Google began its humble journey in 1998. From its modest beginnings, Google has evolved as one the biggest innovations in the history of mankind, and is currently the biggest thing on the internet, perhaps, second only to the internet.<\/p>\n
However, Google hasn\u2019t always been what it is today, and it took it a lot of time, efforts and developments to become the most reliable source of information that it is currently.<\/p>\n
Google, in a year, makes about 400-600 alterations in its search algorithm<\/em>. This is done with a view to keep the spammers and unethical SEO practitioners under check. However, most of these changes are minor and inconsequential.<\/p>\n Google seldom rolls out major algorithm changes<\/u><\/em>, but when it does, it makes sure that the update significantly affects the search results and causes turbulence in the world of webmasters across the globe.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll now provide you with a brief history of major Google algorithm updates<\/strong>. It will help you understand how, over the years, a meager research project transformed into the biggest ever search engine.<\/p>\n The updates are mentioned in a chronological order, i.e. the order in which they occurred.<\/strong><\/p>\n February 2011 – Panda<\/p>\n Affecting about 12% of search results, Panda was a prominent Google algorithm update and hit the websites hard. This was mainly used to assign quality score to web content and functioned more as a filter.<\/p>\n It witnessed 2 rollouts in subsequently in September 2014 and July 2015<\/p>\n April 2012 – Penguin<\/strong><\/p>\n Another of a major algorithm update, Google Penguin\u2019s<\/strong> goal was to identify and down-rank websites which it felt were spamming the search results and contained unnatural link profiles.<\/p>\n Over the following years, Penguin saw numerous rollouts and since 2016, it\u2019s been an essential part of Google\u2019s core algorithm and is an important ranking factor<\/strong><\/em> operating in real time.<\/p>\n August 2013 \u2013 Hummingbird<\/strong><\/p>\n Hummingbird<\/strong> was a major overhaul affecting the important concepts of semantics. It had much to do with the interpretation of search queries, the longer and conversational ones in particular.<\/p>\n This algorithm update focused on matching the searcher\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n