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2021 in history was considered an important year for the major changes Google brought in its algorithm that completely changed the game. It improved user experience to a great expanse.  

1. Page Experience Updates For Desktop

The update was announced on November 4, 2021, but rolled out in 2022 on February 22 and ended on 3 March. 

First, we are all familiar with mobile-friendly page experience, now page experience for desktops is quite similar to all the parameters except that of mobile-friendliness. 

That means that your desktop screen is measured in the same way as your mobile screen experience. 

Largest contentful paint (LPC): Scale for the measurement of perceived load speed and landmarks when the page’s main content has loaded. 

Cumulative layout shift (CLS): measures visual stability and layout shift that affects user experience. 

First input delay (FID): the response time that the user first took to interact with the page. 

HTTPS security: a protocol that protects data shared by users with the site page. 

Absence of intrusive interstitials: the popups on the page screen distract users from viewing the actual content. 

The update made core web vitals a desktop ranking factor. Above are some of the factors that affect desktop ranking. 

Before this update Google Search Console report allowed sites to review their desktop core web vitals.  

(what is a Google search console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor and troubleshoot your website performance on search engines)

2. Product Review Update:

December product review update

Rolled out on 1 December and lasted till 21 December 

Like any other product review updates were aimed at rewarding high-quality honest reviews rather than overloaded with marketing and selling perspective reviews or rather less informative reviews. Because Google believes  that karma is the guy on the screen and also on the rankings in SERPs 

The volatility was highly affected by this update. This update was quite long and took around three weeks to roll out. 

With this update, there were two extra guidelines Google added to its PRU rulebook 

• To add evidence of personal experience with the product and services
• To provide links to multiple sellers from which users can directly buy the product or services if convinced.

This guideline unfortunately or fortunately was not implicated directly as sites did not add links and proofs did not lose their rankings. As the guidelines were Google is planning the landing of these better quality product reviews and not where how currently algorithms perform. 

April product review update. 

Here is the change of volatility in SERPs during the update.

April product review update: 

The first-ever product review was released in April of 2021 on 8 it was completed by 22. 

The idea behind this was to reward expert reviews rather than just content that describes a bunch of products. With this google educated webmasters and experts and how it was going to work, with its guidelines. 

What should be included in the product review according to the guidelines of the google?

• To provide users with knowledgeable analysis and research of the product
• To upload authentic content written by field experts and enthusiasts 
• To provide competitor analysis of the product 
• To provide with Pros and Cons of the product 
• To inform about key decision-making factors
• To provide the new features and how the product has evolved

3. Core Update: 

What are core updates?

Google uses core updates as a means of rewarding websites that ethically obey their spam and algorithm but still don’t rank well on search engine results pages.

 However, the updates do not expressly target harm to pages and websites that violate the guidelines. 

The primary update’s modifications include a review of the material as a whole and a ranking of the less-rewarded websites. 

Why does Google release so many core updates? 

to provide credit to pages that have not been ranked even if they offer excellent added value, a wealth of experience, and user-friendly content. 

to stop duplicate and non-authoritative information from appearing in search engine results. 

to put an end to those who try to undermine Google’s goal of giving its users the most relevant information possible. via questionable SEO techniques. 

Core improvements aim to bring to the fore credibility, know-how, and authenticity that Google and its users can rely on. 

Core update November:

The update hit the health industry the most; all other industries were affected all over, and the volatility spiked to a peak. For the initial two days, the volatility stayed at its peak, and then again normalcy was declared, like always. 

Desktop SERPs peaked by 12% volatility 

Mobile SERPs peaked by 23% volatility 

Average volatility peaked at 20% in comparison to the July core update. 

Google Algorithm Update History [+ Latest SEO Changes]

July core update: 

Was announced on 2 June, started to roll out on July 1st, and ended on 12 July. 

This core update was to be part of the June core update, but as it was the first ever Google introduced the core update. They left a part of it for the June update for July. 

The core update brought changes that were hardly noticeable by most sites and pages. 

June core update: 

The first-ever core update of the year was released on 2 June and ended on 12 June. 

Google had high expectations with the core update but they could not implement all the updates planned and thus the second part of this update was left out for July

Google had admitted “Some of our planned improvements for the June 2021 update aren’t quite ready, so we’re moving ahead with the parts that are, then we will follow with the rest with the July 2021 update. Most sites won’t notice either of these updates, as is typical with any core updates.”

