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Major History of Google Algorithm Updates (2012-2011)

Google Algorithm Updates

2012 Google Algorithm Updates:

Panda Update #23 – 21/12/2012

Approximately 1.3% of English searches are affected by what is now the 23rd update of the Google Panda.

Knowledge Graph (KG) Update – 4/12/2012

Google expands knowledge graph to more languages – Italian, Russian, Japanese, French. Spanish, German, Portuguese – and also adds improved knowledge graph capabilities.

Panda Update #22 – 21/11/12

Google Panda update #22 appears to be a data-only update, impacting less than 0.8% of English searches.

 Panda Update #21 – 5/11/12

Google Panda update #21 is another minor refresher with approximately 1.1% of English searches impacted following launch of this update.

Page Layout Algorithm – 9/10/2012

Google updates the page layout algorithm that they launched earlier this year (Jan 2012), which targets websites with an excessive number of ads above the fold.

Exact Match Domain (EMD) Update – 27/9/2012

Google announces rollout of minor algorithm change targeting low-quality exact match domains. Unrelated to either Panda or Penguin, Matt Cutts indicates that the EMD update will affect approximately 0.6% of U.S. English inquiries.

Panda Update #20 – 27/9/2012

Google launches fairly aggressive update to Panda with full effects taking 3-4 days to make it into the index. Approximately 2.4% of English inquiries impacted by this Panda update.

Panda Update #19 – 18/9/2012

Data-only refresh of Google Panda update with less than 0.7% of inquiries impacted.

 Panda Update #18 20/8/2012

Minor refresh of Google Panda update with less than 0.1% of inquiries impacted.

 SERP 10 to 7 – 14/8/12

Google makes major change to their Top 10, limiting the results to 7 listing for most inquiries. Full impact takes about 4 days. SERPs with 7 results jump from 0.1% to 10.7% and then 18.3% with almost one-fifth of SERP’s being tracked showing just 7 results.

DMCA Penalty – 10/8/12

Google announces start of campaign to penalize domains with multiple, valid copyright removal notices, saying that they will be using data on copyright violations as a signal in their search rankings.

Panda Update #17 – 24/7/12

Another in series of refreshers to the Google Panda update with less than 0.1% of queries impacted.
Link Warnings – 19/7/2012

Somewhat ambiguous update from Google following earlier warnings re: unnatural links, sent via message to webmasters in their webmaster tools. Google’s cryptic update says these new warnings may not be a problem and that a penalty may not follow the unnatural link warning.

Panda Update #16 – 25/6/12

Minor Panda refresher, not an algorithm change only data, with limited impact on most inquiries.

Panda Update #15 – 8/6/2012

Google confirms refresh of their algorithm but does not confirm that it was a Panda update. Industry tracking data links update to Panda, with approximately 1% of searches impacted.

Penguin Update #2 – 25/5/12

Google confirms first update to their Penguin algorithm, calling it a “data refresh.” Minor impact felt across the board with less than one-tenth of one percent of English inquiries affected.
Knowledge Graph (KG) – 16/5/2012

Google introduces the Knowledge Graph, enabling users to search for things, people or places that are relevant to the search. Considered a big step toward semantic search, KG is a SERP-integrated display that gives users supplemental information, or knowledge panels.

Panda Update #14 – 27/4/2012

Google confirms yet another refresher of their Panda algorithm but impact is limited with few sites impacted.

Penguin Update – 24/4/2012

Google rolls out major update to combat “webspam,” eventually to be named the Penguin algorithm update. This update fine tunes many spam issues impacting more than 3.1% of English searches and sites found to be using keyword stuffing, cloaking and a multitude of other techniques that violate Google quality guidelines.

Panda Update #13 – 19/4/2012

Another refresher of the Panda algorithm is released with limited impact.
Google Glitch – Parked Domain Bug – 16/4/2012

A Google error results in devaluing many domains mistakenly taken to be parked domains (websites with little if any content other than ads). Matt Cutts confirms that error was fixed.

