Google Algorithm & AI Update Tracker

Check the live banner at the top of this tracker. If a named update is currently rolling, an amber banner shows the update name and start date. The tracker is synced from Google's Search Status Dashboard every hour, so the banner reflects the current state within 60 minutes of any change. If no banner is visible, no named update is currently in progress according to Google's official announcements.

Wait until the rollout is complete before drawing conclusions or making major changes to your site. Rankings fluctuate throughout a rollout — what looks like a penalty on day 3 may recover by day 10. Once the update is complete, compare your traffic and rankings to the pre-update baseline and look for patterns: which pages declined, what they have in common, and whether any Google guidance published with the update provides clues. Avoid making drastic changes mid-rollout.

It varies significantly by update type. Core updates average around 15 days, but range from 4 days to 45 days (the March 2024 core update). Spam updates can complete in under 24 hours or take several weeks. Helpful content and reviews updates have historically taken 2–4 weeks. The 'Duration' column in the tracker shows the actual measured rollout time for each completed update.

For 2021 onwards, yes — the tracker pulls directly from Google's official Search Status Dashboard JSON API (status.search.google.com/incidents.json), which is the same source Google uses for its own dashboard. The data is synced hourly. For updates before 2021, the entries are reconstructed from Google's own public announcements at the time — Search Central blog posts, Google Search Liaison statements, and other on-the-record confirmations — going back to the first named update (Florida, 2003).

Every row in the tracker is tagged as Confirmed (green check) or Unconfirmed (amber pill). Confirmed means Google itself publicly announced the update on one of four official channels: the Google Search Status Dashboard, the Search Central blog, the main Google blog, or the official @googlesearchc and @searchliaison accounts on X. Unconfirmed means Google never publicly acknowledged the update — the date and impact are based on credible third-party reporting (Search Engine Land, etc.) or widely observed community evidence. Click any row to expand it and see the actual source URL.

Because understanding algorithm updates without understanding Google's AI evolution gives an incomplete picture. The shift from keyword matching to semantic understanding (Hummingbird, 2013) fundamentally changed what a 'good' page means to Google. RankBrain, BERT, and MUM each deepened that understanding. AI Overviews and AI Mode changed how results are displayed and what content gets cited. These milestones explain why some sites that followed perfect traditional SEO practices have seen declining visibility — the definition of 'good' has changed at the model level, not just the update level.

Core updates re-evaluate how Google judges content quality, helpfulness, and relevance across the entire index. They affect all types of sites and queries, and Google typically runs 3–5 per year. Spam updates specifically target manipulative tactics: purchased links, cloaked content, AI-generated spam, and similar webmaster guideline violations. Core updates change the scoring criteria; spam updates enforce the existing rules more aggressively. A site with genuinely good content can lose rankings in a core update without any spam — it simply ranks lower by the new criteria.

Google makes thousands of small changes to its algorithm every year, most of which are never announced. Named, confirmed updates — the ones tracked here — occur roughly 10–20 times per year based on recent history. Core updates are the most anticipated, appearing 3–5 times annually. Spam updates and system changes occur throughout the year on a less predictable schedule.