Many sites saw a spike in their SERP volatility, while many had negative impacts. 

It was advised to perform a site audit and correct what was wrong before the site got hit by the other core update of July. 

4. Spam Update: 

What is a Spam Update?

Google quoted “Google’s automated systems to detect search spam are constantly running, we occasionally make notable improvements to how they work. When we do, we refer to this as a spam update and share when they happen on our list of Google Search ranking updates.”

Spam update of November: 

Was released on 3 November 2021 and completed on 11 November.   

With this update, Google had advised websites to focus on SEO best practices. The update focused on improving Google’s ability to update its spam detection techniques. 

There had already been three previous spam updates which makes searches spam-free.

In the previous year, google had blocked 25 billion spammy pages from being indexed by search engine algorithms. 

Websites that follow the webmaster guidelines ethically and do not mess with Google algorithms and deceive it for the sake of ranking do not need to fear Google spam updates.

June spam update (part 1)  

Started on June 23  the update was completed within 24 hours 

Same as any other spam update, this Google spam update was focused on fighting web spam. Multiple spam updates occur many times a year which indicates that Google wants the web to be completely safe for its users and top every black hat SEO practices, which is unsafe for its users.  

June spam update (part 2)

Started on June 28 and just like the previous update was completed within 24 hours. 

Part two of the previous spam update rolled out after 8 days, while the purpose remained the same for both updates. The second update was a step closer to enhancing the spam detenting Google algorithm  

5. Link Spam Update

Link spam update rolled out on 26 July 2021 

Was focused on nullifying spam links on websites across many languages. 

The update targeted guests, sponsored and affiliate content

Google has guidelines for using each of these links: 

Affiliate: google asks sites participating in affiliate programs to qualify links with 

rel-” sponsored”. Irrespective of links being created manually dynamically. 

Links sponsored posts: links that are paid advertisements or paid placements should be marked up with rel-sponsored value. 

Targets guests: links of guests should be marked up with rel-”nofollow” value.  

6. Page Experience Update For Mobile:

Is to make the user experience of the mobile users better. The mobile ranking is affected by the following factors 

Largest connect paint (LCP): the time taken for the main content page to appear 

First input delay (FID): the response site or page takes to respond to the user 

Cumulative layout shift (CLS): the measure of layout movements during the loading of the page. 

The following steps will be taken by Google for this algorithm change 

• Include a report on Page Experience in the Search Console.
• Eliminate the AMP requirement for Google Search’s Top Stories carousel.
• Take down the AMP badge image.
• Allow signed exchanges (SXG) while searching on Google

2022 in history was considered an important year for the major changes Google brought in its algorithm that completely changed the game. It improved user experience to a great expanse.  

1. Link Spam Update: 

 It was released on December 14, 2022

Google uses an AI-based prevention system called Spam Brain to detect spam all over the internet. This update was to detect unnatural links in the search results.   

With these updates, google tried to end buying and selling links to manipulate rankings on search engines. Buying and selling of links that affect PageRank violates Google webmaster’s guidelines. 

The update will work on neutralizing spammy links till all the credits passed by unnatural links are lost. This means that the site that gains rankings through this backlink will lose its traffic. 

These links were acting like parasites of the ranking webpage and feeding on their traffic. This update aimed to remove these practices.

2. Helpful Content Update 2022 

Helpful content update for December 

Announced on 6 December continued into January until 12. 

A helpful content update is for: 

Better rewarding material that engaged users and improved their user experience was the main goal of the change. 

A lot of websites include valuable material that does not rank well in search engine results pages, therefore these improvements concentrate on taking action against that content. 

Google feels it is essential to give helpful and original content to the users. This update aims to uplift “how people look for information and the diversity of quality information that exists in the world.” 

E-A-T which meant expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness was updated to E-E-A-T. The other E serves for experience. It is easier to learn from and trust someone who has experience in the subject rather than just knowledge about it. Especially around a few technical subjects. 

This update tries to put an end to content solely written for SEO purposes and gain rankings when it should be about imparting experience and knowledge about the topic at hand.   

The first ever helpful content update was released in August

Let’s not let it slip like a bottle of wine.  

Announced on 18 August 2022, started to roll out on 25, and ended on September 9.

Google wanted to make sure that the content available on the SERPs is not for search bots to rank but for people who want to learn. 

