How do I know if Google is updating its algorithm right now?

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.

How long do Google algorithm updates take to roll out?

Core updates average around 15 days, ranging from 4 to 45 days. Spam updates can complete in under 24 hours or take several weeks. The Duration column in the tracker shows the actual measured rollout time for each completed update.

What is the difference between a core update and a spam update?

Core updates re-evaluate how Google judges content quality, helpfulness, and relevance across the entire index. Spam updates target manipulative tactics like purchased links, cloaked content, and AI-generated spam. Core updates change the scoring criteria; spam updates enforce existing rules more aggressively.

Google Search Algorithm & AI Update Tracker — Every Confirmed Update Since 2003

Every confirmed Google Search ranking update, live-synced hourly from Google's own Status Dashboard. Core updates, spam updates, and AI milestones in one filterable timeline.

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What Is a Google Algorithm Update?

A change to the ranking systems Google uses to order search results — pages that ranked well may drop, and buried pages may rise. Google calls these ranking updates; the SEO community calls them algorithm updates. Same thing.

Google ships thousands of small ranking tweaks every year. Only a few get a public name — the ones Google itself announces on the Google Search Status Dashboard, the Search Central blog, the main Google blog, or via the official @googlesearchc and @searchliaison accounts on X. Those are the four channels we treat as authoritative.

Every row in the table is tagged as either Confirmed or Unconfirmed. A row is Confirmed when its source link comes from one of those four official Google channels (or the Search Status Dashboard, which feeds this tracker hourly). A row is Unconfirmed when Google never publicly acknowledged it — the date and effects come from credible third-party reporting (e.g. Search Engine Land) or community observation. Older updates from before Google maintained a public dashboard are more likely to be Unconfirmed.

How to Use This Tracker

Step 1

Is an update rolling now?

Watch the live banner above. Synced from Google every hour — if nothing's there, nothing's rolling.

Step 2

Did an update hit you?

Match the date your traffic shifted against the timeline. Use the year filter or search to narrow it down.

Step 3

Wait out the rollout.

Rankings stay volatile until an update completes. The Duration column shows how long each one took.

Understanding Update Types

Every update in the timeline above falls into one of four categories. Knowing the type tells you what Google is changing, how long it usually lasts, and what to do about it.

Core Updates 3–5 per year · 2–4 weeks

Broad re-evaluation of content quality

Core updates retune Google's entire ranking system — they are not targeted at specific sites or niches, but at improving how Google judges content quality, relevance, and helpfulness across the board. The longest on record is the March 2024 core update at 45 days.

Spam Updates Irregular · hours to weeks

Enforcement against guideline violations

Target sites that break Google's webmaster guidelines: purchased or spammy link profiles, cloaking, thin AI-generated content farms, and hidden text or redirects. Spam updates can complete in under 24 hours and may be global or language-specific.

Helpful Content Now folded into core

Site-wide signal for people-first content

Introduced in August 2022. Rewards content created for people rather than search engines and applies a site-wide signal — if a significant share of a site's content is unhelpful, every page can be affected. The system is now integrated into core updates.

AI Milestones Foundational launches

Shifts in how Search itself works

Not algorithm updates in the traditional sense — these are technology launches that changed Search itself: Hummingbird (2013), RankBrain (2015), BERT (2019), MUM (2021), AI Overviews (2024), AI Mode (2025). Search has been AI-powered for over a decade; recent launches simply made it visible.

How Google Announces Algorithm Updates

Google publishes named updates through two official channels. Everything in this tracker comes from one of them.

Live source 2021–present

Google Search Status Dashboard

Authoritative real-time source for named ranking updates. Shows when an update started, status messages during rollout, and the completion timestamp. This tracker pulls directly from the Dashboard's public JSON API every hour — no interpretation, no delay.

Policy & history 2003–present

Google Search Central blog

Where Google publishes broader system announcements and the pre-Dashboard history of named updates. Pre-2021 entries in this tracker are reconstructed from these posts, official Google Search Liaison statements, and other on-the-record confirmations going back to the Florida update (2003).

Worth knowing: Google makes many small ranking changes every day that are never formally announced. Only the named, confirmed updates appear in this tracker — by design.

Related tools in your SEO workflow:

→ Bulk Indexability Checker — check if your pages are actually indexable before an update affects rankings
→ Robots.txt Validator — verify that Googlebot can crawl the pages you want indexed
→ AI Bot Access Tester — check if AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Perplexity) can access your content
→ Title & Meta Description Checker — audit on-page signals before an anticipated core update

Frequently Asked Questions