Panda Update #12 – 23/3/2012

Google uses Twitter to announce this update to the Panda algorithm. Message includes statement saying that 1.6% of queries are affected by this Panda refresh.
Panda Update #11 – 27/2/2012

According to Google, this update of Panda “simply refreshes data in the system making it more accurate and more sensitive to recent changes on the web.

list.
Venice Update – 27/2/2012

Noted in list of monthly changes for Feb, this update improves the triggering of local universal, organic results by relying more on the ranking of Google’s main search results as a signal.

Page Layout Improvement – 19/1/2012

Algorithmic change in Google search engine that takes into account the layout of a webpage and the amount of content on the page when a user clicks on the search results; too many ads above the fold.

Panda Update #10 – 18/1/2012

Not a real change to the algorithm as much as another refresher.

 Search Plus Your World Update – 10/1/2012

Google announces change of search engine to include personal results, profiles in search and people and pages making Google + social data and user profiles more important part of SERP.

2011 Google Algorithm Updates:

 Panda Update #9 –18/11/2011

Minor Panda update affecting less than 1% of all searches.

Fresh Content Update – 3/11/2011

In an effort to ensure that the most recent, or freshest content, gets priority for time-sensitive results Google announces this major algorithm change. Up to 35% of all searches affected by the freshness update.

Encryption Update – 18/10/2011

Google’s official blog alerts the industry that they will be encrypting search queries for privacy reasons.

Panda Update #8 – 5/10/2011

Minor Panda algorithm update. Matt Cutts indicates that less than 2% of searches will be impacted.

Panda Update #7 – 28/9/2011

Google confirms latest update to the Panda algorithm, officially being Panda 2.5. Many webmasters report major losses from this Panda update

Paginated Content – 15/9/2011

Google introduces rel=”next” and rel=”prev” link attributes and improved automatic consolidation and canonicalization for “View All” pages.

Expanded and Improved Site Links – 16/8/11

Google announces several improvements to their sitelinks, including how they appear and how they are organized in search results.

 Panda Update #6 – 12/8/2011

Google blog announces that this Panda update is a rollout of algorithm search improvement in several different languages, which is aimed at improving overall search quality. This Panda update expected to impact 6-9% of queries.

Panda Update #5 – 23/7/2011

Google confirms a minor update to the Panda algorithm.

Google+ Introduced – 28/6/2011

Google introduces their Google+ project, aiming to bring what they call “real life sharing” to their algorithm; content sharing among individual’s circles.

Panda Update #4 – 21/6/2011

Google confirms Panda 2.2 is live and part of the algorithm. Matt Cutts explains that Panda 2.2 intended to improve scraper detection.

Panda Update #3 – 9/5/2011

Rumored to be Panda 3.0 but never officially declared as such by Google. Appears to be another minor update.

Panda Update #2 – 11/4/2011

Google announces that their algorithm update introduced last month aimed at helping users find more high-quality sites is being rolled out globally to all English language users. This update also includes new signals especially data about site users blocked by the SERP’s or Chrome.

Google +1 Button – 30/3/2011

Google announces introduction of their +1 button, which allows users to rate search results within their social circles for both organic and paid results. Recommendations when you want them

Panda Update – 23/02/2011

Google launches major algorithm update that impacts more than 12% of search results. Called “Panda” after Google engineer working on the algo, this update targets content farms, thin spammy content and other content quality issues.

Attribution Update – 28/01/2011

Google takes additional steps regarding content attribution and to put the brakes on content scraping. Matt Cutts notes that this update will impact 2% of queries and is probably a response from Google to some of the high-profile spam episodes.

The Overstock.com Case – 1/2011

Google takes decisive action in penalizing Overstock.com for their poor SEO practices and makes their decision public, putting other high profile companies on notice regarding their SEO.

Google major updates 2013, 2014 and 2015 will update you soon.

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