Thus came helpful content updates “That’s part of a broader effort to ensure people see more original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results.” 

Google also gave guidelines that you can follow to make sure that the content you create is helpful for people

Below are the questions given by Google that you can ask yourselves while you create content for your audience. 

• Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?
• Does your content demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
• Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
• After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
• Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
• Are you keeping in mind our guidance for core updates and product reviews?

We dig out some data for you from Semrush at a point of time near the 7 and 8 of September 2022, the volatility spike was quite significant on these days.  

3. Product Review Update 

Started 20 September and completed by 26 September 2022

Product review updates are designed to rank reviews that are in-depth and advising about a particular product, or service. 

The update also focuses on demoting the ranking of those product reviews that are low-quality and lack real experience of the product. 

These updates are usually 2 weeks long but the one in September ended within six days as there were previously two product review updates in the past. 

This update will only impact the website pages that have product reviews, and if you still notice changes it might be because of the the core update. 

As in earlier months google associated ranking factors with helpful content there was a slight alignment of it with the review update which is also again meant to help users.

The previous product review update came in July

Started to reel on 27 July and ended on August 2, 2022

It was the fourth in a series of algorithm updates that focused on rewarding high-quality product reviews. And give them a rightful ranking for good and helpful reviews. 

The following update was considered less volatile than the March product review update.

The reason why Google had another product review update in September which was able to impact websites that failed to get impacted by the July update.

March product review update

Rolled out on 23 March and released on  6 April. 

The update focused on identifying high-quality product reviews, to do it like a pro and like never before.   

The update had a slow start when it was first released but had high volatility towards the end of the month. 

Google had added a couple of advice on what matters most in the review update. 

• Include helpful in-depth details, like the benefits or drawbacks of a certain item, specifics on how a product performs, or how the product differs from previous versions
• Come from people who have used the products, and show what the product is physically like or how it’s used
• Include unique information beyond what the manufacturer provides — like visuals, audio, or links to other content detailing the reviewer’s experience
• Cover comparable products, or explain what sets a product apart from its competitors

How can you recover from the impacts of the update? 

You can refer to Google guidelines in this link.  

How To Write Reviews | Google Search Central | Documentation

4. Core Update 

The most important updates as they impact the searches overall. Google releases core updates several times a year to keep up with the changing tendencies of the web. At the same time, the core update does not target anything specific to the websites. However, they make some notable changes that are crucial for SERPs and decide how sites perform and influx the website traffic. 

Google’s search algorithm is continuously changing, but these changes are minor and do not make notable changes, while Google’s core update brings about changes that are quite noticeable and impact certain websites. 

September core update 

Reeled out on 12 September and completed on September 26

The core update on hand overlapped with helpful content updates and was assumed to bring a lot of major changes. But it failed to do so. 

The volatility of the search engine was 6 on 10. 

You can take a look at the chart below which is to comparison with a core update of the previous month’s core update. 

May core update 

These updates came out on May 26 and were completed on June 9, 2022 

The update was considered quite impactful as many users experienced fluctuation in their traffic on the website.

The update impacted hurt AI-generated content and had a positive impact on human-generated content. 

You can see on the Semrush chart, observe the changing volatility throughout the 30 days.

This was all for 2022 algorithm updates. To read more in detail about these updates refer to blogs on Google that talk in great length and also suggest great ways of how to recover from the negative impacts of these updates. 

1. Google Review Update

Review update of November  

The update was out on November 8, 2023. It was designed to reward high-quality authentic review content on webpages focusing on review articles, blogs, FAQs, and other content providing analysis, recommendations, and opinions posted on Google authored by experts and enthusiasts, influencers. 

Your content should be centered around three major things, 

• To impart knowledge and showcase expertise 
• Give evidence of data presented 
• To showcase the advantages and disadvantages of a subject that is written and is being discussed. 

The aim is to empower users by providing them with authentic information, and content that does not deceive customers and help them make the right decision.  

Review update of April

Another review update was released on April 12, 2023, this google update focused on in-depth feedback, and reviews rather than peppery thin content that does not provide much insight.  It included games, destinations, products, movies, and more reviews. It lasted 13 days. Ending on April 25, 2023. 

Product review update of February

This update had a major impact on SERP volatility, which peaked very high on March 1, 2023 

Google recommended;   

• To provide proof of your experience with the product or service. 
• To Include links to multiple sellers. 

