Each year Google changes its search algorithm hundreds of times. While most of these changes are minor, every few months Google rolls out a “major” algorithmic update that affects search results in a significant way.
For search marketers, knowing the dates of these Google algorithm updates can help explain fluctuations in rankings and organic website traffic. Below, we’ve listed the history of Google’s algorithm changes that had the biggest impact on search results. Understanding these updates can be critical to search engine optimization.
Google Core Quality Rank
JANUARY 09, 2016
Volatile fluctuations in both Desktop and Mobile search caused by a Google Core Quality Rank Algorithm update were reported by our Rank Risk Index, a SERP fluctuation monitoring tool used by SEO experts.
Google remained quiet as webmasters and SEO experts and bloggers buzzed with speculations. Search marketing expert Barry Schwartz asked Google’s John Mueller for confirmation of an algorithm update during the January 12th Webmaster Central Office Hours livestream, and published in Search Engine Land a statement indicating that “Google Panda is now part of Google’s Core Ranking Algorithm”.
The Panda algorithm is applied to sites as one of Google’s core ranking signals. It measures the quality of a site, based on Google’s guidelines and adjusts rankings.
HTTPS Update
DECEMBER 17, 2015
Google announced that they’re now indexing HTTPS pages by default as user security is top priority. Sites using HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) are being rewarded with improved Google rank.
In situations where two URLs from the same domain seem to be sharing content, Google has a set of criteria it follows to determine whether it will serve the HTTPS or the HTTP page.
RankBrain Related Search Update (undisclosed)
DECEMBER 10, 2015
Rank Ranger’s Features Graph analyzes SERP page 1 features data and stability for thousands of keywords per day, and on December 10th its reporting that Google’s RankBrain caused a boost in Google’s special SERP Features that resulted in a significant increase in the number of SERPs containing Related Search, as well as a quality improvement in the average word count of Related Search phrases.
Hacked Sites Algorithm
OCTOBER 05, 2015
Google’s Hacked Sites Algorithm is expected to aggressively remove hacked sites from search results to improve the quality of search. The Webmaster Central Blog reported that “a huge amount of legitimate sites are hacked by spammers and used to engage in abusive behavior, such as malware download, promotion of traffic to low quality sites, porn, and marketing of counterfeit goods or illegal pharmaceutical drugs, etc.”
It is expected that this update will impact roughly 5% of queries across the board in multiple languages.