Introduction

Google keeps updating its algorithm timely. Most of the time these updates are minor and unnoticeable. But google well announced its big update so that people can know that the google algorithm is changed and they can also change their website accordingly.

Most of the google updates change the google search engine result. So, the easiest way to know about google updates is to review the search engine or Google’s documentation.
So here we are going to tell all the google algorithm updates that take over since the last decade. Also, we will talk about how these updates affect google search.

What is a Google algorithm update?

When we search on Google, it tries to answer our queries in the best possible way. Each google algorithm use rule and index to give the best page to solve the query. So, a change in google search queries is found due to google algorithm updates or changes.

From time to time Google changes its algorithm to showcase more precise and most possible search results. These changes can be small or big and can change the whole search pattern overnight.

Here is some important google algorithm update that googles made in the last 10 years.

  1. Caffeine (2010)
    In June 2010, google launch its Caffeine indexing system. This new change was made to give users fast search results and it helps publishers to see their content faster. It made Google store and crawl data more easily. This algorithm changes the speed of google overnight.
    • Impact on SEO
      • Caffeine didn’t include any new ranking factor. It comes as part of google overarching “speed up the internet”. Caffeine gives more efficient results across the web. Caffeine considers as a main google algorithm update as it is an important factor for google search.
  1. Panda update (2011)
    The panda update contains a new ranking signal which depends on content farms and keyword stuffing to give more sufficient results. It helps to remove all the thin and spammy low-quality content from the search result.
    • Impact on SEO
      • A lot of people must change their SEO tactics after this update. Black hat SEO-like keyword stuffing didn’t work any longer. Now SEO depends on the value of content. It is a must that content is providing value and answer to the user’s question.
  1. Penguin update (2012)
    The focus of the Penguin update is to track the website which has a web spam and use manipulative link building. This is also known as a web spam algorithm update. With the help of this update now google can identify that link going back to a google page is legitimate or spam.
    • Impact on SEO
      • Penguin update mainly focuses on the black hat SEO technique. After the penguin update, Manipulative link-building didn’t work.
  1. Pigeon (2013)
    This googles update tends to focus on local search. The focus behind pigeon algorithm update is to close the gap between google search and google web algorithm to bring better search results. This helps to improve the parameter of google search.
    • Impact on SEO
      • This update opens the door for local small businesses. With the help of pigeon update now they are getting closer to the local audience. They must work on simple SEO tactics, and they can rank on google.
  1. HTTPS/SSL (2014)
    This was the part of Google “HTTPS Everywhere”. This update focus on giving the user a more secure internet. It means the websites that users are using are trustworthy and secure.
    • Impact on SEO
      • Google made a new ranking single called HTTPS and set the new expectations of trust and security in the organic search results.
  1. RANKBRAIN (2015)
    This Google algorithm update introduces us to new machine-learning artificial intelligence that helps google to give the more efficient result of the query. This goes to every factor like location and word count and gives the most relevant result.
    • Impact on SEO
      • It helps google to search for the best result page. This depends on what is the best service for the users’ queries.
  1. POSSUM (2016)
    This update helps Google to improve local search results. Before this updated business that did not come in the certain city limits fall in Google search results. So, this update improves the local search result. It also made the physical appearance of searchers important.
    • Impact on SEO
      • This is a very impactful update in google history that focuses on local search. Google now gives the option of filters of location and address.
  1. INTRUSIVE INTERSTITIALS UPDATE (2017)
    In the year 2017, google intrudes us to a new algorithm called intrusive interstitials. They are large pop up that covers the whole page of the user. In this way, users can’t get the information that they want.
    The main reason behind this is to keep spam minimum and inches SEO. But if any contain includes intrusive interstitials, it can also rank in google if it solves the user’s query perfectly.
    • Impact to SEO
      • In this update, intrusive interstitials become an important part of SEO.
  1. MEDIC (2018)
    This googles update improved the E-A-T in the google content.
    • Impact on SEO
      • E-A-T depends on many factors and medic is one of them. So, if your website doesn’t have reviews, backlinks and didn’t upload content frequently then your website didn’t show on google search results.
  1. BERT UPDATE (2019)
    It is a natural language processing machine learning system that helps Google to understand our searches. BERT algorithm help googles to give a more efficient result.
    • Impact on SEO
      • It changes the way writers write SEO content. Now content didn’t have to focus on keywords, but language associated with specific keywords become a priority.

Conclusion

As we talk, google algorithms keep changing every year. Sometimes these algorithms make a significant impact on SEO, or sometimes, they are ignorable. Here we go through the main algorithm changes in the last ten years and how they make changes in google search results.