2. Broad Core Updates And Core Updates

What are core updates? 

Core updates are nothing but Google’s way to reward the sites that follow their spam and algorithm ethically but still fail to rank on SERPs. On the other side, the update does not specifically target harm to the sites and pages that do not follow the rule book. 

The changes that the core update brings about are to examine the overall content and rank the under-rewarded sites. 

Why does Google release so many core updates? 

• To reward pages that have failed to rank despite having great expertise and knowledge, great added value, and content that is helpful to the users. 
• To prevent nonauthoritative and duplicate content from ranking on SERPs. 
• To stop those who manipulate with mission and vision of Google to provide the most relevant information to its users. By dubious SEO practices. 

Core updates try to surface authenticity, knowledge, and expertise that is trustworthy for Google and its users.

November broad core update 

It was out on November 2, 2023, and completed by 28 of November. It was aimed to provide relevant and dependable searches to the customers and provide them with valuable information. This could positively affect your website traffic if your website content is authentic and is what search bots search for on your website.

For this update, google also mentioned that pages that already follow and focus on people-centered content and practices google best practices can do little. “Chances are, there’s nothing to do for most creators who have already been working to create helpful, reliable, people-first content,”

“We have different systems that are considered core to our ranking process; this month’s core update involves an improvement to a different core system than last month,” Google had said “However, our guidance about core updates is the same for both.”

October broad core updates 

Rolled out on October 10, 2023, ended on 19 October, 2023 

It is directed towards search algorithms and systems.

As in core updates, Google sends out the list of changes it implemented in Google search ranking updates.

It focuses on providing dependable and trustworthy searches to its customers. 

To read more on the same you can read, Google Search’s Core Updates | Google Search Central | What’s new | Google for Developers

August core update

Started rolling out on August 22, and wound up on 7 September 2023. Aiming to improve search results. 

This update had a heavy effect on search volatility compared to the March core update. Just after 3 days of rolling out the volatility spiked to 9.3 according to the Semrush sensor while the March update reached a volatility of 8. The update also had effects on the ranking of URLs, promoting the pages that did not serve its efforts.  

Head of SEO at WIX and communication consultant at Semrush Mordy Oberstein said. “However, if you look at the increase in rank volatility as compared to the pre-update volatility then the March 2023 Core Update seems more significant. However, even there, as mentioned, more than a few verticals saw more dramatic volatility increases with the most recent update” 

March Core update 

Rolled out on 15, 2023 was focused on improving content quality online like all other core updates the update led to a spike in search engine research page SERPs from the very next day of its announcement. Higher volatility was seen in mobile rankings. 

3. Spam Update

What is a Spam Update? 

Google quoted “Google’s automated systems to detect search spam are constantly operating, we occasionally make notable improvements to how they work. When we do, we refer to this as a spam update and share when they happen on our list of Google Search ranking updates.”

Google released its spam update on 4 October 2023, it focused on plagiarized, misleading, and lack of originality and overly promotional rather than informative content. The spam update was wound up by October 20. 

The update of the effect of increased spam results especially in the native tongues of the users. 

Google uses AI and human reviewers to identify such content. 

Content such as: 

• It has little added value and is not human-generated.
• Hidden text and links that are only visible to search engines.
• Too many ads or too many direct or indirect promotions.  
• Doorway pages that confuse search engines and users.  
• False claims etc. 

It is recommended that sites provide open doors, a see-through user experience, and true expertise. 

It is also advisable to do regular website audits after the release of an update. You can check for misleading, AI-generated, scrapped, and hidden content or excessive ads that take away focus from the main content or are overly promotional content that does not impart much knowledge but promotes the business.    

4. Helpful Content Update

What is a helpful content update?

The update focused on better rewarding content that satisfied users and also gave them a better user experience. 

These updates focused on taking action on content that was not helpful yet ranking on SERPs, while many websites have content that is helpful and yet failed to rank on SERPs. 

A tool that classifies this content is an automated tool. It works for all international languages. It is one among many signals Google uses for rankings. 

The update released on 3 September 2023 brought two major changes. While Google also answers, How can sites recover from the effects of an update? 

1.  google loosed up its barricades on AI-generated content

The previous update of Google had a strict policy “by people for people” improvised to “helpful content generated for people” The barricade has loosened around the AI content guidance by Google. 

 Signaling Google’s change of perspective towards AI content.

