Among all the search engines out there, Google’s search engine is the most potent in getting the most traffic. This is because the intuitive google algorithm helps rank your website by locating the keywords you used in your content. Ultimately google decides the ranking of a webpage based on several factors.

The algorithms of the Google search engine are not consistent. This is because Google keeps updating the algorithm quite often. The updates may occur twice or thrice a year. Although the minor updates go unnoticed, whenever Google makes any significant change in the algorithm, they announce.

For instance, page speed on desktops has been a ranking factor for any web page since 2010. The same started to apply on mobiles in 2018. In addition, there are many other ranking factors that Google keeps updating each year.

So, what is Google algorithm update? How often does Google change its algorithms? How do the Google algorithm updates affect the web pages? If you want answers to questions like this, you can follow this article.

In this article, I have discussed the google algorithm updates and how the Google algorithm updates, and how major google algorithm updates can affect the websites’ ranking.

What Is Google Algorithm?

The Google algorithm is a complex system that retrieves data from the search engine’s search index and delivers instant results for a specific keyword-driven query. Numerous ranking factors and the combination of the algorithms rank a web page in the SERPs. As mentioned earlier, Google Keeps changing these rambling factors every year.

What Is Google Algorithm Update?

Google algorithm updates mean the change in the google search engine. Google updates its algorithm for search quality improvement, the relevance of search results, and boosting the overall user experience of searchers. Ranking factors such as the page speed are called Core Web Vitals. Google has passed several milestones in terms of updating the google search engine. Here, I have put down a brief history of the google algorithm updates.

2010 Caffeine Google Index Update

In June 2010, Google introduced the caffeine google index update. The intent was to speed up the process of showing search results. As a result, the users could get faster results for their web searches, and the content publishers could see their web pages.

The google index update made it easier for Google to crawl and store data more efficiently. According to statistics, the Caffeine update started to provide 50% faster web search results than before.

Google introduced this update to speed up the process of web searches to meet the need of increasing web searches in the world. In addition, Google announced site speed as the ranking signal for ranking a site in the SERP.

You may like to read: How to beat Google’s Updates and Maintain Metrics?

2012 Penguin Webspam Update

The penguin algorithm updates or, as Google puts it, “webspam algorithm updates” came in 2012. Google intended to target the websites with webcams and websites that used manipulative link-building tactics.

2012 made google enabled to identify the links if they are going back to a genuine or a spammy website. The result decreased the organic traffic of those websites with high volume but the low quality of poor links.

2012 Pirate Algorithm Update

Also, in 2012, Google rolled out another google algorithm update. The pirate algorithm update came out to prevent the infringement of the copyrighted content available on some websites. Many websites contain pirated files of copyrighted content, which is against the law.

Google realized that piracy was indeed a prohibited act. So they rolled out the Pirate Algorithm update to identify the sites reported for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Once Google finds out such websites with pirated copyrighted content, they can severely decrease its organic ranking list.

Read more: How Google Indexes New Content: What You Should Be Doing?

2013 Hummingbird Update

What is the Google algorithm update? Once you know the answer, you know how important the search intent is. In 2013, Google introduced the Hummingbird update, impacting the user experience on the Google search engine.

The hummingbird update helped google to understand the search intent of the users. The search intent of the web searchers is one of the critical factors for ranking a page in the SERP.

The update enabled google to find relevance between the searched topic and the search result. As a result, the users started to find more relevant content according to the keyword they used for searching.

2013 To 2018 Google Algorithm Update

On the 2013 google algorithm update, Google focused on improving the local searches with the pigeon update.

In 2014, with the HTTPS/ SSL update, google focused on the security aspect of the internet.

Since most of the online searches are done using a mobile phone, Google gave importance to the mobile-friendliness of a website through the 2015 google algorithm update.

In 2015, Google used machine learning and artificial intelligence in their RankBrain algorithm update. The update puts a query through an interpretation to determine the most relevant search result for a specific search. As a result, SEO experts keep tracking RankBrain Google algorithm updates.

In 2016, Google introduced the Possum Google algorithm update to improve the local search results.

2018 Mobile Page Speed

Another important google algorithm update came out in 2018. The Mobile page speed update of 2108 set a new ranking signal. The pages optimized for better speed on mobile devices are now qualified to rank higher in the SERP.

Google’s “Speed up the internet” and the “Mobile-first” initiatives profited greatly from this update. In addition, as a result of this Google algorithm update, the user experience on mobile became better and faster.

2021 Google Algorithm Update

Google released three core updates in 2021. In June, July, and November, Google released three core updates back to back. In addition, there were two product review updates as well.

In June of 2021, the google core algorithm update brought the Page Experience Update for mobile devices. In the late November of 2021, Google also announced a Local search update.

According to the page experience update, Google will prioritize Security, mobile-friendliness, safe browsing, minimum page loading speed to rank a webpage on the SERP.

Conclusion

If you are learning SEO or have been performing SEO, you must know about the google algorithm updates that come out frequently. Like the previous years, Google will also adjust its algorithm in 2022. If you want your SEO tactics to work, you must lookout for the latest updates. If your question was ‘what is google algorithm update?’ I hope you have found your answer in this article.

Read Also:

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• Latest Google Algorithm Updates that Can Affect Your SEO
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