t directly influence ranking.”
How to Stay Updated on Google Algorithm Changes
Google doesn’t send a notification when an update starts, so you have to know where to look. Three places cover almost everything. The Google Search Status Dashboard is the main one. Google lists confirmed ranking updates there with start and end dates, and that’s where we take the dates in this post from.
The Google Search Central blog is where Google explains bigger changes, such as new spam policies or changes to how core updates work. Google Search Console is where you see what an update did to your own site. If you check your performance report every week, you’ll notice a sudden change early instead of weeks later. Bookmark this page too. We update it whenever Google confirms a new ranking update.
FAQ
What is the latest Google algorithm update?
The latest confirmed update is the September 2026 spam update. It started on September 24, 2026, applied globally to all languages, and finished rolling out on October 8, 2026, according to Google’s Search Status Dashboard.
How many times does Google update its algorithm each year?
Google confirms a handful of major ranking updates each year: 10 in 2022, 9 in 2023, 7 in 2024, 4 in 2025, and 7 so far in 2026, according to its Search Status Dashboard. It also makes many smaller changes it doesn’t announce.
What is a Google core update?
A core update is a broad change to Google’s ranking systems that happens several times a year. It doesn’t target specific sites. Instead, it changes how Google assesses content overall, so some pages rise and others fall.
Is a “broad core update” different from a core update?
No. “Broad core update” and “core update” mean the same thing. Google describes core updates as broad changes to its search algorithms and systems.
How do I know if a Google update affected my site?
Compare the date your traffic changed in Google Search Console with the start and end dates of confirmed updates on Google’s Search Status Dashboard. Wait until the rollout has finished, then check whether the drop is site-wide or limited to a few pages, and rule out technical problems.
How long does it take to recover from a core update?
It varies. Google says some improvements can show within days, but site-wide improvements can take several months to be recognized, and in some cases a site may not see a change until the next core update.
Traffic dropped after a Google update? Our SEO team can review your Search Console data and show you what changed and what to fix first. Get a free SEO audit.