2. Helpful content update putting an end to third-party content hosted on subdomains or the main part of the website.  

The idea behind hosting third-party content on the main part or subdomain of the website is to rank with the use of the ranking power of the main website. 

Google’s 2023 helpful content update website affected websites negatively that used this tactic to rank. 

 Self-assessment guidance that will help websites recover from the impact of helpful content update 2023. 

The rule one and last that Google always implies constantly and talks very often is Creating; reliable, helpful, and people-first content. 

Following is the guidance given by Google 

1. “Is this content written or reviewed by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?”
2. “Are you changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed?”
3. “Are you adding a lot of new content or removing a lot of older content primarily because you believe it will help your search rankings overall by somehow making your site seem “fresh?” (No, it won’t)”

As we know the digital world around us is ever-changing, every day you wake up to find something new on a digital platform that will make you change your strategy approach to reach your audience and customers online.  

To change your way and adapt to new updates.  And that’s a rule of survival, isn’t it? 

The only thing constant is change and as the businesses, shopping behavior, and customer needs online are constantly rising. Google understands and knows its users like no other and that is why Google runs more than  600,000 experiments each year ranging from Natural language processing to BERT, these efforts are directed towards making their user experience more enhanced. About the updates, daily search engines make an average of nine changes, and in a year alone 3200 changes are adopted by Google. 

In 2022 and 2023 alone, Google made more than 15 algorithm updates, which became difficult to track and implement. This blog will walk you through the latest Google algorithm updates as well as the history of Google algorithm updates that have made major impacts on the search engines that we use today.

Why keeping up with Google Algorithm Updates is important for Digital Marketers?

Google algorithm updates to deal with the optimization of online content and their rankings overall. Facebook, Instagram, and X are search engines in themselves. And understanding the Google algorithm updates and keeping up with them will help rank their content on all these platforms. 

Google Algorithm Updates and Pay-Per-Click

Google algorithm updates play a game-changing role in pay-per-click adverts. The more updated and informed you are about Google’s algorithm updates, the better chances you have to rank higher than your competitors. 

These paid adverts are based on higher ad visibility, ad positions, and cost per click which are impacted greatly by search engine algorithms.

Google Algorithm Updates and Social Media

As for social media marketing, as mentioned before, media such as Facebook, Instagram, and X are search engines in themselves. 

Comprehension of Google algorithm updates will help social media marketers optimize their media accounts for better reach and visibility. 

Google algorithm evaluates a business’s social media accounts just as it evaluates websites and pages of your business. Your social media accounts and content must be optimized regularly to attract organic traffic on your media accounts.

Google Algorithm Updates and Content Marketing

In the past year, Google has made maximum efforts to distill authentic and informative content from loads of copy and plagiarized content. As the use of AI has increased, there is less human-generated content that does not impart the knowledge and experience that most users are searching for. Many Google algorithm updates focus on content marketing which we will see further below. 

Being ahead of the curve with updates will help you plan your content strategy better. 

Helping you get better visibility and rankings. Some of the best content marketing strategies include optimizing your page speed, using proper main headings, and subheadings, using bullet points, and keeping white space, using attractive and relevant videos and images that align with the text. 

To read more on the importance of Google SEO algorithm updates you can visit Unveiling the Secrets of the Google Algorithm for Digital Marketer’s Success.

How do you know if your business is affected by Google Algorithm Updates: 

When a Google algorithm update hits the site the effect of it is usually seen in the traffic on your site.  A sudden drop in your traffic or sudden rise in traffic while rolling off the update. You can use Google Analytics to check your traffic regularly.  

How to recover from Google Algorithm Update if your site has been affected: 

If your ranking and traffic are affected by Google algorithm updates you check any Google guidelines. 

You can also conduct an audit of your website and competitor analysis that did well. 

Make your SEO strategy based on Google guidelines and best practices which will eventually lead to success. 

You can read about past year’s Google algorithm updates by clicking on the following links

Google Algorithm Updates of 2023

Google Algorithm Updates of 2022

Google Algorithm Updates of 2021 

As we talked about the world around us changes every day and Google rather changes we humans who make and run sites with content designs and a selling and marketing approach it will be difficult to track everything all at once. So remember one step at a time and you be notified of new updates as they come from the new year. 

And rest you can rely on us. We will keep you updated. 

Let’s be tuned together tuned for you!